Although Kylian Mbappé has already played two matches with Real Madrid in the last week (the European Super Cup against Atalanta, with a goal, and the first Liga match in Mallorca, four days later), the new star striker of the Merengues is still in the pre-season preparation phase. The captain of the French team had 20 days of leave and only started training a week before the first match organized in Warsaw (Poland). Carlo Ancelotti’s staff has therefore reserved a special program for him in order to perfect his physical condition before the autumn deadlines.
Antonio Pintus’ work is highly anticipated with Mbappé, who was physically dying throughout last season with PSG (and completely knocked out at Euro 2024, but due to his broken nose). The Italian fitness coach is considered an indispensable element not only by his compatriot Ancelotti but also by president Florentino Pérez. The club’s management regrets having validated Pintus’ departure in June 2019 when Zinédine Zidane had requested the arrival of Grégory Dupont as the new fitness coach (for an almost 100% French staff).
Zidane broke everything
Yet it was “Zizou” who brought Pintus back during his promotion in 2016 as number 1 at Real. The Turin native has been the great specialist in physical preparation for decades. He was in charge of this area at Juventus in the 90s, with Didier Deschamps and Zinédine Zidane as players. “La Dèche” took Pintus with him during his stints on the benches of Monaco (2001-2005), Juve (2006-2007) and OM (2010-2011). For the successes that we know. Pintus clearly liked Provence since he stayed for a year on the staff of Marseille Consolat (which became Athlético Marseille then Marseille Consolat Nord).
After Zidane was removed from the Madrid bench in 2018 after a third consecutive Champions League title, Pintus was kept on the first team staff (Julen Lopetegui). The Galactico took over in March 2019 but then requested a change of fitness coach in the off-season. Real were crowned Spanish champions in 2020 but lost their crown the following year (overtaken by Atlético), during a season marked by a total of 42 injuries! The change of “prep” had been singled out by the local media…
