In astrophysics, there is a classic three-body problem that scientists have been unable to solve for more than 300 years. Isaac Newton described with formulas back in the 17th century how the Earth moves around the Sun, and since then we have understood how two bodies move under the influence of gravity.
If there are only two, their trajectories can be predicted billions of years into the future with perfect accuracy. This motion follows clear ellipses, creating complete harmony. But as soon as you add a third body that exerts its own gravitational pull, everything breaks down and turns into chaos. It becomes impossible to predict how they will interact; any forecasts are futile. Even the slightest deviation of a body by a millimeter can trigger a catastrophe.
This problem was brilliantly described by Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin in his novel Remembrance of Earth’s Past, which Netflix adapted under the title 3 Body Problem.
If we shift our взгляд from a regular galaxy to football “galacticos,” we see the same classic three-body problem. Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe are stars too powerful for their gravitational pull on the pitch to be ignored – but when they play together, the game turns into chaos that cannot be predicted.
And this isn’t always a bad thing. For example, in the match against Bayern Munich in Munich, that chaos nearly destroyed the hosts – if only Vinicius had been more precise. But the problem with such a system is that it cannot be reproduced on demand. You never know whether you’ll get a match like against Girona or against Bayern, because the trio cannot guarantee stability. Over time, this results in falling behind Barcelona for two consecutive seasons, despite having superior squad depth.
For a coach like Xabi Alonso, this became obvious almost immediately. “The problem isn’t Alonso. Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham are incompatible. It’s impossible to build a balanced team with them,” The Athletic quoted a source close to the Real Madrid dressing room.
Meanwhile, Alvaro Arbeloa tried to ride the chaos, but his team looked far more stable when Mbappe and Jude were injured, with Arda Guler and Federico Valverde stepping into leading roles. This doesn’t mean the trio are poor players – quite the opposite, they are among the best in the world – but they are simply too big for one pitch.
Speaking ahead of the Bayern match, Bellingham said he can find balance with his teammates, but also pointed out the issue himself:
“My position has changed over the years. With Arbeloa I play a bit deeper. I think I can play in several positions at a high level, and that is both good and bad because I have to adapt. When I score goals, I want to score even more, but I also need to defend, and when I don’t score, I have to help the team and the coach.”
Self-sacrifice is good, but Bellingham also wants to be a superstar – after all, comparisons with Zinedine Zidane didn’t come from nowhere. Mbappe is most effective when dropping deeper and drifting to the left, where he overlaps with Vinicius. Both are fully formed stars who won’t easily change their playing habits. The Frenchman will never become a classic number nine, and Vinicius won’t turn into a simple provider.
So how was this problem solved in the past? Real Madrid are not the first team to have more than one or two stars. If we continue the astronomical analogy, there is the Solar System, where the Sun is so massive that, for a time, its gravity suppresses chaos – creating the illusion that everything moves correctly and according to plan, even though over billions of years everything will change.
It was exactly such massive stars that created a fragile balance in the trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, or Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, where Neymar and Benzema temporarily became more altruistic partners within the orbit of bigger stars – though even they eventually broke free.
For the current galacticos, this is a problem that will have to be solved as early as this summer.
Source: Olga Kravchenko
