Scotland’s Caroline Weir on her new life at Real Madrid: ‘I want to win things’
Do a Twitter search for “Caroline Weir” and something strange happens: the mentions are almost exclusively positive. The Real Madrid midfielder, who moved to Spain’s capital from Manchester City last summer has clearly had a positive impact on her new side, scoring 20 goals and establishing herself as creator-in-chief.
“The Spanish lifestyle is a good thing for me,” she says to The Athletic while on a camp with her national team, Scotland, for the Pinatar Cup, a four-team invitational tournament held in Spain last month. The Scots went on to finish third, behind Wales and winners Iceland after a 2-1 win over the Philippines, a draw and a defeat in their three matches.
The international break came during a period of scintillating for Weir for her club. In early February, she scored her first career hat-trick in a 6-1 win at Valencia and by the time she met up with her Scottish team-mates she had also amassed an impressive tally of 11 assists in 27 appearances for Madrid.
One to remember in Valencia
+3 and my first career hat-trick
Un partido para recordar en Valencia! 3 puntos más y el primer hat-trick de mi carrera! pic.twitter.com/wdi1oFMKGE
— Caroline Weir (@itscarolineweir) February 5, 2023
So, was there a part of her that didn’t really want the diversion of an international break?
“Obviously, when you’ve got that kind of momentum, you want to keep going,” Weir says, “but I think this camp has actually come at a good time. We had so many games leading up to this camp, so it’s good to just take a minute and try and recover a little bit because the schedule, and not just the games, but the travel in Spain seems a lot bigger than in the UK.
“Getting used to that is quite a big challenge. Part of you always wants to just keep going and keep that momentum. But I think the smart thing is just to take a bit of time and try to recover a bit physically, and also mentally because it’s been a challenging couple of weeks to stay in that kind of form.”
Real Madrid are currently second in Liga F (short for Primera Division de la Liga de Futbol Femenino) — the top division of women’s football in Spain. Barcelona are five points ahead, having won all 20 of their games so far while building a staggering goal difference of plus 84. Madrid finished third last season, a whopping 30 points behind Barcelona, but there is a strong sense that the gap between the two is starting to close.
The positivity around her domestically is in stark contrast to the situation Weir faces internationally.
In October, Scotland’s qualifying campaign for the 2023 World Cup came to a disappointing end when a 1-0 play-off defeat to the Republic of Ireland at Hampden Park meant they miss their second successive major tournament, having also failed to qualify for last summer’s European Championship.
Two months later, the Scottish women’s national team launched legal action against the Scottish Football Association over equal pay and treatment claims.
In a statement released by players at the time, Weir said: “For so many years we’ve felt an afterthought, and whilst we have seen growth, it’s come as a result of driving our own change. Payments from sponsorship deals overwhelmingly go to the men’s game, and to male players.
“In our current society, this is one example of the outdated prejudice towards one group of players. The national team should be one unified organisation that backs both the SMNT (the men) and SWNT (the women). It should be an elite and high-performing environment that ensures both teams can build success. If shared out equally, there would be a dramatic increase in funding for women’s and girls’ football at all levels that would be transformative.”
As it’s an ongoing case, Weir cannot answer questions about the legal action. But she can talk about the impact of missing out on the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this July and August: “Looking back, it probably took its toll a little bit mentally. I was pretty tired after that camp. It takes a bit of time to get over. It definitely did for me, because I thought we were pretty close. I thought we had a really good chance. So there was a lot of disappointment.”
What is needed for Scotland to get back onto the women’s game’s biggest stages, having taken part in the 2017 Euros and the World Cup two years later? Weir, who also played in four matches for Team GB at the Olympic Games in Japan in the summer of 2021, says: “We just need to keep with our process. We have a clear way of how we want to play and it’s just sticking with that, making the most of the time together and training hard.
“International football has its own challenges. We don’t spend loads of time together, so it’s making these camps really count and focusing on the right things. All the players are eager to do that. We want to be at a major tournament and every day we’re here we’re working hard to help in that process.”
The 27-year-old describes herself as a balanced individual who doesn’t get “too high with the highs or too low with the lows”. When she returned to the pitch with her club side five days after that loss to Ireland, Weir scored twice as Madrid thrashed strugglers Alaves 7-1.
“Football moves so quick,” she says. “You definitely have that disappointment, but we’re lucky that we can go and play a game pretty quickly after it. It shifts your focus quite quickly.”
Weir says her roles for her club and country are not too dissimilar tactically. “It’s always about going forward and trying to create things,” she says. But the way Madrid play does, she admits, afford her more of a free role in comparison to the “more structured” approach taken by Scotland.
Freedom: it’s the word Weir uses to explain how she settled so quickly into a new team, a new country and a new league. “I think it’s being given freedom to play, a lot of trust from the manager — he trusts me and what I see in games — and that gives me the confidence and the freedom to go and express myself and really impact games. That’s why I’m there: to score, to create goals.”
Most key passes in Liga F, via @fbref
1. Caroline Weir, 55
2. Claudia Pina, 50
3. Nerea Eizaguirre, 49
“He wants to grow this team, he wants to go and compete with Barcelona, and in the Champions League. I can definitely see that drive within him. And he’s quite into how players feel in a match. Obviously, tactically, that’s all important, but he likes players to feel free, confident. That’s the most important thing for him.”
Weir had been at City for four years when she decided to move on, despite the club trying their best to hang onto her. There were, she says, several factors involved in the decision to leave a place where she’d enjoyed what she calls “the best years” of her career up to that time, helping City win the FA Cup and League Cup twice each.
“I’d always wanted to play abroad, even from quite early on in my career,” she says, “and I just thought that I’d spent a lot of time in England (also spending a combined five years at Arsenal, Bristol City and Liverpool). I’d had a good time at City but I wasn’t sure if we were going to push on and really go and compete — you know, Champions League, et cetera.
“So I wanted a new challenge. I just thought the time was right. I was 27 and had a decent amount of experience behind me. And I wanted to move abroad and see what it was really like.”
Some might have scratched their heads over her choice of destination.
Real Madrid are only in their third season in their current guise (the Spanish giants took over independent side Club Deportivo TACON in 2020), so do not have the history or background of success of some other big-name European teams.
But as part of her signing announcement, Madrid posted a grainy video of a young Weir doing keepy-uppies in her back garden wearing their iconic white shirt with Zinedine Zidane’s name and number (five) on the back. Growing up in a time when women’s football wasn’t as accessible as it is now, the Real Madrid and France legend was one of her idols.
So, how could she resist the chance to follow in his footsteps?
Guess who… pic.twitter.com/MG3K8cU7dh
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadridfem) July 7, 2022
That is only one part of the story, though.
“I haven’t moved to Madrid for fun. I want to go and compete. I want to go and win things. That was always going to be the next move. Of course, Madrid aren’t as established as other European teams. But I thought when I spoke to them that their ambitions were in line with mine and their investments were in line with a club that I wanted to be part of.
“OK, we’re not going to win the Champions League this season. But I hope that that is in the plans for the next couple of seasons. It was a project that I wanted to be part of, from quite early on. And when I visited the club, a certain feeling that I got from Madrid and no one else was probably why I decided to go to them.”
Weir brought her partner and Skye, her sausage dog, when she made the switch to Spain. “If anyone has a dog they’ll know what it’s like,” she says, “it’s such a consistent thing. My boyfriend and I were together in Manchester and we were really settled there but he was able to move out with me and we’re trying to have a life outside of football.”
Her other half also plays football, she adds, while clarifying that it’s only at Sunday League level. Those things are important, says Weir, in giving balance to her life. “Because football is intense, you’ve got to have things outside of it. I think we’ve got a good balance. The weather, where we live; Madrid itself is super-nice. All those things have helped with the transition.”
The most challenging part has been the language. One thing Weir appreciated most about being back with her Scotland team-mates during the Pinatar Cup was being able to speak English and understand everything that’s going on. “I didn’t learn Spanish at school,” she says. “So I do find the language a constant challenge. I’m doing a lot of lessons and really trying to pick it up. But it’s going to take a wee while for me to pick up everything in Spanish.
“It’s hard when you’re used to knowing exactly what’s going on. Even with training drills, I find myself making more mistakes because I don’t necessarily know exactly what I’m doing. It’s just a process that you have to go through. Anyone who’s moved abroad and doesn’t speak the language will be able to relate to that.”
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+3 and my first career hat-trick
Guess who… pic.twitter.com/MG3K8cU7dh