Matches
Bellingham, Guler start in a 4-2-3-1: How Real Madrid can line up against Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid will face their toughest test of the season so far on Sunday as they take on Atletico Madrid at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Matchday 7 of La Liga.
The Merengues head into the game with five wins in six league outings, seated second in the standings behind FC Barcelona, who have won six in six so far.
Real Madrid’s latest game ended in a 3-2 win over Elche, courtesy of a stoppage-time winner from new signing Carlos Espi.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, are fourth in the standings, with 13 points from six games, and head into the derby on the back of consecutive 3-0 victories over Real Sociedad and CA Osasuna.
Los Blancos have not enjoyed the best of record on their visit to the Metropolitano in La Liga in recent years, and Jose Mourinho will be keen on bucking that trend and picking up all three points heading into the international break.
Leading up to the derby, Real Madrid continue to be without three players in Eder Militao, Rodrygo Goes, and Ferland Mendy.
Having made a few changes to the lineup for the trip to Elche, here’s how Mourinho could set his Real Madrid team against Atletico tomorrow.
Defence
Thibaut Courtois remains the undisputed starter between the sticks for Real Madrid and will be in for a hostile reception as is the case every time he plays at the Metropolitano.
Meanwhile, at right-back, summer arrival Denzel Dumfries is expected to come into the side, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold, having won the battle for the first-choice right-back.
On the opposite side, World Cup winner Marc Cucurella is likely to continue ahead of Alvaro Carreras, despite the latter impressing on his last start against Rayo Vallecano.
Dean Huijsen, back into the Spain squad after missing the World Cup, will pair up with Ibrahima Konate at centre-back.
Midfield
Aurelien Tchouameni made his first start of the new season against Elche, having fully recovered from his injury.
The Frenchman is seen as an integral player by Mourinho and his staff in order to provide balance and stability to the team. As such, he is expected to feature from the get-go again in the derby.
Partnering Tchouameni in the centre of the park will be club captain Federico Valverde, who has been a permanent fixture in the team under the new manager.
As far as the attacking midfield role is concerned, Jude Bellingham is expected to return to the lineup after being rested by Mourinho against Elche. The England international has made a brilliant start to the season and will be key for Real Madrid to come out on top in the derby.
Attack
As for the attacking unit, there will be a change on the right flank with new signing Yan Diomande expected to drop out of the team after back-to-back starts.
Instead, Arda Guler, who has excelled under Mourinho this term, will take up the position, from where he will look to create chances for his fellow attackers.
Kylian Mbappe will spearhead the attack for Real Madrid, while Vinicius Jr. will take up his usual place on the left wing. The Brazilian will need to step up after a few underwhelming displays so far.
Features
Clean sheet at last, Vinicius’ moment of madness | Three takeaways from Real Madrid 1-0 Villarreal
Real Madrid took all three points against Villarreal on Saturday night to get back on track after the international break, and thus ensured they did not continue sinking after the defeat at the Madrid derby.
Jose Mourinho made some bold decisions in his starting XI as he benched Vinicius Jr., playing Yan Diomande on the left-flank and Arda Guler on the right flank.
The dynamics worked out decently well, and it was eventually the new record signing who scored for the club to hand them the lead and the win.
Compared to performances before the international break, there was an improvement in terms of Real Madrid’s level, but the team are still far off from where they must be to make a strong case to be title contenders.
Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Madrid 1-0 Villarreal.
The struggle continues
All of Real Madrid’s season so far has been of struggles and difficult wins, and the same theme continued last night as the team returned from the international break.
Los Blancos have failed to look convincing for a long time now, and they did not dominate Villarreal in any capacity last night as well.
Continuing with the same theme of winning by narrow margins and scraping past the finish line, they registered yet another 1-0 win that did not leave anyone convinced.
Yan Diomande’s goal was the only positive takeaway from the night, and even that was made possible only after a narrow offside decision went in their favor. With the firepower they have, struggling to create chances to such an extent seems inexcusable.
With a difficult month ahead, last night’s game did not give fans any reason to believe matters have changed after the international break. At this rate, the coming month could be a bleak one for Los Blancos.
Vinicius’ moment of madness
Of all the events that transpired at the Santiago Bernabeu last night, the most memorable one was the incident involving Vinicius Jr.’s goal, and embarrassingly so.
Having seemingly scored a great goal ten minutes after Diomande’s opener, the Brazilian star was on his way to celebrate the achievement, but what unfolded thereafter was embarrassing.
The VAR found an incident of Vinicius pulling the hair of a Villarreal player for no apparent reason in the build-up to the goal, and at this point there can be no arguments defending the player’s behavior.
As one of the biggest names of one of Europe’s biggest clubs, there has to be a sense of responsibility in one’s role – something Vinicius simply does not seem to have. What he did last night was simply inexcusable.
A lot can be said about VAR’s selective interference, but what cannot be argued is that what Vinicius did last night was a clear red card offense.
He will now miss El Clasico and will serve at least a two-game suspension. Whether that is a boon or a bane for Real Madrid, at this point, remains unknown and only time will tell.
A clean sheet at last
Ahead of last night’s win over Villarreal, Real Madrid had only overseen one clean sheet in eight games across competitions.
In that sense, simply keeping the opposition from scoring last night was an achievement in itself for Los Blancos, and it could not have come at a better time.
Real Madrid entered the game without many of their regular defenders available, especially with Dean Huijsen suspended and Eder Militao and Raul Asencio out through injury.
Ibrahima Konate and Antonio Rudiger, thus, started in central defense on the night and both did phenomenally well for Los Blancos. They were joined by Alvaro Carreras and Trent Alexander-Arnold, both of whom complemented the duo well.
The right-back was a relatively weak link defensively, but Konate and Rudiger were spot-on with their reading of the game to keep the Villarreal attack from scoring. They both did eventually pick up yellow cards, but Villarreal finished the game without a single big chance created.
Finding defensive stability, which is the cornerstone of Mourinho’s project, is massive for the manager, and he will be pleased to have a new working formula.
What happens after Huijsen’s return, however, remains to be seen, as the manager may well like to hand the new duo some more chances to prove their consistency.
