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Three takeaways for Carlo Ancelotti from Athletic Club 2-1 Real Madrid
Real Madrid slumped to just their second defeat in La Liga last night as Athletic Club de Bilbao put up a strong showing and took three points with a 2-1 win.
After a goalless first half that had a penalty annulled, Alex Berenguer opened the scoring for Athletic Club in the 53rd minute. Real Madrid had a chance to pull one back 15 minutes later, but it was not meant to be as the effort was wasted by Kylian Mbappe.
Eventually, however, Jude Bellingham found the equaliser in the 78th minute and a comeback no longer seemed out of reach.
A Federico Valverde howler, however, gifted the hosts the lead once more in the 80th minute and sealed the game in their favour.
Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways for Carlo Ancelotti from Athletic Club 2-1 Real Madrid.
A rough start away from home
The past 40 days have seen Real Madrid play predominantly at home. In fact, five of the team’s last seven games across all competitions were at the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of last night’s clash.
With the game at Mestalla called off for unfortunate reasons, the team’s only trips away from the Spanish capital were to Leganes and Anfield. In December, however, they play a compensatory spell away from home.
Last night was the team’s first of four successive and complicated away fixtures and they got off on the wrong foot, returning to square one in terms of performance.
The 90 minutes at San Mames once again featured exactly what the men in white have done so often this season – struggle to dominate games, and the Basque side created the better chances by far.
Ernesto Valverde’s side recorded a higher xG than Real Madrid (1.74 to Los Blancos’ 1.73 which included a penalty) and created as many big chances. While they did not dominate possession, they got into the final third more often than the visitors.
Real Madrid, however, made several individual errors on the night, with the match-winning goal notably coming from a Federico Valverde error that gifted the ball away in a compromising position.
The biggest implication of the result, however, is on the points table where Real Madrid have once again fallen behind Barcelona, and the confidence of the dressing room ahead of away games to Girona, Rayo Vallecano and Atalanta.
Kylian Mbappe continues to crumble
After Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty against Liverpool, he was under the spotlight and was largely criticised for asking his teammates to step up for the spot-kick in the team’s clash against Getafe.
The Frenchman’s decision to offer the kick to Jude Bellingham and then approach Rodrygo only went to show how much he is feeling the pressure at the Spanish capital. If there was any iota of doubt remaining, it all crumbled once again last night.
When Real Madrid won a penalty against Athletic Club last night, Mbappe decided to step up to equalise the score. Not for a moment did he look confident with his strike and his meek effort once again failed to find the back of the net.
In 90 minutes, the Frenchman had three shots on target and missed two big chances and a penalty for Real Madrid. He only completed 22 passes and lost possession a staggering 14 times.
To say that Mbappe is going through a rough patch is an understatement, for he is now seriously crumbling under pressure. It is no longer a question of position on the field but confidence in his own abilities, and his situation is quickly growing into an emergency.
An unimposing midfield
Real Madrid have been struggling across the field all season, but the midfield is one department where they have looked continually unimpressive.
Despite having several big names, the team has always looked weak through the middle of the park and they once again struggled to impose themselves against the Basque midfield last night.
Aurelien Tchouameni returned to the defensive midfield last night and was instrumental in winning the ball back for Los Blancos. However, he was poor in possession and gave away the ball as easily as he won it.
Dani Ceballos, the team’s lone controlling and creative outlet, struggled to dictate the pace of the game and even Luka Modric could not bring the desired impact after coming on.
Federico Valverde committed the error that caused the defeat last night and was far from his best as well. That left just Jude Bellingham to carry the team in midfield. The Englishman was superb, but his lone efforts were not nearly enough to salvage the game.
The dysfunctional department has proven to be the reason for Real Madrid’s downfall time and time again this term as the team fails to build up from the back and link defence to attack. Given Athletic Club’s effective press, the result is not a surprise.
The derby weekend is here as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are set to lock horns on Sunday afternoon at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
After an eventful transfer window and a stuttering start, Atletico Madrid reaffirmed their position as genuine title contenders and have done decently well so far this season.
With four wins, a draw and a defeat to their name, they sit on 13 points after six games.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have only had one defeat and are on 15 points after as many games, only behind Barcelona who sit on a perfect record.
Diego Simeone’s men had a shaky start to the season, but have picked up steam in recent weeks with seven goals scored and none conceded in their last two games.
Given their strong record against Real Madrid at home, they will look to take all three points tomorrow.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid.
A test away from home
It is no secret that Real Madrid’s form on the road this season has been poor, not necessarily for the results themselves but how the team have conducted themselves in away grounds.
For the first time in years, there appears to be a sense of uncertainty around Los Blancos’ ability to produce results away from home.
For long periods in the game, they appear willing to hand over the momentum, and the resultant pressure has seen them collapse.
A last-gasp winner from Carlos Espi handed them the win against Espanyol away from home, and they went on to lose against Real Betis in their second away fixture of the season.
Most recently, they bottled a 2-0 lead against Elche and again required a stoppage-time winner from Espi to take the three points.
Tomorrow’s game, in that sense, is extremely challenging, for it is not only away from home but against an opposition of high quality.
Playing Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano is as challenging as games get, and Real Madrid have an extremely poor record at the venue.
Since 2017, Real Madrid have only won twice at the Metropolitano with three defeats and three draws. Last season, they suffered a 5-2 defeat and the game went on to break the team’s momentum.
Heading into such a tricky clash with an ongoing crisis away from home makes Sunday’s clash very complicated for the Merengues.
Arda Guler has to return
After a long time, Jose Mourinho took the Yan Diomande experiment to the next level and handed the player back-to-back starts for Real Madrid.
Clearly, the new signing still has a long way to go in terms of his adaptation, but he has been promising as an attacking outlet in his few appearances.
Diomande started both against Rayo Vallecano and Elche, but there is a strong case to drop him for the Madrid derby and play Arda Guler instead.
The Turkish international was on the bench against Rayo Vallecano and played as a No. 10 against Elche, with Jude Bellingham rested. Now, with the Englishman set to return, the manager has a decision to make.
Mourinho has made it clear that he wishes to ease Diomande into Real Madrid’s dynamics to reduce the pressure on his shoulders. Fielding him from the start in a derby would contradict that idea.
Beyond that, however, Guler has shown far more utility and promise as an attacking and creative outlet than Diomande, making the right-wing decision quite clear for the manager.
Real Madrid with and without Guler have been two completely different stories this season, and the team will require every last bit of creative inspiration that he has in him to get past Atletico Madrid tomorrow afternoon.
There is also a case for Brahim Diaz to be brought in, and the Moroccan star is also probably ahead of Diomande on the pecking order. Guler, however, stands out as a top option even ahead of Brahim.
Eyes on Vinicius Jr.
For years, Vinicius Jr. has always utilised the big stages to make his statements, for he has been a player to speak through performances and not words.
For instance, he scored a stunning solo goal last season against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup at a time when he was least expected to do so. At that point, he had not scored in 16 straight games, but the big moment called out to him.
It is clear that the Brazilian is not going through his best moment right now once again. The past few weeks have been hard on him, especially after he did well at the World Cup and returned to Madrid with higher expectations on him.
So far this season, Vinicius has only scored one goal in seven games. Beyond the goals, however, he has not looked like his usual threatening self on the flank and has not created half as many chances as he usually would.
Such is the player’s situation that his place in the team is being called into doubt for the first time in years. After all, Yan Diomande can play on the left and showed glimpses of his ability in the previous game.
All eyes, thus, will be on Vinicius on Sunday to see if he can step up to the occasion and make his presence felt when it really matters. He has always been one for the big stage, and tomorrow’s stage is the biggest yet this season.
Hala_Madrid
December 5, 2024 at 2:14 pm
Madrid is too predictable, no timely and proper substitutions, no tactics and strategies. It’s time for a reset and move on from Ancelotti. All clubs have injuries but they find a way to work around the injuries; example, Barcelona, Liverpool. It’s about coaching. Ancelotti is a great coach but we live in the present not the past. He hasn’t evolved with the current state of soccer. He needs to include the young players, especially in positions where the team is struggling. Thanks for the wonderful years.
Hala_Madrid
December 5, 2024 at 2:20 pm
All season long Madrid has looked like a team of group of guys who were picked to play pickup soccer at the park with no coaching and practice.