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Three takeaways from Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan
The festival called the UEFA Champions League returned to the Santiago Bernabeu last night as Los Blancos hosted Inter Milan in their very first game in the competition this season.
Jose Mourinho had massive selection dilemmas in midfield, and eventually opted to start Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside Federico Valverde in the absence of Arda Guler, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga.
That experiment did not work out, and Real Madrid consistently lost the midfield battle on the night. Yet, they managed to capitalise on moments of individual brilliance and hold on to a 2-1 win to register their biggest win of the season yet.
Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Madrid 2-1 Inter Milan.
Two lucky goals
Real Madrid did not take long to go 2-0 up against Inter Milan last night, but that had more to do with the visitors’ sloppy defence rather than Los Blancos’ brilliance.
The men in white started the game pressing well, but Inter Milan looked very shaky in possession. They made two errors in the first 20 minutes, and Real Madrid capitalised and converted both.
Kylian Mbappe’s opener came off a moment of mayhem between Inter Milan’s defenders where the ball was left in no man’s land. Brahim Diaz pounced on it and played it through to the French forward, who made no mistake.
Minutes later, Federico Valverde directly dispossessed the goalkeeper with his press and deflected the ball into the back of the net, making it 2-0. Those were the only goals Los Blancos scored on the night.
While there is nothing wrong with capitalising on defensive errors and using that to lay the foundation for the win, the fact remains that Real Madrid were largely unimpressive throughout the 90 minutes. Inter Milan committing those errors, needless to say, was lucky for Real Madrid who rode on them to take three points.
Thibaut Courtois saves the day
Despite Real Madrid taking an early lead and even having the home advantage, it was Inter Milan who dominated large parts of the game and kept the lion’s share of possession.
At one point, it looked like Jose Mourinho’s men did not even bother having possession as they sat back and defended, hoping to break on the counter and convert.
That plan, needless to say, led to Inter Milan seeing a lot of the Real Madrid goal and putting serious pressure on the hosts’ defence.
Dean Huijsen, Ibrahima Konate and Marc Cucurella all had strong games at the back, but in the end, it was Thibaut Courtois who saved the day for Los Blancos.
The Belgian goalkeeper made a staggering seven saves for his side on the night including two from inside the box. Inter Milan’s finishing was indeed poor, but Courtois’ greatness stood out and ensured Real Madrid held on to their tight lead.
If not for the veteran goalkeeper, Mourinho’s men could well be staring at defeat. Their performance, after all, was unimpressive and Inter Milan had some big chances to equalise denied by Courtois.
Three massive points
The team’s performance against Inter Milan was not convincing, and that will be something for Mourinho to dig into and look to improve.
What Real Madrid will be pleased about, however, is taking all three points away from the night, for they are absolutely massive from the point of view of the competition.
Inter Milan represented one of Real Madrid’s biggest challenges in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League alongside Arsenal, and to take three points from one of their two elite opponents is worth its weight in gold.
They still have Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig, LASK Linz, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk and AEK Athens to come, and Real Madrid will back themselves against most of the teams in that list.
Taking three points in one of their two most difficult games will go a long way in tying them down to a top-8 finish if they can win the easier clashes while also handing them some leeway for a potential defeat at some stage in the competition.
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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.
