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Three talking points ahead of Espanyol vs Real Madrid | La Liga MD 2
Real Madrid’s first La Liga clash of the new season is finally here, and Jose Mourinho and Co. are finally prepared to face and step into the 2026-27 campaign.
Given the summer transfer window that Los Blancos have enjoyed, there is a lot of expectation for them to deliver strong results immediately.
The managerial appointment of Jose Mourinho has only further turned up the heat on the players who are now working harder than ever on both a physical and tactical level.
For the first clash of the new season, Real Madrid travel to Catalonia where they will lock horns against Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.
Last season, Los Blancos picked up a win at the venue but notably failed to register a win in two of the three games prior to that against Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Espanyol vs Real Madrid.
The start of a must-win campaign
Real Madrid and Barcelona have largely enjoyed a duopoly over La Liga in the past, but the results in recent seasons have not quite carried that trend.
Over the past two seasons in particular, Barcelona have dominated in the competition and stepped up their level exactly when required to steer clear of Real Madrid’s threat.
Los Blancos have indeed led the race in both of the previous two seasons, but eventually fell short on both occasions owing to a number of reasons.
Having lost two consecutive La Liga campaigns, there is now serious pressure on Real Madrid to win the competition. After all, they have spent heavily this summer for starters, and to lose three in a row would be a new low.
In many ways, the campaign Los Blancos will kick off tomorrow night in La Liga will be a virtual must-win from the administration’s perspective, and Real Madrid will look to get started with a win.
All eyes on Mourinho’s lineup
So drastic have been the moves made by Real Madrid this summer that the team is barely recognisable on the surface.
From the managerial post to the training staff and the first-team players, there have been numerous changes that Florentino Perez and Co. have overseen, all with the hope of getting the team back on track.
The architect of the project, needless to say, is Jose Mourinho and the manager will look to not only bring back Real Madrid’s intensity but also their dominance.
Tomorrow’s clash against Espanyol, in that sense, is the first time the world will get a look at Mourinho’s plan for Real Madrid. There will be special focus on the manager’s formation, dynamics, tactics and even substitutions to outline how the season will flow.
The lineup the manager chooses for the first game, after all, is a reliable indicator of where various players fit on his pecking order, and Mourinho has some massive decisions to make on that front.
For starters, there is a battle between Trent Alexander-Arnold and Denzel Dumfries at right-back; Dean Huijsen, Antonio Rudiger and Ibrahima Konate at centre-back and Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga for the deep midfield.
Mourinho’s selection of personnel, thus, will speak volumes and help fans decode the plan he has in mind to take Real Madrid back to success.
A night of debuts
Real Madrid went all out to bring in new players this summer and sealed a total of six arrivals over the past two months.
Ibrahima Konate, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Carlos Espi, Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella have all arrived as new signings and have all made their debuts for Real Madrid in at least one pre-season friendly.
Tomorrow’s game, however, will be special for the aforementioned six players on a completely different level. After all, it will be their official debut for the team which will go down in the history books.
It remains to be seen if any of the new arrivals start the clash against Espanyol on Saturday night. Diomande, Dumfries and Cucurella are expected to have the highest chances of starting while Bernardo Silva also retains a positive chance.
For Konate and Espi, however, the official debuts will likely arrive off the bench based on the game state and the manager’s dynamics.
Fans, needless to say, will have their focus fixated on the adaptation and performance of the new signings who feature.
Five games into the new season, Real Madrid are firmly placed second in the La Liga standings with 12 points to their name. Only Barcelona with a perfect 15 sit ahead of them.
The one game Los Blancos dropped points in was against Real Betis, and they went on to turn the tables in their very next game against Rayo Vallecano with a 4-1 win at the weekend.
One cannot help but notice, however, that the team have struggled in both their away games so far this season – first a 2-1 win over Espanyol at the death and then a 1-0 defeat to Real Betis.
Tomorrow, they take on Elche in their third away game of the season, and there will be serious pressure on them to get a convincing result and do away with the away myths.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Elche vs Real Madrid.
Arda Guler deserves the start
Real Madrid’s performances this season have not always been the most convincing, but they manage to find a way to come out on top. The game against Rayo Vallecano was more of the same.
Los Blancos did well in the first half to drag away with the momentum, but they suffered after the break as the visitors began pressing and creating chances. Out of fatigue, Real Madrid struggled to keep up.
Everything changed, however, after Arda Guler was introduced off the bench. Replacing Yan Diomande, the young Turk took matters into his own hands and began creating chance after chance for Real Madrid.
All of a sudden, Los Blancos began controlling the game better than before and overtook the opposition’s dominance, making the final phase of the game easy.
Over all of the team’s games so far, Real Madrid have performed significantly better with Guler on the field. While he has played primarily on the right wing, there is also a growing sense of understanding that he could be the Kroos and Modric replacement the club needs.
In any case, the player has merited a starting spot in the team at this point, and he must be in the XI tomorrow night, likely replacing Diomande on the flank once more.
Mbappe’s away scoring record
Kylian Mbappe has been one of, if not the most important attacking assets for Real Madrid so far this season. He won the Pichichi award last season and is even one of the favourites for the Ballon d’Or.
There is, however, a surprising fact about the player’s goalscoring form that has gone under the radar. It is, needless to say a shocking one and has to do with his form scoring goals away from home.
As matters stand, Mbappe’s last goal away from home in La Liga came back in early February this year. It was at Mestalla against Valencia, and the player has not scored on the road in the league ever since.
After that game, Real Madrid played away against Osasuna, Mallorca, Real Betis and Sevilla and the forward did not find the back of the net on any occasion. Even in Europe, he only scored once away against Bayern Munich.
This season, the team have already played against Espanyol and Real Betis, and Mbappe did not score on either night. Notably, he has scored in all four home games in the meantime.
Having not scored away from home in La Liga for over six months, Mbappe will be keen to turn that record around tomorrow.
Preparing for the big test
The first massive domestic test for Real Madrid is set to take place this weekend when Los Blancos lock horns with local rivals Atletico Madrid in the season’s first Madrid derby.
In that sense, the clash tomorrow against Elche will be the team’s final match practice before the derby and becomes all the more important in terms of gauging the team’s preparation.
At this point in the season, Mourinho does not have a whole lot figured out in terms of his preferred ‘big game XI’ barring the usual suspects in Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham.
The midfield and defence, in particular, remain a grey area in terms of the manager’s pecking order and tomorrow’s game may serve as an early audition for the first big domestic game of the season.
Dean Huijsen, Ibrahima Konate and Antonio Rudiger have all featured as starting centre-backs for Real Madrid so far, and the situation at full-back is not very different.
Denzel Dumfries and Trent Alexander-Arnold have both enjoyed starts at right-back while Marc Cucurella and Alvaro Carreras both have the manager’s trust at left-back.
Similarly, there is a battle in midfield for a starting spot in the double pivot between Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga.
Deciding which of the players are higher up on the pecking order, thus, is crucial ahead of the derby and that decision may well be based on tomorrow’s performances.
