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Three talking points ahead of Liverpool vs Real Madrid | UEFA Champions League
Real Madrid are currently one of the most in-form teams in Europe and appear to have it in them to breeze past any side in the top-five leagues.
There are indeed areas where they must improve, but having beaten Juventus and Barcelona just in recent weeks, their confidence is at a high and Xabi Alonso will be proud of the manner in which his team is growing.
Tomorrow night, they lock horns with Liverpool at Anfield and it is clear that the whole footballing world will have their eyes on the game. The Reds, however, have won just two of their last eight games and lost the rest – a testament to their poor form.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Liverpool vs Real Madrid.
A match with a rich history
Real Madrid and Liverpool faced off twice between 2010 and 2017 with their paths only crossing in the Group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2014 during that duration.
Since then, however, the two elite European sides have shared a special rivalry in the competition, and while Los Blancos can boast of the edge convincingly, the games between the two teams have been crackers.
Liverpool and Real Madrid met in the final of the European competition in 2018, and it was the men in white who walked home with the title owing to goals from Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema.
They then went on to meet in the semifinal of the same event in the 2020-21 campaign where Los Blancos won by a 3-1 margin at the Santiago Bernabeu and played out a goalless draw at Anfield to progress to the next round.
It was again a duel between Real Madrid and Liverpool in the final of the 2021-22 campaign of the UEFA Champions League, and on that occasion, it was Vinicius Jr. who netted the only goal to take his team to the title.
They then faced off over two legs in the Round of 16 of the competition in the 2022-23 campaign with Real Madrid winning 5-2 and 1-0 at Anfield and the Bernabeu respectively. Last year, the two locked horns again, with the Reds prevailing 2-0 in the league phase.
Real Madrid’s record, needless to say, is dominant but Liverpool have faced them in two European finals and two knockout phases in recent years. Tomorrow’s game, needless to say, will be another classic.
A poetic return for Trent?
The big story of the summer was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid. The England star, having grown up at Anfield, was expected to be loyal to the team that made him who he was but he opted to sign for the allure of Real Madrid beyond any doubt.
His start to life in Madrid has not been easy, neither in terms of form nor fitness – and the player is in fact just returning from an injury that kept him out for over a month.
Trent’s last game for Real Madrid came back in September against Marseille. He returned to the squad for El Clasico and was on the bench against Valencia but did not see any minutes in either game.
Tomorrow, he travels to Anfield – the stadium he grew up in, developed his skills at, and made a plethora of memories in. To make his return from injury, even as a substitute, at that very venue will be nothing short of poetic.
One can expect a hostile reception for the English international, but it will be a special game for him in every sense of the word.
The start of a long away run
Real Madrid’s schedule in recent weeks has been peculiarly distributed with the team staying at home for over a month now.
Los Blancos’ last game on the road came against Getafe at Coliseum Alfonso Perez over two weeks ago and the team has hosted Juventus, Barcelona, and Valencia back-to-back at the Bernabeu.
Now, the men in white head back onto the road and they will not return back to the Spanish capital for a long time. Tomorrow’s game, thus, marks the beginning of a crucial period for the team.
After the game against Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow night, Real Madrid face Rayo Vallecano, Elche, Olympiacos, Girona, and Athletic Club – all away from home one after the other.
Needless to say, the results over the next month will be crucial to the team’s stance in various competitions and the security of their leads in those events.
Xabi Alonso’s side will thus look to kick-start such a critical period with a win – one that will not be an easy one in any capacity tomorrow.
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.
