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Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs AC Milan | UEFA Champions League
Real Madrid and AC Milan have not met in an official competition since the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League when they were drawn in Group G of the first stage.
Since then, the two European powerhouses have only played friendly pre-season fixtures – a whopping seven times – but there is not much one can read into the results.
On Tuesday night, Los Blancos and the Rossoneri will meet again in the UCL, this time in a one-off tie as part of the revised League phase. The game will be held at the Santiago Bernabeu but both sides have their reasons to be concerned ahead of the clash.
The Italians have won just one of their three UCL games with their only win being a 3-1 win over Club Brugge in their most recent outing. They sit in 25th place, 13 places behind 12th-placed Real Madrid who have won two out of three games.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs AC Milan.
Time to restart the engine
Real Madrid should have played in La Liga over the weekend, but the devastating floods in Valencia saw the game called off and rightfully so.
The men in white have thus not taken to the field since they lost to Barcelona at Santiago Bernabeu over a week ago and will return to the field tomorrow night afresh.
Recent weeks have not been easy on Carlo Ancelotti’s men, with the defeat in El Clasico being the biggest blow they could have suffered to the worst possible opponent. The scoreline and venue only added salt to their wounds.
Ancelotti’s side, however, cannot complain as they enjoyed close to ten days off after the gutting defeat and should have put the result behind them by the time they take to the field tomorrow.
The race for the top eight spots in the UEFA Champions League is heating up, and having already lost one game in the event, Real Madrid do not have much room for error. A win over AC Milan will thus go a long way in helping them move up the table.
Everything, however, will boil down to how the Merengues turn up on the night and whether they are indeed fresh not just physically but from a mental standpoint.
After-effects of the Ballon d’Or ceremony
If the defeat to Barcelona in the Clasico was not gutting enough, Real Madrid as an institution took a massive hit during the Ballon d’Or ceremony held a week ago.
Vinicius Jr., who was expected to win the award on the night, suddenly saw his stocks fall and Rodri’s rise as the player in pole position, all in the dying hours leading up to the ceremony.
The player’s defeat did not go down well in Madrid and the defending UCL champions cancelled their trip to Paris with no representative eventually attending the ceremony.
The dust has now settled in Madrid and the club seem to be past the events of last Monday. The big question, however, is around whether Vinicius is past it.
Having been snubbed for the biggest individual award in world football, it was certainly not easy on the winger who had planned parties in advance and even had in mind gifting all his teammates Rolex watches.
In fact, Karim Benzema revealed after his conversation with Vinicius that the Brazilian was gutted and not in good spirits.
It will thus be interesting to see how the player turns up tomorrow and whether or not he has used the defeat to fuel his season to greater heights. After all, he has been one of the team’s few bright sparks so far.
Ancelotti’s deduction
It is no secret that Real Madrid have been sloppy all season. While individual brilliance has pulled them out of the waters, it is not a long-term solution and Ancelotti has thus been working hard to find the cracks in his system.
As revealed earlier today, the Italian gaffer has reached the conclusion that the team’s defensive system is the major reason for concern for Los Blancos have been easily penetrable at the back.
With the team often falling apart in defence, oppositions have shown greater impetus towards keeping the ball and it has been visible in all of the team’s recent games.
El Clasico, in fact, was the prime testament to the same as Barcelona’s first two goals at Santiago Bernabeu saw the defenders making fundamental errors to allow the Catalans to score.
The defenders, thus, bear the brunt of the blame for Real Madrid’s uninspired play at the back. However, the manager also sees the lack of defensive contributions from the forwards to be a reason for concern – particularly Kylian Mbappe.
It thus remains to be seen how the manager looks to fill the cracks he has identified, for solidifying the defence will go a long way in helping the team turn their situation around.
Not many saw the result that unfolded at the Estadio de La Cartuja last night coming, as Real Madrid slipped to a shocking 1-0 defeat to Real Betis.
Jose Mourinho made a couple of changes to his team on the night but fielded one of his strongest possible XIs, acknowledging the difficulty of the challenge Los Verdiblancos posed.
The first half ended scoreless, with the visitors completely dominating the flow of the game but failing to convert their chances. After the break, they only upped the ante and pressed higher to break the deadlock.
Almost against the flow of the game, however, Troy Parrott fired from very close range to put his side ahead through a set-piece, and Real Madrid had just ten minutes to find two goals.
A hard-fought ten minutes, a disallowed goal and a missed penalty later, however, the full-time whistle blew with Real Madrid staring at defeat.
Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Betis 1-0 Real Madrid.
A first loss under Mourinho
Real Madrid’s lacunae were visible in the team’s first away clash of the new season when they took home a last-gasp win over Espanyol.
They looked comfortable at home, but it has always been clear that they are not invincible.
A first defeat of the season, in that sense, was always just a matter of time as the team continued to develop under Jose Mourinho, and that setback appeared early in the campaign last night.
The defeat to Real Betis at the Estadio de La Cartuja continued Real Madrid’s trend of struggling away from home and exposed the team’s lacunae to the world once more.
A lot can be said about the refereeing and how the result was harsh on Los Blancos, but the fact of the matter remains that a team with the talent that Real Madrid possesses simply has no excuses to look so blunt in attack.
Jose Mourinho’s men created chances in abundance on the night, but none of the team’s star forwards could effectively finish a single chance.
Kylian Mbappe had a rare off-night and even Jude Bellingham did not score from any of his three shots. Vinicius Jr., Arda Guler, Yan Diomande and Carlos Espi all had their chances, but all failed to bury even a single chance.
In the end, it can be called misfortune, but for Real Madrid to have made nothing of an xG of 3.46 and to miss a penalty in the same game has to be dug into. The players did not play poorly, but the lack of a lethal finish came back to bite them.
Mbappe’s controversial penalty
Real Madrid had a massive chance to salvage something from the frustrating night in the 94th minute when the referee awarded the visitors a penalty that would see them return to level terms.
Kylian Mbappe stepped up, and it was taken for granted that the Frenchman would score as usual. Astonishingly, however, Mbappe did not find the back of the net.
For starters, it must be said that the Merengues have no one to blame but themselves for the defeat to Real Betis, for they could not have had a clearer chance to steal at least a point away from the night.
However, there was a clear element of controversy in the spot-kick that must not be misinterpreted as an excuse.
At the precise moment that Mbappe struck the ball from the spot, a Real Betis player was half inside the penalty area with his foot in the air.
Had the player’s foot been on the ground, the penalty would certainly have been retaken, and had he been outside the area, the save would be deemed completely fair. His foot being airborne, yet inside the box, however, opens up a grey area.
The referee on the night believed that having the foot in the air did not warrant a retake, and saw Real Madrid lose their penalty.
However, there are strong grounds to claim that it should have been retaken as his foot being inside the box takes precedence over whether it was grounded or not.
Had the referee’s decision gone differently, one would have backed Mbappe to come good the second time and Real Madrid would have avoided the defeat.
Alvaro Valles deserves his flowers
For Real Madrid to create seven big chances, have 20 shots and an xG of 3.46, and yet not score is simply absurd. But it happened last night against Los Verdiblancos, and only one man stood in between Real Madrid and the scoresheet – Alvaro Valles.
The Real Betis goalkeeper delivered the performance of his lifetime as he stopped chance after chance and denied the visitors any sight of goal.
In 90 minutes, Valles made a staggering six saves, all of which came from inside the box, and prevented a direct xG of 2.98. In simpler terms, Real Madrid should have scored three goals past him with the quality of chances they had, but he directly stopped them all.
Further, Valles saved Mbappe’s penalty under the highest of pressure in a moment that was simply the crowning moment of his entire night.
On a different night, with a different goalkeeper, the outcome of the game could well have been very different.
Valles, however, deserves every bit of praise he is earning for his performance last night, and even Real Madrid fans have no option but to stand and applaud the shift he put in for ninety minutes.
Hala_Madrid
November 5, 2024 at 10:56 pm
If the coach sees the problem and nothing is being done to fix it on the field, then obviously the players are not listening. It’s time for a change.