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Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Inter Milan | UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is finally back, and Real Madrid take to the field on Tuesday night in a massive matchday one clash against reigning Serie A champions Inter Milan.
The Nerazzurri were on fire domestically last season and have begun the new season as strongly, while Real Madrid’s campaign has been quite a mixed bag so far.
On Tuesday night, Los Blancos will face their biggest test of the season yet, which comes right after their defeat to Real Betis in La Liga.
And the clash will be all the more complicated by the fact that manager Jose Mourinho has some key absences from the squad.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Inter Milan.
Enter the Champions League
For all of Real Madrid’s greatness in the UEFA Champions League over the years, the club have struggled to make their presence felt in the competition in the past couple of seasons.
The past two years have been all about Paris Saint-Germain in the competition, and Luis Enrique’s side are even looking to go after Real Madrid’s historic three-peat at the event this season.
In that sense, and given the team’s poor performances over the past two editions of the Champions League, this season’s edition becomes all the more important and it all kicks off tomorrow night.
Los Blancos have currently featured only in one competition under Mourinho after the Special One’s return, and tomorrow’s game will mark the beginning of a new avenue on their schedule.
With the Champions League anthem set to grace the Santiago Bernabeu once more, Real Madrid must look to treat it as a fresh start in the event and give their all.
After all, they continue to be perennial favourites in the competition, but another stale performance this season could begin to create doubts about whether Real Madrid are indeed worthy of such a title.
A midfield crisis
Real Madrid face a serious midfield crisis ahead of the clash against Inter Milan on Tuesday night, and Mourinho openly admitted to the same in his pre-match press conference.
After all, Eduardo Camavinga, Bernardo Silva and Arda Guler are all suspended for the clash against the Serie A side as they carry forward last season’s sanctions.
Furthermore, Aurelien Tchouameni is only just returning from injury and is nowhere close to being fit to start. He may feature on the bench, but playing from the get-go is close to impossible.
In that sense, Mourinho has only Federico Valverde to count on as a player to feature in the double pivot tomorrow, and he stares at a difficult decision as to whom to field alongside the Uruguayan star.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been rumoured to be a top candidate to play alongside Valverde although Mourinho refused to comment on that possibility.
Another option that has been growing in recent hours is a young name meriting a start, likely either Jorge Cestero or Sergio Martinez.
Given the weight of the game and how important a win is tomorrow night, it remains to be seen how Mourinho addresses the personnel crisis in midfield. He does have his options, but picking the right one from them will not be simple.
Real Madrid’s toughest test yet
There are two mutually independent aspects to the difficulty of the clash that awaits Real Madrid midweek.
The first, and most obvious reason to flag the game as Real Madrid’s most difficult clash of the season thus far has to do with the opponent themselves.
Inter Milan, after all, are the reigning Italian champions and have enjoyed a great start to the new season with three wins in three games domestically.
In those three games, they have scored eight goals and conceded three times. Notably, their most recent clash involved a comeback from 2-0 down to a 3-2 win against Napoli in what was a statement performance.
Beyond that, however, Real Madrid have made the situation complicated for themselves by taking a blow to their momentum at a critical moment in the season.
Los Blancos suffered a 1-0 defeat to Real Betis at the weekend and handed the lead in La Liga to Barcelona after a performance which was disappointing in an attacking sense.
With the spirits in the dressing room at a relative low after that clash, it is not ideal for Mourinho’s men to face Inter Milan in the immediate next game.
It thus remains to be seen how Los Blancos turn up on the night against a difficult opposition at a relatively complicated moment. All eyes will be on the big clash.
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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.
