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Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Las Palmas | La Liga GW 20
Real Madrid have been far from convincing in 2025. After their sloppy win over Valencia, they clung on to a 1-0 lead against Mallorca until the dying minutes of the game where they were lucky to put it to bed.
They then lost against Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup before giving up a 2-0 lead over Celta Vigo to unnecessarily force extra time and scrape through.
Now, they face another gruelling challenge as they take on Las Palmas in La Liga. Considering that the Canary Islands-based side defeated Barcelona at Montjuic not so long ago, they are a serious threat.
Diego Martinez’s side have played with a distinct style and coordinated press all season and both tools place them well to unravel Real Madrid’s weaknesses. Carlo Ancelotti’s men, thus, face a steep challenge on Sunday.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Las Palmas.
One protagonist down
2025 began for Real Madrid with a league win over Valencia at Mestalla. It was far from smooth sailing for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, but they did eventually make it past the finish line, albeit at a cost.
The 79th minute of the game, after all, saw Vinicius Jr. getting involved in a physical altercation with the Valencia goalkeeper with the ball nowhere in sight, forcing the referee to send him off. In fact, the player’s reaction after being sent off made the club fear a long suspension.
Luckily for Real Madrid, the Brazilian winger is only suspended for two games and will be back in time to face Espanyol. Tomorrow’s game, however, is one he must watch from the sidelines.
With their best player suspended, Real Madrid must thus alternative solutions in the final third to keep themselves afloat, especially considering that they have looked uncharacteristically poor in recent games.
For starters, the spotlight will thus shine brighter on Kylian Mbappe who will be looking to step up and prove his worth after slowly getting back into his groove. With goals in back-to-back games, he will be raring for a man-of-the-match display.
Another option for Carlo Ancelotti to consider is deploying Endrick who made the difference for the team in their recent Copa del Rey clash. Knowing the Italian manager, however, he is likely to prefer Rodrygo or Brahim Diaz.
The light at the end of the tunnel
It has been a long road for David Alaba since his ACL injury last year. Over twelve months have passed since the Austrian star went down in Real Madrid’s game against Villarreal and he can now finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Alaba thereafter went under the blade for his recovery and was slated to return towards the end of last year. However, he missed deadline after deadline as his knee took forever to recover and he held on with patience.
The player is now back in Real Madrid’s squad and has travelled with the team for their last two matches. Tomorrow night’s clash against Villarreal may finally be the night he makes his debut for the season.
Ahead of the game, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that Alaba is ready to play a few minutes. He will not start tomorrow but is likely to come on as a substitute in the second half provided the game is going to plan.
The defender’s return comes as a massive boost for Carlo Ancelotti who has been reeling under an acute shortage of central defenders so far this season. Once the Austrian is back to complete match-fitness, he will be Rudiger’s de-facto partner at the back.
A midfield dilemma
Vinicius Jr. is not the only regular starter who will be unavailable for the critical game against Las Palmas.
Eduardo Camavinga suffered an unfortunate injury in Real Madrid’s recent win over Celta Vigo and will thus be unavailable for selection on the night.
Also out of the squad is Luka Modric who misses the game owing to an accumulation of yellow cards in the league.
With Modric and Camavinga both out Ancelotti has big decisions over whom to start in midfield against the Canary Island-based side.
He will likely opt to deploy Aurelien Tchouameni in the defensive midfield given the squad situation, thus opening the door for Raul Asencio to start alongside Antonio Rudiger.
Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham will join the Frenchman in the middle of the park, and Ancelotti will have to decide whether he prefers to go with another midfielder or a third forward.
In case he opts for another central midfielder, the manager must have to choose between Dani Ceballos or Arda Guler. After all, the latter was impressive in his cameo in the cup.
The derby weekend is here as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are set to lock horns on Sunday afternoon at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
After an eventful transfer window and a stuttering start, Atletico Madrid reaffirmed their position as genuine title contenders and have done decently well so far this season.
With four wins, a draw and a defeat to their name, they sit on 13 points after six games.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have only had one defeat and are on 15 points after as many games, only behind Barcelona who sit on a perfect record.
Diego Simeone’s men had a shaky start to the season, but have picked up steam in recent weeks with seven goals scored and none conceded in their last two games.
Given their strong record against Real Madrid at home, they will look to take all three points tomorrow.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid.
A test away from home
It is no secret that Real Madrid’s form on the road this season has been poor, not necessarily for the results themselves but how the team have conducted themselves in away grounds.
For the first time in years, there appears to be a sense of uncertainty around Los Blancos’ ability to produce results away from home.
For long periods in the game, they appear willing to hand over the momentum, and the resultant pressure has seen them collapse.
A last-gasp winner from Carlos Espi handed them the win against Espanyol away from home, and they went on to lose against Real Betis in their second away fixture of the season.
Most recently, they bottled a 2-0 lead against Elche and again required a stoppage-time winner from Espi to take the three points.
Tomorrow’s game, in that sense, is extremely challenging, for it is not only away from home but against an opposition of high quality.
Playing Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano is as challenging as games get, and Real Madrid have an extremely poor record at the venue.
Since 2017, Real Madrid have only won twice at the Metropolitano with three defeats and three draws. Last season, they suffered a 5-2 defeat and the game went on to break the team’s momentum.
Heading into such a tricky clash with an ongoing crisis away from home makes Sunday’s clash very complicated for the Merengues.
Arda Guler has to return
After a long time, Jose Mourinho took the Yan Diomande experiment to the next level and handed the player back-to-back starts for Real Madrid.
Clearly, the new signing still has a long way to go in terms of his adaptation, but he has been promising as an attacking outlet in his few appearances.
Diomande started both against Rayo Vallecano and Elche, but there is a strong case to drop him for the Madrid derby and play Arda Guler instead.
The Turkish international was on the bench against Rayo Vallecano and played as a No. 10 against Elche, with Jude Bellingham rested. Now, with the Englishman set to return, the manager has a decision to make.
Mourinho has made it clear that he wishes to ease Diomande into Real Madrid’s dynamics to reduce the pressure on his shoulders. Fielding him from the start in a derby would contradict that idea.
Beyond that, however, Guler has shown far more utility and promise as an attacking and creative outlet than Diomande, making the right-wing decision quite clear for the manager.
Real Madrid with and without Guler have been two completely different stories this season, and the team will require every last bit of creative inspiration that he has in him to get past Atletico Madrid tomorrow afternoon.
There is also a case for Brahim Diaz to be brought in, and the Moroccan star is also probably ahead of Diomande on the pecking order. Guler, however, stands out as a top option even ahead of Brahim.
Eyes on Vinicius Jr.
For years, Vinicius Jr. has always utilised the big stages to make his statements, for he has been a player to speak through performances and not words.
For instance, he scored a stunning solo goal last season against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup at a time when he was least expected to do so. At that point, he had not scored in 16 straight games, but the big moment called out to him.
It is clear that the Brazilian is not going through his best moment right now once again. The past few weeks have been hard on him, especially after he did well at the World Cup and returned to Madrid with higher expectations on him.
So far this season, Vinicius has only scored one goal in seven games. Beyond the goals, however, he has not looked like his usual threatening self on the flank and has not created half as many chances as he usually would.
Such is the player’s situation that his place in the team is being called into doubt for the first time in years. After all, Yan Diomande can play on the left and showed glimpses of his ability in the previous game.
All eyes, thus, will be on Vinicius on Sunday to see if he can step up to the occasion and make his presence felt when it really matters. He has always been one for the big stage, and tomorrow’s stage is the biggest yet this season.
