Features
Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad | La Liga MD1
Real Madrid’s matchday 1 fixture in La Liga was postponed given the large number of internationals and their late return after the FIFA World Cup, and the team directly played their second match day clash at the weekend against Espanyol.
Their deferred matchday 1 clash is now set to be played midweek, and Real Madrid will be playing host to Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu for the same.
La Real kicked off their new league season in disappointing fashion, losing 1-0 to Real Betis away from home.
Having not even enjoyed a great league campaign last season, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men will be keen on opening their account for the season tomorrow and gaining some momentum.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad.
Back to the fortress
Over three months have elapsed since Real Madrid’s last game at the Santiago Bernabeu which came against Athletic Club de Bilbao in late May.
On that night, Los Blancos had a certain Alvaro Arbeloa on the sidelines in what ended up being his final game as the Real Madrid manager. Dani Carvajal captained the team and bid farewell to the club of his dreams on that night, as did Dani Ceballos who came on as a substitute.
A lot has changed since that fateful day. Tomorrow, the men in white return to the grass at the Bernabeu, and there will be a lot for the fans to process in terms of how the team has been upgraded.
For starters, the clash tomorrow night marks Jose Mourinho’s first game at the Bernabeu back as the Real Madrid manager, and it will be interesting to see how the crowd welcome the ‘Special One’.
Concurrently, the crowd will also witness the new signings taking to the field at the historic venue for the first time.
Marc Cucurella, Real Madrid’s only representative from the World Cup-winning Spanish national team, will be welcomed as a new player by the club faithful while Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Carlos Espi, Ibrahima Konate and Yan Diomande will also look to impress the Bernabeu in their first appearances there.
A lot of the storylines ahead of Real Madrid’s clash against Real Sociedad, thus, revolve around the new-look team returning home for the first time and how the fans will receive them.
Focus on Vinicius and Mbappe
Both Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe started at the RCDE Stadium during Real Madrid’s game against Espanyol last weekend. Neither player, however, managed to leave their mark.
Both players cut out frustrated figures on the night, albeit for different reasons, and looked like a shadow of their best versions. As the talismans of this Real Madrid side, however, they do not have the liberty to continue that for long.
Mbappe struggled to finish off his chances against the Catalan side and made nothing of an xG of 1.53. Needless to say, that is uncharacteristic of him and it remains unclear if the player was not match-fit or had an off-day.
Vinicius, meanwhile, was nowhere close to influential and created no direct or indirect goalscoring opportunities. His dribbles did not carry their usual flair and his link-up play was uncharacteristically poor.
Beyond the fact that both players had individually poor nights, they also showed no signs of synergy or understanding between each other. At this one, it is beginning to look like both players are threatened by the other instead of using their presence to get to the next level.
One of the biggest factors behind bringing in Jose Mourinho was the manager’s experience and ability to bring the best out of players keeping their egos aside.
As Real Madrid prepare to step onto the field tomorrow night, it is clear that there will be extra focus on Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr., both on an individual level and as a duo working towards a common objective.
The Diomande dilemma
Yan Diomande’s transfer to Real Madrid broke several club records as he became the team’s costliest ever transfer in history. With that price tag, however, also comes great expectation – one of which is that the player must be a regular starter and contributor.
For all the hype around Diomande, however, Mourinho started the player on the bench at the weekend and placed Arda Guler in his place instead. Not only did the Turkish star have a good game but he was even the team’s best player by some distance as a creative force and controlling presence.
To add to the situation, Diomande’s cameo after coming on for Guler against Espanyol was woeful and showed no signs of promise.
It thus remains to be seen if Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho reward Guler for his strong showing tomorrow or buy into Diomande’s price tag and see it as fitting for the new signing to start.
After all, removing Guler from the lineup strips the team of their only creative powerhouse, but keeping the Turk on the field denies them from fielding their record signing. Having both stars on the field together, meanwhile, is also complicated given that Jude Bellingham is non-negotiable as the attacking midfielder.
Mourinho, thus, faces a dilemma that he must find a way out of soon.
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.
