Features
Three talking points ahead of Schalke vs Real Madrid
Just over a week remains for Real Madrid’s first official game of the new season and they will take on Espanyol in their La Liga curtain-raiser.
Ahead of that big clash, however, the club do have one final pre-season friendly scheduled for tomorrow evening, and it will be against FC Schalke.
The past week has been a critical one for Jose Mourinho and Co. as they finally welcomed back the World Cup heroes and completed their squad for the new season.
With Real Madrid’s transfer window also likely done, the manager now has a full-strength dressing room at his disposal and the game against Schalke will be the first of a new era in that sense.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Schalke vs Real Madrid.
The big names return
Real Madrid’s pre-season campaign so far has revolved around academy players, non-internationals and internationals who returned home early after suffering heartbreak at the FIFA World Cup.
While some names like Federico Valverde, Arda Guler and Denzel Dumfries have been available from relatively early in Mourinho’s dynamics, the bulk of the team’s core arrived much later.
Vinicius Jr. and Endrick returned for Real Madrid’s latest friendlies, but other big names including Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham have come back only in recent days.
The duo who made it to the World Cup semifinals returned to training earlier this week, and are in the squad for Real Madrid’s clash against Schalke tomorrow.
All signs point to Mbappe playing some part in Gelsenkirchen in what comes as a massive boost for Mourinho’s plans. After all, the Frenchman is the centrepiece in attack and the team is, quite clearly, built around him.
Also expected to feature is Bellingham. Despite uncertainty over his participation in recent days, word has it that the player is in top physical condition and will indeed be able to slot back in as a starting midfield option for Mourinho.
A debut for Diomande
Yan Diomande arrived in Madrid as a new signing ahead of Real Madrid’s friendly against Ferencvaros, but did not make it to the squad for that clash owing to a lack of match fitness. He was also not called up for the subsequent game vs Deportivo La Coruna.
In under a week, however, the player has returned to speed and is now seen to be prepared to put on a Real Madrid shirt for the first time in a game. Needless to say, it will be a momentous occasion.
Diomande’s big-money move this summer made him Real Madrid’s most expensive signing in history, and such a price tag undoubtedly arrives with a certain scale of expectations and a lot of pressure.
The young winger is already said to be impressing in training, and all signs point to him starting against Schalke in the club’s final pre-season friendly. Needless to say, he will be eager to showcase some of his talent before the high-stakes games arrive.
More importantly, it will be interesting to see Diomande’s chemistry with the likes of Mbappe, Bellingham and others, for that could well dictate how the player’s first season at the club will progress.
The new-look defence completed
Real Madrid’s summer transfer window largely revolved around defensive signings, and it has been clear from day one that Jose Mourinho’s focus was on the backline.
The club went all-out in making signings for the defence, bringing in Ibrahima Konate, Denzel Dumfries and Marc Cucurella to Valdebebas in a matter of weeks.
So far, only the Dutch star has made his debut for Real Madrid and has already impressed with his quality and defensive resilience. Konate and Cucurella, however, are yet to make their debuts.
Having returned to the club’s pre-season camp earlier this week, both stars have been called up for the friendly tomorrow and are very likely to receive their debuts in the team’s final pre-season clash.
It will thus be a momentous occasion for both Konate and Cucurella. The former will look to convince the manager of his quality and stake a claim for a starting spot while the latter will look to prove why he is a deserved World Champion and starter for Real Madrid.
At some point in the game, it is very likely that Dumfries, Konate and Cucurella share the field at the back and that Real Madrid see an almost completely new defensive line fielded under the new manager.
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.
