These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found here.
Real Madrid are in control of their own destiny — afforded this luxury through the merit of their own ingenious squad planning. Tuesday’s grand presentation and packed press conference confirmed and reminded everyone: Kylian Mbappe has joined Real Madrid. Words that are clear, and somewhat digestible, until you remember that, um, holy sh*t, Kylian Mbappe has joined Real Madrid — a team that is loaded and has just won the double.
Mbappe is coming off the best scoring season of his career, in what many considered to be a ‘down year’. 44 goals, amid a season where he was initially exiled from the first team at PSG, is nothing to brush off. What got magnified the most: The big games in the Champions League knockouts against Borusssia Dortmund and Barcelona respectively, when he wasn’t at his best; and the Euros, where he didn’t have the same finishing efficiency he normally poses.
But in the Euros he was hampered with a mask on top of a broken nose for most of the tournament, and France were a mess — offensively disjointed apart from the minutes when Bradley Barcola shared the field with Mbappe.
Excuses or not, Mbappe is now a Real Madrid player, and a season to forget, despite the individual numbers, are now behind him. This time around, unlike last summer, he will have a real pre-season, and Pintus will make sure of that.
Real Madrid were the most dominant team in Europe last season. Their 95 points were the most any team put together in the Big Five Leagues. They performed in key moments, and superstars rose to the occasion in the clutch.
That last sentence is what seperated them most from the rest. Heroics in the most emergency situations, both on defense and offense, took the team to the promised land.
But you can always improve. Real Madrid’s xGD (expected goal differential) was +33 — behind Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Arsenal, and Bayern Munich. Real Madrid ended up winning La Liga when Barcelona couldn’t, by some distance. In Europe, they surpassed all those aforementioned teams. Efficiency matters.
But this game is about increasing your margin of error. In the Champions League, Real Madrid’s xGD was +7.6. For comparison, Manchester City’s was a whopping +17.7.
This might sound like a pre-mature (and for some, even shocking) question to ask: Could Real Madrid win the League and Champions League more comfortably next season?
Of course, football is not that simple, not enough, anyway, where you can work out equations that easily.
But those are the expectations that come when the defending champion signs the best player in the world that doesn’t already play for the team. This is closer to Kevin Durant joining the Warriors than it is to David Beckham joining Real Madrid.
Balance. That’s what Carlo Ancelotti has that Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have at PSG, and certainly, the 8000 coaches that managed Real Madrid after Vicente del Bosque in the galactico era, didn’t have.
“I’ll play where the coach tells me. I can play anywhere in a front three, I did at Paris and with France, and Monaco,” Mbappe said in his press conference today. “I just want to be good mentally and physically. I just want to be on the pitch, obviously, and help Real Madrid, I don’t mind where.”
As great as Mbappe is, and as transcendant as his teammates are, it may take time for this to all click.
“I watched the team’s games, you can see it in reality, I know many players, what kind of passes or movements they like,” Mbappe said. “When I talk about adapting, I talk about that, and personal things, I want to adapt into the team. I don’t want to come here, score goals and go home. I want to form part of the team and win as a team.”
The synergy could take time — especially if Mbappe misses the USA pre-season tour.
But some things click fast. There are examples throughout Real Madrid history, of players, who were born to play at Real Madrid, appear in their first game like they’ve been playing here their whole lives. Toni Kroos and David Alaba are recent examples. Adaptation can happen quick.
The case for that to happen for Mbappe is in his playing style. He has played with similar players to Vinicius in his time spent on the field with Neymar and Bradley Barcola. Last season, Vinicius began adapting to more central zones, often tucking into more narrow roles on offense in a 4-4-2. There were games he even gave primary left-wing duties to Rodrygo Goes. The team has somewhat prepared for the arrival of Mbappe to fit into an already existing system. Mbappe’s versatility in the front-three also helps.
“Vinicius is a great player, so is Rodrygo and everyone else at Real Madrid,” Mbappe said of his tactical fit among Real Madrid’s great attackers. “I think great players can always play together. I wouldn’t have any problem to do so. He’s been great in recent seasons and now I arrive and have to adapt to help them to win.”
Today’s press conference and spectacular player presentation wasn’t focused that much around tactics though. That will come later. Instead, one of the biggest spotlights was cast on his Spanish — something both Alex Kirkland and I discussed at length on today’s podcast from the Bernabeu.
Perhaps that’s a surprising talking point to be featured — but I classify it under ‘mentality’.
What struck me most about today’s press conference, amid all the quotes, was Mbappe’s reasoning for learning Spanish, which was so good, that it caught the Spanish media off guard.
“I started learning at school,” Mbappe explained. “I wasn’t the best at school, but I focused on Spanish because I wanted to play for Real Madrid. It’s much easier to integrate into a country if you speak the language. I’ve had coaches like Luis Enrique or Pochettino who speak Spanish. If I make mistakes, tell me, I want to improve my Spanish.”
One more time:
I focused on Spanish because I wanted to play for Real Madrid
Imagine being so sure that playing for Real Madrid is an inevitability, that you focus on learning Spanish as a kid. And then not only learning it and understanding it, but speaking it — not just to one person, but in front of the whole world.
That told me something. Mbappe looked ready to put everything behind him, including the PSG nightmare, to help form something truly special at Real Madrid.
The UEFA Super Cup game against Atalanta is going to be tasty.
