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Real Madrid were meant to win it all this season. How could you add Kylian Mbappe to a La Liga and Champions League-winning side and not get better? A super-team had been assembled at Santiago Bernabeu, and with age on their side, they had the potential to become an unstoppable force over the next half-decade or so.
In reality, though, it hasn’t been that easy. Madrid haven’t been worse with Mbappe, but they haven’t quite convinced either. Losses to Lille in the Champions League and Barcelona in La Liga highlighted some key issues in the side. Meanwhile, the retirement of Toni Kroos is proving to be far more significant than many might have expected before the season.
Madrid are now nine points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona – albeit with a game in hand – and find themselves flirting with the possibility of missing out on automatic qualification for the last 16 of the revamped Champions League. Alarm bells aren’t ringing yet, but things are looking a little shaky in the Spanish capital.
Fortunately, there are identifiable problems and workable solutions as Carlo Ancelotti looks to get Madrid back on track…
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Getty Images SportMake Mbappe do more
Let’s make something clear: Mbappe is not having any problems putting the ball in the back of the net. In 14 games for Madrid, he has scored eight and assisted two – a fine mark whichever way things are spun. There remains a prevailing sense, however, that the summer signing really should be doing more.
In truth, it’s been a problem for a while with the France captain. Mbappe is good for 40+ goals every season, but somehow feels incomplete as a player. He is, in effect, the same inside forward he was at 20 years old. There’s been no development here, no marked improvement in any one specific area of his game.
That concern hasn’t really gone away since he arrived in Madrid. For all intents and purposes, Mbappe is doing the the same things now as he did at Paris Saint-Germain, albeit he is starting more centrally to allow for the presence of Vinicius Jr. He still often drifts out to the left, and occupies the wrong spaces, leading to overcrowding.
Off the ball, he is worse. Mbappe has never really been a great runner, and for Madrid, that trend has only continued, as he has regularly been seen to be giving up after his team lose the ball. He doesn’t have to press relentlessly, but Ancelotti needs to get Mbappe to do some sort of defensive work for the team to function.
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Getty Images SportBring the best out of Bellingham
Perhaps the player whose role has changed the most following Mbappe’s arrival is Jude Bellingham. The England international was magnificent during his first season in Madrid, even though the goals rather dried up in the second half of the season after his record-breaking start. That was, mostly, due to a slight tweak in position; Bellingham didn’t get into advanced areas as much as the campaign wound down.
This season, the goals have disappeared altogether. Bellingham is yet to find the net for Madrid, and has instead been operating as more of a peripheral presence in the attack. Clearly with Mbappe and Vinicius ahead of him, Bellingham’s attacking output was likely to drop, but few could have predicted such a steep decline in his goal-scoring numbers.
The appeal of Bellingham is that he can do a bit of everything. He is, in effect, the perfect modern box-to-box midfielder. But he is also 21, and he still makes mistakes as a footballer. Sometimes he tries to do too much, or gets too emotional. That, coupled with the lack of goals, has led to serious questions being asked of Bellingham by some sections of the media.
Ancelotti, then, needs to find a solution that gets Bellingham more involved around the penalty area while still allowing Vinicius and Mbappe space to weave their magic. There’s no obvious way around it, but the Italian has the experience to find a fix.
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Getty Images SportTighten up the defence
While Madrid’s all-star forward line has come under the most scrutiny since the start of the season, a report by Relevo over the weekend insisted that Ancelotti sees Madrid’s defence as the biggest problems area in his team. And while the very best sides defend as a team, there is no doubt that the Blancos’ backline has not been at its best level so far in 2024-25.
Madrid’s defenders have made far too many individual mistakes already this season, leading to a team that generally dominates possession conceding 15 goals in 14 games. Ferland Mendy, for one, was far too easily done by Lamine Yamal in El Clasico. Antonio Rudiger, so solid last year, has been well short of his best and susceptible to the long ball. Eder Militao, meanwhile, still seems to be finding his feet after missing a year with an ACL tear. And at right-back, the problems run even deeper…
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AFPFind a reliable right-back
When Dani Carvajal suffered a gruesome knee injury at the end of October, Madrid were left with a massive problem. Carvajal had enjoyed an excellent 2023-24 campaign, one that saw him finish fourth in the Ballon d’Or rankings. Despite his age and declining athleticism, Madrid still had an elite full-back at their disposal.
Without him, they now look a little lost. Lucas Vazquez is the in-house replacement preferred by Ancelotti so far, and in some ways, he’s a decent stopgap. Vazquez’s work-rate can never be criticised, and he certainly offers plenty of attacking thrust. Still, he is very much a converted right-winger – and often plays like one. His nous in one-on-ones is often lacking, and he was certainly at fault for both Borussia Dortmund goals in Madrid’s eventual comeback win last time out in the Champions League.
The easy solution here, for now, might be to switch Militao to right-back – a position he has played in for Brazil – and drop Aurelien Tchouameni into a central defensive role. Long-term, there might just be a certain Liverpudlian available this summer…
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AFPFind control without Kroos
It took all of 90 minutes of La Liga play to figure out what Madrid’s biggest problem will be this season: the absence of a certain German midfielder who could ping it around in midfield. Kroos was always a big part of this Madrid team, but in his absence, it has become clear just how vital he was.
Without him, Madrid lack a metronome. Everything is either too frantic or too slow. There is no one in this side who can manage space, shift the pieces around, and spread play when needed. Fede Valverde and Bellingham are fine passers of the ball, but hey don’t have the same ‘pausa’ as Kroos. Luka Modric perhaps does, but is wasted in a deeper-lying role. Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga are better used as destroyers, although they might yet develop into more refined playmakers.
Still, these are all options, projects – imperfect fits. There was a sense last season that even when Madrid were defending for long spells, they would always regain control because of Kroos. He could alleviate pressure and start to orchestrate again. Without him, Madrid are a different side – vertical, aggressive, quick. And in some senses, that works. But it can also lead to wide open spaces and vulnerabilities with and without the ball.
Madrid can’t keep it in the same way, so they attack quicker – which then leaves them more susceptible on the break. This is a game of rhythm and controlling space. Without Kroos, Madrid are worse at both.
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Getty Images SportGet the good vibes back
Online fans have joked that Madrid’s success is just down to ‘the power of friendship’, with their ability to find ways to win when all seems lost down merely to the good vibes within the building. Whether it be allowing friends and family into training the day before the Champions League final, or inducing wild celebrations out of his team for a rare day off, Ancelotti has always seemed to create the perfect environment for some of the biggest egos in the sport to thrive.
Madrid have won silverware in every season since Ancelotti returned in 2021. A lot of that success can be attributed to tactical tweaks and clever systems, but Ancelotti’s appeal is that he can also unlock the potential of individuals and unite a team. But that seems missing so far this season.
Whether it be with the loss of Kroos, or the addition of Mbappe, things aren’t quite as harmonious at the Bernabeu. There’s shouting on the pitch, and flailing arms to accompany it. Throw in the saga of the club boycotting the Ballon d’Or over Vinicius’ failure to win, and this does not seem like a happy camp right now. Winning will obviously help improve things, starting with Tuesday’s Champions League clash with AC Milan, but there seems to be something deeper that Ancelotti needs to stamp out before it begins to fester and totally derails Madrid’s campaign.
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