Real Madrid started their title defence in La Liga on Sunday with an away game against Mallorca. For many around the world, it was a game where the Galacticos 3.0 squad that Madrid has built will play in La Liga for the first time. It was expected for Madrid to win the match with ease. But Mallorca’s players had other plans. A truly valiant effort throughout the game ensured that the game ended 1-1, with Mallorca winning their first points in La Liga.
While it was a David vs Goliath matchup, it was still being treated as a high-profile matchup all around the world. It was Kylian Mbappe’s first game in the Spanish league. But that’s just it. Nothing special came off it, neither for Madrid nor for Mbappe. And in just their second match of the season following their UEFA Super Cup win, teams have seen a weakness in the way Madrid play. With such calibre in attack, Madrid managed just 13 shots throughout the match, just one more than what Mallorca managed.
Kylian Mbappe created 0 chances and had 4 shots with 0 dribbles, 0 goals, 0 assists. The first goal of the match was finessed into the far post by Rodrygo after Vinicius Jr set him up with a back roll. Mallorca’s striker Muriqi responded with a header from a corner early into the second half.
Since then Mallorca imposed a strict Defensive low-block tactic into the game which allowed them to defend Los Merengues’ repetitive attacks much better. There were many instances when the whole Mallorca team was within 15 yards of the Penalty box closing gaps and passing lanes for Madrid’s attackers. For the majority part of the match, Madrid controlled the game with Mallorca finding ways to counterattack and be aggressive with long balls.
So how did a team of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo, and Jude Bellingham, not find a second goal in the match?
Vini Jr – Kylian Mbappe Conundrum at Madrid
While Vini Jr and Mbappe both, are incredible individually, they present a tactically unique problem when playing together at Madrid. The problem boils down to their Archetypes. Both are pacy players, who love to cut inside to their right foot, and also make runs at the back of the defenders, are excellent in 1v1 situations, and are clinical finishers. Well, this tells us that both players excel when playing on the left wing, especially with a Striker who can engage with centre-backs, someone like Joselu.
In the current Madrid setup, while attacking both players often occupy the same or similar areas and hence get congested with the ball at their feet, especially against weaker opposition who try and keep a compact low-block/ mid-block always. This is exactly why after a certain point it became so easy to deal with the two differential players in the game against Mallorca.
If Real Madrid wants the two players to contribute at their best, Carlo Ancelotti needs to come up with a solution for this conundrum as soon as possible.
