Real Madrid played out a fairly entertaining 0-0 draw against Milan in a friendly on Sunday evening. Both teams came close to getting the ball into the net, but because of either bad luck or good goalkeeping, it remained goalless throughout the game. Real Madrid created the majority of the chances but it seemed like Milan was the team that came closest to scoring the goal in the first half.
Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was forced into action quite a few times. He had to save a penalty, and a great shot from long distance by Gareth Bale — who had a great outing in Austria. He also saw Isco’s shot go just wide, and saw Modric rattle the crossbar in the second half.
Of course, there were highs and lows from this game. Even though it was a draw, I noticed a lot of good things from this Real Madrid side, but it’s about as clear as day that this team has work to do, and it showed that they were missing some of their most important players.
But, what was it that stood out? Which player impressed me the most, and what things had me worried about the next season?
Alaba’s tendencies to strive forward were on display
David Alaba recorded his first game as a Real Madrid player against Milan. He partnered Nacho Fernandez in the heart of the defense, and played on the left side of defense, as expected. One thing I noticed straight out of the gate was his composure when he had the ball. To be fair, Alaba is primarily a full-back, so he had to be great on the ball. He had a few decent interventions. It was a good performance from the Austrian, but obviously, nothing special since he only played 45 minutes in a friendly.
But there was definitely something that caught my eye. It was something that depends on other factors to decipher how much worried one should be about it. Of course, since Alaba was a full-back for the most part at Bayern Munich, he spent a lot of time striving forward and helping the attack out. Well, we noticed that at times against Milan. He provided overlapping runs a couple of times to support Rodrygo there.
Now, obviously, that was something we noticed with Sergio Ramos as well. It’s not uncommon for a Real Madrid centre-back to join the attack. As long as Ferland Mendy starts, it’s not that big of a worry. But, if you throw Marcelo into the mix, it really creates a mess.
We’re well aware of Marcelo’s imperfections, so it’s not a surprise that most Real Madrid fans want him to stay on the bench and let Ferland Mendy and Miguel Gutierrez take over the left-back position, because they track back and help the defense, as well as contribute to the attack.
With Marcelo in the line-up, the whole left side becomes vulnerable when both the Brazilian and Alaba go forward. It leaves a huge gap in the defense, and that’s not really ideal. Ancelotti will have to think about this, because it has the potential to become a huge problem during the season.
Real Madrid’s youngsters balled out
Since it’s a pre-season friendly, a number of youngsters from the first team and from Castilla were bound to get minutes to impress the boss, and there are no surprises here: a number of youngsters simply balled out against Milan.
To start with things, Rodrygo Goes is just so fun to watch on the left-wing. He didn’t score or assist this time around, but was always a threat to Milan’s defense and his surging runs caused a lot of chaos. He made some great runs behind Milan’s defensive line, and although he could’ve done a few things better, the Brazilian showed yet again that he deserves to play regularly for Real Madrid.
Vinicius Jr came on in the second half and honestly looked really good. He looked sharp, explosive and went past his marker with ease. He combined with his teammates on the flank, and tried to create chances; Usual Vinicius stuff, but it looked a little more polished than last season, and it was really fun to see that.
Miguel Gutierrez came on late in the second half, but had a good cameo. His decision making is well beyond his age, and the Spaniard showed his talents once again. He had a few decent touches, a couple of great feints to get through the press and just played really well all around. I was a little disappointed to only see him play for 45 minutes, though, but it was a friendly, so it makes sense.
Apart from these players, Sergio Arribas did well too. It would’ve been great to see him being more involved though, as he didn’t get the ball as much as he would’ve liked.
Sloppy performance defensively from Real Madrid
During Zinedine Zidane’s second stint in charge of Real Madrid, he enforced defensive stability as a way to neutralise the effect Ronaldo’s departure had on the team’s performance. Real Madrid conceded the least number of goals in 2019-20, and then had the second-best record last season. It became the new normal. Opponents generally found it really difficult to score against Real Madrid, and Los Blancos — more often than not — found a way to get the ball into the net.
But, that doesn’t seem like something that we’re going to see all that often this time around. Obviously, it depends on the players that are actually playing the game, but the defense just looked distorted in this game, at least in the first half. Milan were able to break through the defense many times, and huge gaps were seen in the middle of the defense quite a few times, similar to the game against Rangers.
Of course, losing two defensive pillars like Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane will have its consequences, and at the end of the day it was just a friendly, but from what we can see, Ancelotti and the team have a lot to work on, clearly. Of course, I’m not that worried, but if this is any sort of indication for what’s to come, Ancelotti will have to figure this out sooner rather than later.