Only three games into the new season, Real Madrid have already gotten past the first major hurdle of the campaign. With all three opening games being away from home due to ongoing renovations at the Santiago Bernabeu, many expected some points to be dropped. However, the team is flying high after getting maximum points with victories in all three matches.
In addition, there were a lot of interesting things that we wanted to keep our eyes on.
Will the formation change? What is our back four going to look like? How will the new signings do? Obviously, it’s a little too early to answer all questions with absolutes but there were some takeaways that we can hang on to as the season progresses.
So here are three takeaways from Real Madrid’s first three La Liga games:
5. The left-back position? Sorted.
For the past few seasons, there was a lot of debate about the left-back position at Real Madrid. The issue was rarely ever about who should start there but rather, who is the back up? We went from talking about Sergio Reguilon and Miguel Gutierrez to bringing back Fran Garcia or even maybe renewing Marcelo’s contract for another year. The starter was going to be Ferland Mendy and that was a fact the majority seemed okay with.
Now though, things have changed a little. It still looks like Mendy will be starting for Real Madrid in most matches but he struggles quite a lot against teams that prefer to sit back and give Real Madrid the freedom on the ball. On the other hand, he shined against teams that attacked Real Madrid, particularly the ‘big guns’ in the UEFA Champions League last season. He’s arguably the best left-back in the world defensively. Going forward though and being given time on the ball isn’t his strongest suit. You know who does well on the ball though? David Alaba.
In Real Madrid’s latest match, Mendy was on the bench as Alaba took his place in the starting lineup and it was a joy to watch. This isn’t to say that Alaba is the sure starter because running back and tracking the runs of the opposition wingers isn’t the Austrian’s strongest attribute yet Mendy has made a name for himself doing just that. It’s going to be interesting to see how Ancelotti plans to play this out though as we’ll surely be seeing more rotations between Mendy and Alaba as the season progresses.