VIDEO: Toni Kroos’s wonderful assist was not enough for Real Madrid’s Vinícius. The latter concludes its preparations with a second consecutive loss

In the night hours of European time, Real Madrid and Juventus faced each other in a preliminary match. The Italian club won 3:1 and Real Madrid concludes its preparation with its second loss in a row.

It has been a summer of change for Real Madrid. Perhaps more than they would have expected before the end of last season. Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Eden Hazard and Mariano Díaz left the club.

On the other hand, the club’s supporters may have been delighted by the arrivals of players like Brahim Díaz, Fran García, Joselu, Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham.

It was the departure of Karim Benzema and the arrival of Jude Bellingham that led Carlo Ancelotti to change the formation that his charges now have to get used to during the preparation. The only typical spike striker has left Real Madrid and another midfielder has arrived.

The Italian coach has therefore abandoned his classic 4-3-3 formation and switched to a 4-4-2 system with four classic central midfielders and two central strikers, whose role should be fulfilled by Vinícius Jr. and Rodrygo. Joselu, who after his arrival can be considered as the only spike striker by profession at the moment, should serve mainly as a revival of the game from the bench.

The White Ballet have played four preliminary matches. Of these, they have twice enjoyed victories, which came against AC Milan, when they turned around the unfavourable trend of the match, and against Manchester United.

The preparatory matches also included the famous El Clásico, which Barcelona dominated 3:0. Real Madrid lost their last match against Juventus 1: 3. The Spanish side’s only goal was scored by Vinícius Jr. after a wonderful pass from Toni Kroos deep in his own half.

Carlo Ancelotti remains positive despite the last two defeats and said in his post-match interview that he is happy with the preparation. However, he needs to work on the defensive phase as the defenders are still getting used to the transition to the new system.

However, looking back at the statistics of both games, it is clear that Real Madrid need to work on converting chances as well. In the two games combined, they produced 52 shot attempts. Of these, 15 went straight at the goalkeeper and only one shot was successful.

Source: Twitter, Livesport