What did Real Madrid show with Bilbao? A spectacular competitive debut and a mainstay without form

Real Madrid played their first competitive match of the new season at Athletic Bilbao. The unpleasant home team could not resist the Madrid stars and lost 0:2. But what did the opening match show Real fans?

Fantastic Bellingham

It was his competitive debut at his new club. Big things are expected of him. At Bilbao, he showed why Real didn’t hesitate to pay more than €100 million for him. He was almost inseparable from the ball, he dared against the odds, he dished out passes, he stopped clean breaks from the opposition, he even scored a goal. Jude Bellingham was named man of the match and no wonder. This is exactly the kind of performance fans expect.

Carvajal’s performance exceeded expectations

Dani Carvajal started with the captain’s armband on the right edge of defence. Before the season, Carlo Ancelotti said he didn’t want to strengthen this position. Fans were almost taken away as his performances were poor in the previous few years. He wasn’t as strong at the back, nor was he as prominent up front, and most importantly, he was often injured.

There is no adequate replacement for him, only the versatile Nacho can play here. But with the captain’s armband he seemed to come alive, he was consistent defensively, supporting the attack, setting up chances. He was simply everywhere. He set up the first White Ballet goal for Rodrigo.

Valverde out of form

Federico Valverde has been a key player for the team over the last two seasons. But already the pre-season preparation did not catch the Uruguayan in a footballing mood, Saturday’s performance was also not optimal. He covered a large part of the pitch with his running, but he lost the ball a lot.

He broke up passes too often for his standards and hardly got into the attacking third of the pitch. Fans are used to better performances from him. Of course, not every footballer has been in form his whole career, so it’s only a matter of time before Fede gets back into it.

Real’s young midfield has convinced

Carlo Ancelloti probably surprised the football world by leaving Modric and Kroos out of the starting line-up. In the middle of the pitch, the young stars of the current squad came in. Tchouameni as a defensive shield, Camavinga and Valverde in front of him and Bellingham under the strikers.

Tchouameni excelled in the space in front of the stoppers. Camavinga provided the movement and didn’t let the opponents breathe. Enough has been written about the other two. Real Madrid have thus oxygenated the air in the midfield a bit and icons Modric and Kroos will probably only get into the lineup in key games or in rotation.

Fran García better than Mendy

In comparing these two players, the fact that Mendy is more of a defensive far-back and García is more offensive plays a major role. Last season didn’t work out so well for Mendy and there were calls for a change, which came. Fran Garcia is a buyout from Vallecano. He has stood the test of time. Above all, he pursued Bilbao’s strikers with his speed and although he was not at his best positionally at times, he put out the nascent fire with his speed.

Vini’s position at the top does not suit him (yet)

Vinicius Junior, currently the team’s biggest star, the player with the magic number 7. For the new season he has to accept a new role. The position of a spike striker. In the match against Bilbao it was obvious how he is not used to this position. He’s more suited to playing on the wings. He has more space there and doesn’t have to play with his back to goal so much. If Vinicius does not perform positively in this position, Ancelotti should consider playing on the wings.

Source: Real Madrid, LaLiga