The defending European Champions, Real Madrid, return to action in the UEFA Champions League tonight, marking the beginning of what can be a special season for them.
Already having 15 titles to their name, it is clear that Real Madrid are gunning for their 16th with as much fire as they did their first. The young and motivated core under Carlo Ancelotti, after all, is rightly considered one of the best squads in Europe.
With Kylian Mbappe and Endrick adding to the UEFA Champions League-winning team from last season, there is every reason to be terrified of Los Blancos this season.
Concurrently, however, they also lost a few key names in Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandez, and Joselu who were vital in their charge to the title last season.
Tonight, Real Madrid mark the beginning of their new campaign at the grand Santiago Bernabeu. Their opposition, VfB Stuttgart, have never played against Los Blancos before making it a special occasion.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League curtain raiser.
New year, new format
Real Madrid are just less than 12 hours away from opening their campaign in the UEFA Champions League. Unlike previous iterations, however, there will be no group stage this season.
The new format of the competition has done away with the concept of closed groups and has opened up a new league stage where every team will play eight different opponents.
Thus, there will be no reverse fixtures like last season with Real Madrid facing every opponent either only at home or only away.
VfB Stuttgart are the first opposition for Los Blancos but they have been in a rich vein of form in recent games, scoring fifteen goals in their last four and will thus pose serious problems to the men in white.
For Real Madrid, the game marks the beginning of a competition that is special year after year for the club – a new beginning that Ancelotti will hope motivates the team to better their performances.
An urgent need to step up
Real Madrid’s game against Real Sociedad at the weekend was one that the Merengues should have lost by a sizeable margin purely in terms of performance.
Two penalties helped them take three points but it is clear that the win would not have left a good aftertaste for the dressing room who are used to winning purely based on merit.
Los Blancos have been a shadow of their last season’s selves from the very beginning of the 2024-25 campaign and it is clear that something is off.
The team’s attack has not been half as potent as last season despite the arrival of Kylian Mbappe. While the Frenchman’s adaptation hurdle is understandable, Vinicius Jr. has not been his usual self in attack either.
Defensively, however, the story is not much better. There is a serious need for the men in white to step up in all departments across the field and play better as a group and there can be no better occasion than the UCL curtain-raiser.
With six more games scheduled in under three weeks, Real Madrid cannot bank on fortune to pull them through. There is simply no time left and the team must step up now.
Vital injury returnees
Real Madrid have been walking on thin ice in the midfield department in recent weeks, especially without Eduardo Camavinga and the recently ruled-out Dani Ceballos. Earlier this week, Brahim Diaz was also confirmed to be out for the long term.
As confirmed in Ancelotti’s pre-game press conference, however, both Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni have recovered from their injuries and are available for selection tonight, handing the manager a massive boost to his plans.
With the first-choice duo now back, Ancelotti will look to make big changes in the middle of the park to get them back to match fitness.
Tchouameni is expected to start in the defensive midfield position against the Germans while Bellingham will start as one of the interiors. He will likely be joined by Federico Valverde who can stabilise the ship when out of possession.
With the regulars back, it will be interesting to see what kind of role Arda Guler receives in the team.