Real Madrid won the UEFA Super Cup for a record sixth time as they beat Atalanta 2-0, with goals from Fede Valverde and Kylian Mbappe. It was a fairly decent performance from Real Madrid, but the second half was much, much better and more lively than the first. Real Madrid started clicking more and more, and it led to two good goals from two great players. Here are three quick observations to start the season — I’ve missed this!
Jude Bellingham, rejuvenated
Jude Bellingham is back, and he is better than the last time you saw him play. The English superstar played his first game since the Euro 2024 final, and looked like someone who could do no wrong. Everything he did was excellent; off the ball, on the ball, dribbling, defending, chance-creating, you name it. He looked like someone who was in mid-season form (and shape!), while in reality, he did not even have a preseason.
Bellingham looked like he needed this rest, because last season, towards the end and during the Euros, he looked drained; he looked like someone who had played 50+ games in a season and had almost nothing left to give. Bellingham came back strong, and the rest definitely helped. Not just that, a new role has given him more freedom to create chances from deep — which means more ball-carrying, and more dribbling: He completed five dribbles last night, a feat that he only achieved once last season (seven vs Atletico Madrid).
That seems predominantly because he used to be in very advanced positions when he was receiving the ball. Now, Bellingham starts very deep and gets to advanced positions with the ball and creates chances for his teammates. Keep an eye on how this progresses during the season.
Fede Valverde’s role this season will have a huge impact on the team’s ceiling
Real Madrid weren’t really good in the first half, but they dramatically improved in the second. Bellingham upped his game, and the team followed suit. But there were some things that Carlo Ancelotti needs to look at, and there were a few other things which were neither right nor wrong, but rather just interesting observations.
The sample size is not enough, but we saw some new roles for other players. First of all, Valverde was doing more possession-based work than he used to last season, and there is also something worth noting about how this would impact Real Madrid’s gameplan in the long run, because this version of Valverde will have more workload in possession and offense, and he would also be expected to cover just as much for Dani Carvajal — after all, that is one of the biggest reasons why Real Madrid were so successful last season.
I still think that the best system for this team at this moment is the diamond, which indicates slightly less quality in the offense but it gives the team more balance and coverage with four midfielders instead of three, but this is not half bad, either.
Changes in build-up and pressing
There was a quote from Valverde recently which was interesting: “Those of us behind [the forwards] will run for them.” That checked out against Atalanta: Real Madrid played a higher line than they used to against good teams, which led to more pressing in the final third, especially from players like Carvajal, Valverde, and Bellingham. It gave Real Madrid more room to be devastating on the counter, and even though some of the sequences did not work out, the ideas were there, and with time, this team could become an unbeatable force. That much is clear.
One more thing about the way Real Madrid played: They relied on short passing a hell of a lot more than they have in the past. We’re so used to seeing Toni Kroos play those cross-field switches to Carvajal, this time around, Real Madrid did not try much of that. In fact, Real Madrid only attempted 37 long balls throughout the game, and they completed 12 of them, most of which was Courtois trying to play it long.
To put it into context, the lowest mark Real Madrid last season had in that regard was 43 attempts against Bayern Munich (29 completed), most of which were not because the goalkeeper tried to lob it to the attackers. It’s not a bad thing, just a different thing; interesting to note.
All of these observations are on an amount of sample size that is not enough, but it is nice to keep track of these things and see how they develop or disintegrate over the course of the season. Real Madrid have an exceptional squad. If it wasn’t the best in the world on paper last season, it probably is now. But, there are a few things they need to fix to make everything work. That will happen in time, it takes a little while to figure things out, but once it does...