Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid | La Liga GW2

Only four teams walked away with three points after Matchday 1 of La Liga, one of which was Real Valladolid. Paulo Pezzolano’s side began their league campaign with a 1-0 win over fellow newly-promoted Espanyol.

Matchday 2 sees them up against Real Madrid, the defending champions, who will be overwhelming favourites.

The game will be the first match at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, and the men in white will look to take inspiration from the last time they faced the same opposition at home. After all, they scored six goals on the night and decimated the visitors.

The last time Real Valladolid beat Real Madrid was back in 2008 and the Merengues will look to keep up their unbeaten streak against the opposition with a sixth straight win over them.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid.

Pushing for a first win

Real Madrid’s season may have started off on the right note with a win over Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup. Their title defence in La Liga, however, did not start half as well.

Taking on Mallorca at Estadi de Son Moix last weekend, Real Madrid only managed to salvage a draw and take home one point from the season curtain raiser.

Mallorca indeed played an impressive game and even had the better chances on the night. A draw, thus, was only fair for Los Blancos as they started the new La Liga season on the wrong foot.

Tomorrow, the men in white will take to the field at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time in the 2024-25 campaign and the pressure will thus be on them to bring home the first three points in La Liga.

With Barcelona, Valladolid, Celta and Rayo Vallecano all starting off with wins, Los Blancos must look to strike back at the earliest and there will be no better way to announce their return to winning ways than a statement display at home.

An unfortunate injury

Jude Bellingham exploded onto the scene for Real Madrid last season and was a force to reckon with, especially in the first half of the campaign.

His form relatively tapered during the tail end of the 2023-24 season and his performances at Euro 2024 were not much better. After his lean patch, however, he looked to be in fine form in Los Blancos’ first games this term.

After stupendous performances against Atalanta and Mallorca, however, the youngster has suffered a muscle injury and is expected to be out for one month. Needless to say, the development changes a lot in Ancelotti’s narrative.

With his star midfielder unavailable, the Italian tactician must identify the right profile to take his place on the field. His options, as it stands, are Luka Modric, Brahim Diaz and Arda Guler.

The manager might opt for one of the younger options against Real Valladolid and may thus opt to start Modric on the bench. His dilemma, however, lies between the two young names.

While Guler has stood out in recent times with his quality and attacking presence, he has not received much attention in Real Madrid’s opening games of the season. From a profile standpoint, however, he ticks all the necessary boxes.

Diaz, meanwhile, is more of a hybrid No. 10 and winger who can also play in midfield. The Moroccan star, however, did a fine job in replacing Bellingham when needed last season and is a relatively experienced name.

It will thus be interesting to see which candidate Ancelotti prefers for it will likely have a massive bearing on the result.

Focus on the defence

The biggest takeaway from Real Madrid’s clash against Mallorca last weekend was around the defensive performance and the manager did not have kind words for the team’s performance in that regard after the game.

Ancelotti openly lashed out at his team’s sub-par defensive performance on the night and the back-four were regularly broken by Mallorca’s attacks and appeared out of sync.

The focus tomorrow, thus, will be on Real Madrid’s defence and whether or not the department features any tactical tweaks against Real Valladolid.

Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger, thus, must tighten up their seatbelts tomorrow while there will be an equal emphasis on Dani Carvajal who will be up against Lucas Rosa.

The left-back position, meanwhile, endures a further complication as Ferland Mendy misses the game through suspension after seeing a red card in the previous game. Fran Garcia, thus, will step into his place and will be under pressure to deliver.