Tag: Real Madrid

There has been heavy criticism of new Real Madrid signing Kylian Mbappe since his dream move to the Santiago Bernabeu, and although some have tried to label the move as a mistake already, the reality is that Mbappe hasn't been as poor as the media perception would have you think. Yes, he's had some awful performances, including against Barcelona and Liverpool in the Champions League, and it would be fair to assert that if he were not such a big superstar, he wouldn't even be starting for Real Madrid over other players. But Mbappe has been far from the only player underperforming at Real Madrid this season, and even at his worst, he is still one of the better forwards in LaLiga with 8 goals in 13 games and an impressive 2.7 dribbles completed per game. So while Mbappe has been a di...

Liverpool are 'strongly interested' in signing Benfica left-back Álvaro Carreras, according to a report from O Jogo. The Reds haven't made that many signings in recent months, but it feels like a move for Carreras could change that as they are pushing to sign him, especially after his performance in Benfica's stunning (and satisfying) 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid in early October. Carreras was one of their best players, and it has left an impression on many top clubs across Europe. The report says that Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United are also among those interested in signing the highly-rated full-back who has taken Portuguese football by storm in the last couple of months - playing the most outfield minutes out of everyone in the current Benfica squad - and it seems lik...

Even though Zinedine Zidane only spent a total of five seasons as a manager - all for Real Madrid - he was so good at turning a great squad into unstoppable titans that his first stint in Madrid alone is enough to rank him as one of the best managers in the modern game. Zidane was a phenomenal player who dazzled for two elite European clubs, Juventus and Real Madrid, and shined even brighter on the international stage for France as the champion of the 1998 World Cup. At Real Madrid as a manager, Zidane three-peated the Champions League, left, and then came back and rescued a falling Real Madrid. He immediately won LaLiga in 2019/20 and set the team up for a return to Champions League dominance in 2021/22. There were so many things that made Zidane a great manager, but one of the m...

After a statement-making 2-0 victory over Real Betis prior to the September international "break", Real Madrid will face another top side in LaLiga next weekend, Real Sociedad. La Real have begun the season with just one win in four games, ranking 12th in the league with four points. However, Real Sociedad are traditionally a tough opponent for Real Madrid and Champions League contenders. Plus, they will be at home this Saturday night. Real Sociedad have a number of great players in their starting lineup, but the benchmark for any player is being good enough to make the Real Madrid squad, as they are the clear defending champions of Spanish football. There may only be one player on Real Sociedad who has a legitimate chance of actually starting games for Real Madrid - even then tha...

Winning the treble is seen as the ultimate feather in the cap for an elite footballing institution. Since the Champions League era began in 1992, only five teams have won the treble, which consists of winning the domestic league, domestic cup, and the most coveted prize of them all, the UCL. Those clubs are Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Inter Milan. No Ligue 1 side has won the treble and only the Premier League has more than one treble winner. Meanwhile, Barcelona and Bayern are the only clubs to have won multiple trebles in their histories, and it is this fact that Barcelona fans love holding over Real Madrid. See, Real Madrid have never won the treble. Even though they have won the most Champions League titles in history, recently picking up t...

Football fans had already bid farewell to two of the best midfielders of the 2010s and early 2020s, Thiago Alcantara and Toni Kroos, as the former Bayern Munich and LaLiga icons decided to retire. Thiago's exit came after injuries robbed him of a true farewell in the Premier League with Liverpool, where he showed flashes of the player who so expertly guided Die Roten to the 2019/20 treble. Meanwhile, Kroos left world football on top, having shined as Germany's best player at Euro 2024 after conquering LaLiga and the Champions League one last time for Real Madrid as a six-time career UCL champion between the Royal Whites of Spain and the Reds of Germany. Now, world football will say goodbye to a legend on equal footing of Thiago and Kroos, with a pedigree of longevity that will ena...

Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world by Champions League titles, incoming revenue, and social media followers. In order to reach that level, you pretty much have to nail most of your big transfers. That has definitely been the case for Real Madrid over the last several windows, as they have brought in no-doubt world-class players like Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, Arda Guler, Jude Bellingham, and now Kylian Mbappe for free. However, before that, Real Madrid had more mixed success in the market, and that came back to bite them with a few poor seasons in the Champions League that were very un-Madrid like, such as early exits in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons. Real Madrid had a few ghastly transfer errors as a result of desperate move...