Real Madrid secured a hard-fought victory over Celta Vigo, with Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior scoring as the eternal Luka Modric became the club’s oldest player to feature in a competitive match.
Saturday’s triumph meant Real Madrid moved back level on points with Barcelona, who play on Sunday (9pm local time, 8pm UK time and 3pm ET) against Sevilla at home, and put Hansi Flick’s side under pressure a week ahead of next Sunday’s Clasico at the Bernabeu.
It also means Carlo Ancelotti has recorded 200 La Liga matches (143 wins, 33 draws and 24 losses) in charge of Madrid, and that his team have now gone 42 consecutive games without defeat in the competition, with the all-time record being Barcelona’s 43.
That’s the good news.
However, behind these good figures, it wasn’t all plain sailing, with Ancelotti admitting his revamped formation didn’t quite work as he planned it.
“Yes, we are having a lot of problems, but the positive things are that we have one point less in the league than (at this point) last season and we are winning while we try to find the right way,” a dressing-room source, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, told The Athletic.
Mario Cortegana breaks down the main talking points from Vigo.
Mbappe stands out amid controversy
On Tuesday, Kylian Mbappe’s lawyer made a statement on French TV station TF1. She said the Real Madrid striker believes he has “nothing to be reproached for” after reports linking him to an alleged rape in Sweden.
The claims first emerged after a report in Swedish media said Stockholm police were investigating an alleged rape in the city and that, as part of the case, officers had visited the hotel where Mbappe and some friends of his stayed during the international break.
“I am not here to comment on speculations. I don’t see him affected at all,” Ancelotti said about Mbappe on Friday. “He has taken advantage of the break to improve his condition a lot and recover from his injury. I see him close to 100 per cent physically and mentally.”
Anyone who saw the Frenchman’s warm-up at Balaidos would not be surprised by his golazo. Mbappe has already scored some great goals in the style of the one he struck in the 20th minute, putting the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area.
He has eight goals and one assist in 12 games in a Real Madrid jersey. Mbappe celebrated his latest by running, hugging his team-mates, and then going to the touchline to drink water and receive instructions from Ancelotti.
Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring Real Madrid’s opening goal (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
But the forward was not entirely at ease and returned to the pitch to start the second half in the same way he had left it at half-time: remonstrating with the referee.
He then continued on the left wing, with Vinicius Jr, with whom he was seen talking in the tunnel, playing centrally. Then they swapped positions and, when Mbappe was in the box and attempted to get on the end of a pass from Jude Bellingham, he had appeals for a penalty turned down after tangling with former Newcastle defender Javier Manquillo.
Mbappe was taken off in the 82nd minute for Dani Ceballos and his gestures from the bench summed up Real Madrid’s fraught end to the game: the attacker was caught asking Thibaut Courtois not to play the ball in order to waste time.
Nonetheless, he picked up another MVP trophy.
Ancelotti’s formation problem
This was Real Madrid’s first game without Dani Carvajal, who will miss the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
There was, of course, a moment for remembering the team’s second captain in the form of a message on the shirts in which his team-mates took to the pitch. “Lots of strength, Dani!” it read.
The absence of the right-back was felt as soon as the game started. There was a big surprise, with Ancelotti using a hybrid formation — in some phases with a back four and in others with Eder Militao, Aurelien Tchouameni and Antonio Rudiger as three centre-backs — and two wing-backs, Lucas Vazquez and Fran Garcia, who replaced Ferland Mendy.
“Bellingham’s position has changed,” Ancelotti said. “The idea was to go in more with him from the second line on the right wing because Celta had suffered in previous games from balls to the far post. We tried Bellingham there, I liked him a lot.
“When the team had the possession, Tchouameni played between the two centre-backs and that’s where we had a problem of balance in the first half because without the ball, he had to get forward. I made a mistake. I didn’t explain it well enough.”
The Athletic asked the Italian coach when he had decided on this system and whether he hesitated, because of the absence of a lot of players, in trying it at Valdebebas during the international window. “It’s not that you have to work on it a lot,” Ancelotti replied.
Carlo Ancelotti tweaked Real Madrid’s system at Balaidos (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
The manoeuvre was also strange because, given that nobody is counting on Jesus Vallejo, Ancelotti only has three centre-backs in Militao, Rudiger and Tchouameni, and the latter is a midfielder.
In any case, the experiment did not work well. Vazquez and Fran Garcia didn’t make the difference in attack. In addition, Tchouameni was lost, which led to further talks between the Frenchman, Militao and Rudiger.
Celta shot more (13-10) and created more chances (10-5) than Real Madrid, and Courtois made more saves (four) than Vicente Guaita (one).
Modric earns a slice of Real Madrid history
Luka Modric made Real Madrid history in Galicia by becoming the oldest player (39 years and 40 days) to play an official match for the club. The record had been held since 1966 by Ferenc Puskas (39 years and 36 days).
“I am very proud to achieve this record and to continue, at this age, at the best club in the world,” he later said.
The Croatian, who is also the player with the most titles (27) in the club’s history, celebrated the milestone in style. Despite being a substitute, probably influenced by having played 180 minutes with his national team in the last week, he left his mark.
He started to warm up when Celta made it 1-1 and came on in the 64th minute, replacing Fede Valverde. He was immediately handed the captain’s armband by Vazquez, as if he wanted to do his bit for the historic images to come.
Two minutes later, Modric read Vinicius Jr’s great run of play to perfection and slipped a pass into the path of the forward, who squeezed the ball past Guaita to make it 2-1. If you include the penalties he has won, the Brazilian has had a hand in 12 goals in 12 games this season.
Luka Modric congratulates Vinicius Jr after the latter’s winning game (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
“I always tell Vini: if you run, balls will come to you,” explained Modric.
Real Madrid’s No 10 gave his all, popping up all over the pitch and even blocking a very dangerous shot from Alfon to prevent the home side from making it 2-2.
Perhaps unintentionally, Ancelotti was the voice of the whole of Madridismo when he said: “It is and has been fortunate for Real Madrid to have this player.”
(Top photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images)
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