The new 2024/25 La Liga season started on Friday August 16th, 2024, with a bag of mixed results. Barcelona came from a goal down to win Valencia, while Ath Bilbao were held to a draw. But, perhaps, the shocker for everyone came in the late Sunday clash between Real Mallorca Vs Real Madrid. Against all odds, Mallorca held Madrid to a score draw, a result that left neutrals, fans and bettors shocked beyond words.
Admittedly, “this is football and anything can happen,” some will say, but, common. Have you taken a good look at this Real Madrid side? That’s a galactico side right there. The team is loaded to the teeth with arsenals even Arsenal Football Club could never dream of.
Club President, Florentino Perez, went all out and secured one of the best football talents in world football. On one hand, you’ve got French talisman, Kylian Mbappe arriving on a free transfer, albeit, a whooping 150million sign-on fee. Then, there’s one of football’s brightest youngsters, Endrick, arriving from the Brazilian league. Add that to the firepower they already possess—Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and others and you’ll start to see the reason the draw looked more like a loss and why football fans were left shocked by the weekend result.
When the transfer frenzy started in the summer and there was a loud buzz around all the potential incomings, a minority of football fans, despite all the razzmatazz, had one silent question to ask: “What if these guys don’t click together?” A funny question to ask of an all-stars assemblage, but, a very note-worthy one. It is one thing to buy all the ingredients from the market and another entire different thing to be able to turn those ingredients into a delicious meal everyone would feast on and hail.
To start with, the positions some of these incomings occupied tended to clash with those the already established stars thrived in. Let’s take Mbappe, for instance: Quite alright, he started his career as a number 9, but, he has since moved on to the wings, the left-wing to be precise. Compare that with the left-wing position Vinicius has hitherto occupied since dislodging big name, Eden Hazard, from the first 11, and you’ll start to understand why some fans worried over this potential clash of roles. Can Mbappe slot in at 9 again, or, does Vinicius get consigned to the bench? The former options seemed like the more reasonable one.
Then, there is Jude Bellingham, a player who played a sort of false 9 role last season, having the freedom to roam around all central positions and popup to score decisive goals. His position was also going to have to be tweaked to accommodate Mbappe and, to some extent, the young Endrick. The world waited to see how this panned out. On paper, the team looked like dynamites, but, in reality, sometimes, explosives don’t blow up if the wires don’t connect proper.
The first worrying sign that these galacticos might not click together was in the first half of the UEFA Super Cup game Vs Atalanta, played earlier in the week. The stars looked sort of disjointed and lacked any real cutting edge or togetherness like the team from last season that gelled so well. The second half, however, banished those thoughts as Mbappe opened his goal scoring account and Madrid ran out 2-0 victors. Hmm! Fans rested easy for a bit and returned to the All-stars hype of invisibility.
The Mallorca game, however, brought everyone back to reality. While Madrid won the first-half this time out, Mallorca equalized in the second and, even though Madrid had 40minutes or so to find an equalizer, they never did. Mbappe fluffed his lines once, Mallorca cleared on the goal line in another sequence, but, generally, Madrid, for the first time in a long while, looked too individualistic. It appeared everyone was trying to be a Magician in their own circus. There was no team cohesion; just individual stars trying to light up the sky by themselves.
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After this draw, the question now remains: Is this a mere blip on the road, a temporary setback, or, an early warning sign that this All-star team is heading off the cliff even before the journey has truly commenced? Which omen do we trust in?
In all of this, one thing I always reference to is precedence. When in a limbo, I like to look back at the past as an indicator of what might possibly happen in the future if not corrected. Now, this is not the first time Real Madrid will be assembling an Avengers team. In late 2000s, Perez assembled all the Captain Americas and Hercules he could lay hands on. Hell! Sneijder, Van Der Vaat, Huntelaar, Michael Owen, amongst others, arrived to team up with Figo, Raul and so many other already established stars. The result of this: They were an epic failure, an underachievement of mind-boggling proportion. None of the stars clicked and eventually a large chunk of them got sold off.
Is it going to De Javu or, was that just a one-off incidence that has no bearing on present happenings? I am m really confused which to think. I, personally, love Real Madrid and their Head Coach, Carlo Ancelotti. The man is such a father-figure and very likeable. Add his experience, tactical know-how and dynamism and you’ll swear that there is no Manager more capable of bringing out the best from this team bar him. But, then again, the nagging signs just won’t fade away. It’s just there, beating like a tap full of leaks and reminding you of doom.
I do not want to a Prophet of doom, neither do I want to be a fanatic who dives in senselessly, head-on. I want to be as rational as I can possibly be when weighing this Madrid conundrum. On that note, I will, conveniently leave it for time to judge. In the meantime, I will thread with caution and tamper excitement with retrain. This Madrid team might go on to fall apart. On the other hand, they may well go on to weather these early storms and become the Giants that trample upon every rival this season. Only time will tell.
