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Barcelona and Real Madrid are supposed to play on the 26th of October at Camp Nou. However, the current situation in Catalonia, with riots everyday trying to burn down the city and causing multiple incidents in the capital, might change the plans. La Liga asked to play at Santiago Bernabéu the first leg, but they are also thinking in changing the date.

On Monday, the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced to jail to some of the politicians involved in the illegal referendum that took part on the 1st of October in 2017. Soon after that, independentist radicals started causing riots all over Barcelona, difficulting the access to the airport, cutting down highways and burning down containers.

At the very same time, FC Barcelona published a press release asking for dialogue and showing their discrepancy about the sentence. Piqué said he was “proud” of his club, and legends like Guardiola and Xavi criticized openly the sentence talking about “shame” or “Spanish is not a democratic country”, even if both played for the Spanish national team and get huge sums of money from non democratic countries.

Now, the radical independentists have called to a general strike on Friday and a huge demonstration on the 26th of October, the day of El Clásico. The government is not sure that they could guarantee the safety of Real Madrid, and they don´t want El Clásico to be a show for the radical independentists.

La Liga and the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) don’t want El Clásico to be played in that date, and Real Madrid don’t want to play the first leg in their stadium. Therefore, they are talking about moving the clash for the 18th of December, hoping that everything will be calmer in Catalonia.

The club of Barcelona is not helping to calm down the situation in the region, after the press release, especially having in consideration that the sentence was taken by a democratic and public court in an European country, with all the guarantees for the prisoners. Now, Real Madrid, who have never mixed politics and sports, have to suffer the consequences of irresponsible behaviour by the managers of the biggest rival.

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Real Madrid will aim to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2019/20 campaign when they take on Mallorca in Palma on Saturday. Los Blancos sit top of the table after winning five and drawing three of their opening eight La Liga games. They are the heavy favourites to beat Mallorca, but the bookmakers remain unconvinced by Real Madrid’s ability to overhaul Barcelona and lift the trophy this season.

The top sportsbooks make Barcelona the odds-on favourites to win La Liga for the third time in a row, while Real Madrid are 7/4 underdogs. That is despite Ernesto Valverde’s men losing two of their opening eight games. However, Lionel Messi is now back from injury and Barca is up to second, just two points behind Real, after winning their last three matches. They finished 19 points clear of Los Blancos last season, so the odds are perhaps understandable.

Yet Zinedine Zidane is now back at the helm, the club spent a record-breaking €300 million in the summer and they should be capable of wresting the title away from Barcelona. They have made a shaky start to their Champions League campaign, but their form in La Liga has been strong. They now have a big enough squad to compete on multiple fronts, and they are blessed with a great blend of youth and experience, which should prove to be crucial to their chances of success this season.

Zidane started Eden Hazard, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale behind Karim Benzema in their 1-0 win away at Sevilla last month. Three days later he went with Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde and Lucas Vazquez behind Luka Jovic in a 2-0 win against Osasuna. Benzema, Hazard and Bale were back for the draw away at Atletico, highlighting Zidane’s ability to shuffle his pack when fixture pile-ups occur.

Real Madrid has also kept three clean sheets in their last four games. That is a distinct improvement on the defensive struggles they endured last term, and Real could really thrive this season if Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane form a strong partnership. They are two of the world’s best defenders, so they really should be able to lead their team to plenty of clean sheets.

Much depends on Zidane’s man-management ability. He turned around a struggling team during his first stint as manager, turning an underperforming group into European champions three times in a row. That is a testament to his ability to get the best out of these Galacticos. His handling of the Gareth Bale situation has been questionable, and it might pay dividends to put an arm around the Welshman and get him back onside.

Real have badly missed Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals ever since he left for Juventus last summer, and it is clear that Hazard will not be able to fill the void. The Belgian is a great player, but he is more of a creator. Instead, it must be a collective effort. Benzema has made a magnificent start to the season, vindicating Zidane’s efforts to keep hold of him. But Bale is the player with Real’s ranks that can score goals for fun, soar past defenders, fire in long-range strikes and decide tight games with a moment of magic.

If Zidane can get Bale pulling in the right direction and tighten Real’s defence then we could be in for another glorious season. Los Blancos typically start sluggishly in the Champions League group stage and then come good in the knockout phase of the tournament. This squad is packed with players that know how to get the job done in Europe and in La Liga, and they can earn more respect from bookmakers and pundits alike by playing to their full potential over the next few months.

“I’m going to fight right until my last day because I enjoy what I do and feel as if I’m up to it,” said Zidane ahead of his team’s 4-2 triumph over Granada. “We’re not such a bad state as people outside of here say we are.” The Frenchman will always be under pressure as Real manager, but he has a unique ability to thrive under it, while also commanding the respect of some of the world’s greatest players, and it is time for him to use those famous man-management skills and challenge for silverware.

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International break is always painful for Real Madrid interests. Many players have to travel around the world to play international games, sometimes even friendly games in the case of the Brazilians, and some of them come back with physical problems. This is the case of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, who finished their game with physical problems and might miss El Clásico or the Champions League clash against Galatasaray.

Wales and Croatia played on Sunday a very important game for the qualification to the Euro 2020. Gareth Bale actually was one of the best players of the match and scored the equaliser in the injury time of the first half. The problems arrived in the last minutes of the clash, as both players had physical issues.

Modric had to leave the pitch after seeing a yellow card for a hard foul. The Croatian hit very hard the opponent and couldn’t walk the rest of the game. Luckily, Spanish press published later that the Croatian midfielder has only a painful bruise in his leg, so he should be able to recover for the next games. Remember that Modric was out 16 days after having a muscular problem early in the year.

On the other hand, Gareth Bale could finish his game, but he wasn’t able to run and walk properly in the last minutes of it. Ryan Giggs, in press conference, said that Bale “suffered a small cramp but he wanted to continue”. Both are going back to Spain and will be treated by Real Madrid doctors.

All these issues in the midfield could develop as an important problem for Zinedine Zidane. Toni Kroos will be out of the pitch for two weeks, so the options are very limited at this time. Casemiro needs some rest after playing all the games, and also travelling with his national team. So now Isco and James Rodríguez, who stayed in the Spanish capital, will be needed in the line-up to reinforce the midfield.

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We all know that the Galácticos time was a special era at Real Madrid and in football in general. Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo Nazario, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Raúl González, Guti… everybody in the same dressing room with different managers and with different outcomes as well. Many years later, Roberto Carlos reveals some of the crazy things they did.

The Brazilian defender, now Real Madrid ambassador and commentator at Real Madrid TV, spoke about some of the rules they imposed to the managers. Vicente del Bosque, the most successful one and winner of two Champions League, is the best, according to Roberto Carlos: “We didn’t need rules. The player knows what to do. He understood us perfectly. Monday trainings sessions were at 17:00, and sometimes also Tuesday. He didn’t schedule them at 11:00, because almost nobody arrived on time”, the Brazilian said.

Vanderlei Luxemburgo wasn’t very lucky at Real Madrid as he was sacked only few months after his arrival. These are some keys of what happened: “In the second game in La Liga, after arriving to the hotel, we were used to leave the luggage and have a beer or a glass of wine. On the table there were always two bottles of wine. Ronaldo and I told him ‘Professor, people here has their habits, you’ll see them, but try not to change them. Do not remove the wine bottles or the beers before the dinner because we will have problem. What did he do? First, he removed the beers and then the bottles of wine. He stayed three months”.

Even less time in the club stayed José Antonio Camacho, who resigned only a few days later after taking the job: “He arrived to the dressing room, greet everybody, with a very serious face and with his history behind Real Madrid. I only watched what he was going to say. He said: ‘I want everybody here tomorrow morning at 7:00am’. Normally we trained at 10:30. We spoke with him to try to change the schedule, we had our habits”.

Finally, Roberto Carlos spoke about the kind of life they were having in Madrid: “After every game, there were only private jets. We all met in the private terminal at Barajas Airport. Beckham, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, myself… And we had to train the day after tomorrow. I was praying for the games to be in Saturday so I could go to the Formula 1 on Sunday. There were private flights to everywhere. Something crazy”.

“Today I think: How was it possible that we did all these stupid things?”, Roberto Carlos asked himself in the Portuguese TV in front of Vitor Baia. Now we can understand why this team didn’t win many more trophies….

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We are now in the second international break during the season and it’s time to make a balance after the first two months of competitions. Real Madrid fans cannot be happy after the performances of the team but there is some shed of hope after the first 8 games in La Liga despite the bad results in the Champions League.

Pessimistic and optimistic people have reasons to defend their positions after the first two months of competition. Los Blancos are very inconsistent in their game and have suffered a very painful defeat against PSG in the Champions League, competition at risk after the first two matches. However, the team is also topping the table in La Liga and have visited some tough venues without a defeat.

Zinedine Zidane keeps making tests and there are some positive outcomes. Fede Valverde looks ready to start important games, whereas the attacking line with Hazard, Bale and Benzema start to look shape. Besides, Casemiro is stronger than ever, whereas Toni Kroos is better than last season and James Rodriguez is committed to the job. These are the reasons for the optimistic.

On the other side, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane continue making many mistakes in the defense line. The goalkeeper is not helping a lot -no matter if it’s Courtois or Areola-. Besides some players are still not showing a great shape. Marcelo, Isco, Vinicius… we expect more from them. The signings like Militao, Mendy or Jovic are not participating and the youngsters like Brahim or Rodrygo are not playing.

For all this reasons, if we take a look at the outrights of La Liga, Barcelona is still favourite to win the title. No matter Which Bookie you choose, Blaugranas are the favourite ones, while Real Madrid remain as the underdog in this race. Right now, bet365 is paying 1.72 for Barcelona to win the title for 2.50 for Real Madrid.

We can be certain that things might change after El Clásico. Real Madrid have to visit Mallorca and then Barcelona in the following weeks, together with the clash in Champions League against Galatasary. The outcome of these three trips will give us an idea of the real level of the team for the season.

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Real Madrid players are suffering too many injuries in this start of the season and the last one to get knocked is Toni Kroos. The German midfielder will be out of the pitch three weeks after suffering an adductor injury in his left leg in the game against Granada last Saturday. The German player had to be substituted by Luka Modric.

Toni Kroos won’t travel with his national teams and will have time to recover. The goal is to be ready for El Clásico, at the end of the month of October. Before, Los Blancos have to play against Mallorca away, but it’s very unlikely that the German player could be available for that date.

Zidane would have a problem for this game. Normally, Casemiro will need to rest. He has four yellow cards, so another one would mean missing El Clásico, and he has a long trip ahead with his national team. Besides, Casemiro is a key player in this team, so his presence against Barcelona is a must.

At least, Luka Modric seems recovered after his injury, although Zidane needs to be careful with him, as his age doesn’t allow him to play as often as before. Luckily, Fede Valverde looks very fit and ready to take more responsibility in a midfield with a lack of players.

Another alternatives for that midfield would be James Rodríguez or even Isco. The Colombian player has refused to travel with his national team and will rest in Madrid to be fit for this key part of the season. His professionality is out of question in his second era at Real Madrid, and he should be a very important player in the squad. At least, he needs to be given confidence and feel a key footballer.

Isco is a different situation. Against Granada he enjoyed some minutes after his injury, but his performances during the whole season are very poor. He looks out of shape and very slow, not able to control the midfield. He will need to work very hard if he wants to get a spot in this team.

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Real Madrid fans cannot enjoy a quite game at Santiago Bernabéu stadium even if their team was leading 3-0 in the scoreboard against a new promoted team. Granada got everybody nervous where they were able to score two goals in the second half starting with a huge mistake committed by Areola. Finally, James Rodríguez left the three points at home (4-2) an open the distance in the table.

Because Bernabéu held the clash between the first two teams in the table. Granada were surprising everybody in this start of the season, including Barcelona, who were beaten at Los Cármenes. However, this team Los Blancos started well the game, and in the 2nd minute Benzema was able to find the net after a top class assist by Gareth Bale.

In the midfield there was time for Fede Valverde this time, especially because Toni Kroos got injured -one more in the nursery room-. The Uruguayan midfielder was one of the best players of the game, and he gave the assist to Hazard, who scored his first goal as a madridista with a soft chip before the half time.

Everything looks finished when Luka Modric nailed a shot from outside the box in the 61st minute. However, Areola opened even more the debate about the goalkeeper with a huge mistake, committing penalty and open the door to the comeback. Machís didn’t miss the chance in the 69th minute, and only 8 minutes later Domingos Duarte scored from a corner kick. There was hope for Granada, who were dreaming about getting a point.

Luckily, this time Granada didn’t have any big chance and Los Blancos were able to close the game in the injury time, thanks to the goal scored by James Rodríguez after a great assist by Odriozola. Los Blancos go to the national break leaders in La Liga, although there is always this big feeling of fragility in the team.

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Lucas Vázquez left the pitch at Santiago Bernabéu stadium booed by his own supporters in the draw (2-2) against Brugge in the Champions League when the team was still losing. It’s not a new situation for the Spaniard, but the jokes around his skills in social media confront with Zidane’s trust on him.

This season, Lucas Vázquez is the 10th player with more minutes in the squad, only 3 minutes less than Vinicius Junior. Zidane has always showed confidence on him, also in his first three years as a manager. Actually, since his arrival in 2015, Lucas has played around 25 and 33 games in La Liga. He is the perfect player to fill the squad, able to be on the bench without complaining, or give the maximum on the pitch.

The problem is that his skills and quality are being contested in the last months. With all the crisis suffered by Los Blancos, supporters have found a perfect victim for his jokes, and Twitter is full of videos of Lucas Vázquez losing the ball, or controlling poorly. Even against Brugge, Lucas was also one of the worst players on the pitch.

It’s hard to understand why Zidane keeps including him in the starting eleven, especially having Vinicius Junior, Brahim or Rodrygo in the squad, all young talents signed for a lot of money eager to bright at Real Madrid. Lucas Vázquez fights, runs, defends, and keeps the position, but this is not always enough to start games at Real Madrid.

However, we cannot forget the importance of Lucas Vázquez in all these successful years. Starting from the penalty shoot in the Champions League final in Milan against Atlético de Madrid, where Vázquez took the ball and assumed the responsibility of shooting first. Additionally, he also played a brilliant game at Parc des Prince against PSG two years ago.

Lucas Vázquez had some offers this summer, but Zidane wanted to keep him, and the player was sure that he was going to enjoy many minutes at Real Madrid. Besides, his friendship with the captain Sergio Ramos might help him to stay in the Spanish capital. However, Zidane’s obsession on including him in the starting eleven and his poor performance can end up with Real Madrid supporters forgetting his good moments in the club.

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Los Blancos are struggling in the group stage of the Champions League and they are bottoming their group with only one point after two games. Santiago Bernabéu stadium lived another nightmare evening against Brugge, who were able to lead the game 0-2 at the half time. At least, Los Blancos reacted to earn a point (2-2). Now the double clash against Galatasaray will be key to go through the group stage.

At the time of the draw, Real Madrid fans were very happy because the group stage should be again quite easy. However, after the terrible defeat in Paris (3-0) and the draw against Brugge, Los Blancos are in danger. Luckily, both Brugge and Galatasaray will struggle to earn points in this phase, so a victory in Istambul in the next match should be key to revert the situation.

Los Blancos have arrived to this situation due to the poor first half against Brugge. Zidane insisted in Lucas Vázquez in the wing -another poor performance for the Galician player-, whereas Luka Modric started the game, being also very far from his level and allowing the second goal. Soon enough, Brugge took advantage in the scoreboard thanks to a lucky goal scored by Dennis.

Real Madrid were suffering in the counter attacks and the pace of the game was so slow. This time, the ball didn’t move quickly from side to side, so Brugge was feeling comfortable, also because Mignolet denied Varane and Benzema a goal with two great saves. Courtois couldn’t do the same, and Dennis scored his brace after a huge mistake by Modric. The stadium started to whistle both Courtois and Lucas Vázquez.

In the half time, Zidane surprised replacing Courtois for Areola, who showed a better level. Also Marcelo came in for Nacho, who is showing he has not the level to be in this squad. Sergio Ramos showed the patch to another comeback at Bernabéu with a header in the 55th minute. However, Los Blancos couldn’t score the equalizer soon enough and even Brugge had some chances to open the gap in the scoreboard.

In the 85th minute, Casemiro header touched the net and Los Blancos were able to draw the game after Vormeer was sent off. There were still 10 minutes to achieve the miracle, but Brugge got a deserved point at Bernabéu. This was the first European game at Bernabéu since the nightmare against Ajax, but the ghosts are still around the Northern part of the Spanish capital. Now the Champions League is in risk.

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The summer transfer window has recently closed, and the biggest teams in Europe all made a number of moves. Much was written of Real Madrid’s ambitions for their team and season. We’ll recap what the Spanish giants actually did, and who they might be seeking to sign come the next transfer window.

Recent Transfers

Ahead of the recent transfer window there was the usual speculation, and several names kept cropping up. Amongst them were a trio of midfield players: Pogba, Eriksen, and Ndombele. As it happened, all three of them stayed with their respective teams (Manchester United for Pogba and Tottenham Hotspur for both Eriksen and Ndombele). Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon’s captain) was another name in the frame of whom nothing came.

One player who did join Real was Alphonse Areola, who comes from Paris Saint-Germain in a season-long loan and an option to buy. Earlier in 2019 the team signed up a bevy of talent, including Jovic, Militão, Mendy, and Rodrygo, amongst others. With coach Zidane recently emphasising the need to improve defensively, that may be one area for an infusion of fresh players in the future.

Heading in the opposite direction to Areola was Keylor Navas, who left Real Madrid to join PSG on a four year contract. After five years and more than 100 appearances for Los Blancos, Navas appears to have become frustrated having lost the battle to be top keeper to Thibaut Courtois.

There were plenty of rumours, but less action than there might have been during the transfer period. For guaranteed action Real Madrid fans recommend no deposit deals, which are a way of gambling without risking any of your own cash.

Future Prospects

Pogba was a much mentioned name in the recent past and it seems likely Real Madrid will be keeping their eyes peeled and their chequebook ready to try and tempt the Frenchman away from Old Trafford. But they’ll have plenty of competition.

Manchester United, who have a single win in their first four matches this season, will be very keen to keep him. On top of that, there are other teams with an interest in Pogba, including Juventus. Whilst Real have their sights on the much-in-demand Pogba, it seems there’s going to be quite the fight for him.

Midfield pair Eriksen and Ndombele both stayed at Spurs last time and could be on the radar for the future. But the real area that needs to improve, as Zidane has stressed, is defence. With the exception of Neymar (more on him below), the major rumours circulating this time around were all about midfielders. But it’s a game of two halves, on the pitch as well as on the clock, and it’s no use racking up goals if you’re conceding them at the same rate (Real has two draws from three matches at the time of writing, with not a single clean sheet amongst them).

There was also much talk about Neymar but he was the dog who didn’t bark this time, staying at PSG instead despite being less than delighted to remain. The Brazilian international and PSG player had been linked to both Barcelona and Real Madrid, but ended up going nowhere. Undoubtedly talented, he’s also pretty unpopular with PSG’s fans, who have booed him and taken the trouble to make banners suggesting he leave. Come the next transfer window both the player and the fans might be relieved if he went elsewhere.

Current State of Play

Gareth Bale seems back to his best, which is a bit ironic considering there were plenty of rumours that he’d be leaving the club. The player, whose initial signing was a world record at the time, has scored over 100 goals for Real. Speaking to Sky Sports, Bale said he was not ‘playing happy’, with tensions rumoured to exist between the player and coach Zinedine Zidane.

Bale’s contract still has more seasons to run, although it remains to be seen whether he’ll stay at Real until the contract’s end or head for newer pastures sooner rather than later. For now the Welsh international is certainly an asset for the team. The question is for how much longer he’ll be there.

One of the earlier 2019 signings was Serbian international striker Luka Jović, who joined in June on a six year contract. However, there have already been rumours that he might be leaving the club on loan for a spell, with the player himself admitting the transition to the Spanish giant has not been easy. What happens to Jović in the long term remains up in the air.

Real Madrid have been drawn in the same group as PSG for the Champions League (alongside Brugges and Galatasaray). Los Blancos will have an interesting time playing PSG, as the French team is their rival both on the pitch and for a number of potential signings, not to mention a possible Neymar transfer between the clubs in the future.

On the domestic front, Real have had a slightly slow start to the season, with a couple of draws and a win at the time of writing. Not a disaster, but they’ll be looking to pick up the pace if they want to be in contention for the La Liga title (currently held by arch rivals Barcelona).

So far, they haven’t kept a clean sheet this season, backing up Zidane’s concerns about defensive frailty. On the positive side of the balance sheet, Real have scored six goals in three matches. Bale’s return to form saw the Welshman bag a brace against Villarreal, securing the draw and averting a loss. Perhaps that will ease the tension between player and coach. Time will tell.

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