The fleeting pre-season of Real Madrid only included one friendly this year, in Austria against the weak WSG Tirol. Xabi Alonso's team had no problems imposing themselves with authority in Innsbruck (0-4), in a match where the coach from Tolosa had his starting XI from the beginning, with the exception of Brahim Díaz.
The Moroccan accompanied Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappé in attack, while the midfield presented Aurélien Tchouaméni, Dani Ceballos and Arda Güler. In the back, this time the team presented a line of four with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Éder Militao, Dean Huijsen and the debutant Álvaro Carreras, with Thibaut Courtois in goal.
The 'merengues' dominated the match from beginning to end, with a total of 21 shots (9 on goal) and 78% possession. Tirol barely showed up with danger once in the rival area, already with the Ukrainian Andriy Lunin stopping the only shot on goal from the locals in the match.
Mbappé and Güler shine in Austria: Vinicius is still missing
The opening of the score came in the 10th minute, with a header from Militao after a cross from Brahim from the side. The Brazilian seems to have left behind the problems in his knees and aims to start the 25/26 as a starter alongside Huijsen.
Three minutes later, Mbappé extended the Madrid advantage taking advantage of a filtered pass from Güler to define before the rival goalkeeper. Everything seemed headed for a very large rout, but 'Kiki's' failures in the one-on-one and the posts avoided a greater difference in the result at halftime.
Arda was the best of Madrid, with a lot of mobility and participation as an interior/attacking midfielder, while Ceballos gave a hand to Tchouaméni in the recovery. Without the injured Camavinga, Valverde and Bellingham, Xabi Alonso maintained a 4-3-3 scheme more similar to what Carlo Ancelotti proposed, although with more order between the lines.
In the complement, Mbappé sealed his personal double leaving the rival goalkeeper sitting with a nice feint like Ronaldo Nazário. Towards the end, Rodrygo Goes closed the account assisted by Kylian. The '11' aims to leave soon, probably to Manchester City, although for now there is nothing closed.
Who again looked disconnected and far from his physical fullness was Vinicius. The '7' struggles to overcome rivals in one-on-one and his best weapon, speed, no longer has the expected effect when trying to step into the rival area. A week before the debut in La Liga against Osasuna, the new coach of Madrid seems to have a clearer idea of what will be his base XI for the start of 25/26.
Xabi Alonso defines his starters for 25/26
While Bellingham recovers (the Englishman hopes to return at the end of October), Arda Güler will be in charge of managing the game of the 'blancos'. Valverde and Ceballos will have to give a hand to Tchouaméni, who constantly alternates the role of pivot with that of third central defender.
Alexander-Arnold and Carreras will be in charge of giving depth to the team on the wings, while the coaching staff awaits the 'resurrection' of Vini and the arrival of Franco Mastantuono, in theory the starting right winger next season. Gonzalo García, Brahim and Endrick (if he stays) will be the main offensive variants.
Real Madrid will debut in La Liga at home against Osasuna. The match, scheduled for Tuesday, August 19 at 21:00 CEST, was finally not postponed by the employers despite the 'merengue' request to postpone it to have an extra week of vacation.