Where can Real Madrid strengthen next season? Well, if you’re basing it on their semi-final defeat to PSG in the Club World Cup in America the other day, then in plenty of areas. Yet let’s not be too hasty.
After all, despite what FIFA President Gianni Infantino may tell you, the tournament does not demand the same level of desire that clubs face regularly throughout the season. Indeed, the main benefits are financial. This was no La Liga title decider or key Champions League encounter.
Furthermore, a quick look at Real Madrid’s bench on Wednesday night also showed you five or six players who would be regular starters in new manager Xabi Alonso’s first-choice starting XI once the next La Liga campaign gets underway. That’s not to decry the brilliance of PSG, who dominated at the MetLife Stadium.
Luis Enrique’s side were in control from the first whistle, went two goals ahead with only nine minutes on the clock, but for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the 4-0 scoreline could have been even heavier.
However, some perspective is required before journalists and fans across Europe and the world think Real Madrid have a big rebuilding job on their hands.
For a start, they gifted their French opponents two comical goals inside a shambolic opening 10 minutes; a defensive shambles heightening how much they already miss new signing Dean Huijsen, who was suspended.
And remember, it was a mere 24 days after his appointment that the new boss was pitched into the most drawn-out of club tournaments in the States. After defeat, Alonso said he was “starting from scratch” and he has clearly been experimenting with formations, trying four and five-man backlines.
Another new signing, Trent Alexander-Arnold, missed the encounter through injury, so midfielder Federico Valverde played in that position instead, and it showed. It also did not help that some of their attacking players did not work hard enough.
Overall, though, while the manner of the loss will hurt, what Alonso will have learned over the six games could prove invaluable once the full-blown action begins.
To quote the Spaniard: “I leave here with lots of certainties, and next year will be different. There are positive things and we leave here as a better team, even if it is difficult to say that right now. This game and this competition has told me lots of things about what we are, what we need to improve, the changes there will be. These were the last game of 2024-25, not the first games of 2025-26.”
He is quite right.
You know my view about the need to beware a wounded animal, a wounded Real Madrid, and our SBOTOP La Liga 2025 betting odds still make them slight title favourites.
Writers have cast question marks over how Alonso’s Madrid will function properly with Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, and Vinícius Júnior in the same team. Mbappé’s significance, of course, is always magnified, distorted, for good and bad.
One writer even went so far as to say that Madrid were more fluid earlier in the Club World Cup when youngster Gonzalo García was leading the line as Mbappé was recovering from a stomach bug.
The calibre of opponents, though, was hardly the same as Europe’s finest, and it must be remembered that Real should only get stronger when next season comes around.
Absences certainly seriously harmed them last term, particularly the season-ending injuries sustained by Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal in the autumn. Once that duo are back to full fitness, and Real have new players settled and in place, the general feeling is that they will remain a major force.
If last season was a campaign many branded as disappointing, then perhaps a rethink is required. They did, after all claim the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup titles. Most clubs the world over would bite your hand off for that.
Los Blancos want their first game – against Osasuna on August 19 – moved into October to start next season at newly-promoted Real Oviedo on August 24.
So, back to the original question, where can Real Madrid strengthen?
Well one more new player seems set to arrive in the coming days with left-back Alvaro Carreras reportedly close to completing a move to the Santiago Bernabeu from Benfica, where he has a €50 million release clause in his contract.
Get all their players fit again, and the truth is, there’s not as many gaps as you may think and I fully expect Real to be ready to deliver La Liga 2025 highlights very soon.
I certainly don’t read too much into what happened in the States. What happens in the States, stays in the States.
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