Was there ever any doubt? Kylian Mbappe marked his first Real Madrid appearance with a goal and some silverware to boot before the domestic campaign kicks off later this week, as Carlo Ancelotti’s side steadied themselves after an irritating first-half to hit Atalanta with two goals in nine second-half minutes as they clinched this season’s Super Cup trophy – a record sixth.
Courtois answers the call as Atalanta rue missed chances
Real 2-0 Atalanta
Valverde 59, Mbappe 68
JUDE Bellingham didn’t miss a beat and won Man of the Match honours on his first appearance of the new campaign, exactly a month after his international exertions with England ended painfully as Spain left it late but won the Euro 2024 final.
Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo’s summer with Brazil ended prematurely in Copa America play, while Mbappe experienced a frustrating France campaign – broken nose and all – as Spain eventually outlasted them in the Euro semifinals. You could understand the anticipation at seeing this quartet combine together for the first time.
Disjointed at times, rushed decision-making in other sequences and clearly building that cohesion as each one fits into their individual roles, Vinicius was guilty of trying to feed Mbappe a bit too much. No worries, Bellingham teed him up instead as the 25-year-old lashed an effort goalwards then watched it arrow into the top corner.
If that sounds easy, this contest was far from that for Los Blancos. Carlo Ancelotti described his players as irritable at half-time when speaking to Sky Sport Italia post-match and it makes sense given how Atalanta suffocated them for sustained periods.
“They made us really suffer in the first-half, found spaces and won many duels. I told them they had to be patient, because this is a really, really well-organised team. Once the pressure and their physicality fell away after the break, we started to find spaces upfront and in those situations, our attacking players are very effective.”
Davide Zappacosta looked lively down the right-hand side, Charles de Ketelaere constantly finding pockets of space to exploit in the final third while captain Martin de Roon – who missed their Europa League final win over Bayer Leverkusen through injury – clipped the crossbar with a cross-shot midway through the first-half.
Éderson curled an audacious effort wide after promising build-up play by an ever-present Ademola Lookman, while Real’s centre-back pairing Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao both made important defensive interventions before the hour mark.
Sweden international defender Isak Hien was studious in snuffing out Real attacks often, while Courtois’ fingertip save – the only stop he made – was an important one as the tide turned not long afterwards, rather suddenly by his opposite number.
Juan Musso’s pass resembled a shanked clearance under duress from Real’s high press and Ferland Mendy gladly gobbled up possession before offloading the ball to Bellingham. Vinicius Junior evaded capture down the left, raced to the byline before a pullback saw an unmarked Federico Valverde slot home his fourth goal of 2024.
Musso made himself big and prevented a second less than two minutes later with a strong stop, after Bellingham’s run-and-incisive pass into Vinicius went unrewarded, the winger too quick for his own good and lacking composure at point-blank range.
From the subsequent corner, Hien again made his presence felt with a last-man block to deny Bellingham’s goalbound effort before Musso clawed the loose ball away to safety in a scramble as Real probed for a killer goal to end this encounter.
They would get it eventually, and didn’t have to wait much longer as Hien had his pocket picked in his own half by an alert Rodrygo and Real countered at speed with players arriving in support after the 23-year-old threaded possession into Vinicius.
Although the latter’s intended pass for Mbappe across the box didn’t hit its target, the France captain could sense the opportunity was still there. Almost videogame-esque, he ghosted beyond his marker before running onto Bellingham’s carefully-weighted pass before thumping home a memorable first goal in the famous white colours.
Job done on day one, Ancelotti could empty his bench – evergreen captain Luka Modric, Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler among those coming on – as they’ve got one eye on their La Liga season opener away at Mallorca on Sunday (8.30pm BST). It’s still early days but an arduous 10-month spell awaits the rest of the world cracking this code.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes sourced
Mo and Sports 