Madrid needs balance to be successful with a star team

MALLORCA, Spain — It’s the 36th minute at Son Moix Stadium and Real Madrid — already up 1-0, away, in their 2024-25 La Liga debut — were enjoying themselves. The Spanish champions, fielding one of the most exciting attacking lineups assembled in recent memory, camped in Mallorca’s penalty area, looking to show what they could do.

Kylian Mbappé played a backheel pass to Jude Bellingham. He turned and laid the ball off to Vinicius Junior. Another backheel, this time from the Brazilian, fell to Rodrygo, who played the ball out to Federico Valverde. His back pass found Bellingham, whose disguised pass Vinicius played behind the defence. It was time for the final, deadly pass, and Vinicius’ cross was destined for the head of Mbappé, waiting in the penalty area for what could have been an easy goal.

It was all denied after Mallorca goalkeeper Dominik Greif made a crucial touch. The ball didn’t reach Mbappé. It was a move that summed up the promise and potential of this Real Madrid team. So much talent, creativity and improvisation, so many stars working together, having fun and working together to cut the opposition open. But there was no goal at the end. And Madrid were still only 1-0 up.

Mallorca were level 20 minutes later, and there was a refreshing, old-fashioned simplicity to their equaliser. It may not have had the finesse of Madrid’s passing move — Dani Rodríguez’s corner was met with a bullet header from the scything striker Vedat Muriqi — but it was ultimately more effective. And it was the last goal of the game, which ended 1-1, frustrating champions Madrid and dropping two points on the opening weekend of the La Liga season.

A few seconds after the final whistle, Muriqi spoke about that moment on the field.

“I have to be honest. Scoring against Madrid is amazing,” he said. “I used to watch them on TV when I was little, this team, these players. I’m very proud… I just said to (Éder) Militão. You’re all so fast! None of them are weak links. They’re world stars.”

That said, a star-studded team is not enough. Later, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was critical of his team, saying they had “no balance” and questioning their attitude and defensive commitment. That word “balance” was always going to be key for Madrid this season.

How can you put Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham and Rodrygo in a starting line-up without tipping the balance in favour of attack at the expense of defence?

That is possible, but only if the players’ attitude is right. Ancelotti was sufficiently convinced by Madrid’s performance in their 2-0 UEFA Super Cup win over Atalanta in midweek to stick with the same starting line-up, meaning the attacking quartet of Mbappé, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Bellingham, supported by Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni, covered a lot of ground in midfield.

Mbappé’s long-awaited introduction to LaLiga had the focus on him from the start. He was the penultimate player to take to the pitch, behind only Militão, as last season’s champions were given a guard of honour by Mallorca’s players before kick-off.

Every touch from Mbappé would inevitably be analysed, every contribution, good or bad, judged. It’s not every debut that gets special “player cam” treatment from ESPN.

And there were chances for Mbappé to score. His first came in the sixth minute, when Mallorca lost possession after a corner, and Mbappé carried the ball half the length of the pitch before losing his balance. Later, midway through the first half, Mbappé fired into the side netting from a Vinicius cross. There was another chance in the second half, his deflected shot at the near post well saved by Greif.

But Madrid’s goal didn’t come from Mbappé, Vinicius or Bellingham. Rodrygo is the forgotten man in all the Mbappé excitement, but he impressed against Atalanta — Ancelotti praised his output in and out of possession — and here, after another flashy Madrid display involving Mbappé, Bellingham and Vinicius, he opened the scoring in the 12th minute. He received the ball in the penalty area, waited, found space and scored.

From that moment, until half-time, anything seemed possible. That changed in the second half, when Muriqi’s equalizer undermined Madrid’s confidence. In search of a goal, Ancelotti brought on substitute Luka Modric, and later — perhaps too late — he threw on Arda Güler and Brahim Díaz. But it was Mallorca who came closest to a winning goal, the ball rolling just wide of the post in the 87th minute. And the final act of the match was not a dramatic Madrid winner, it was Ferland Mendy’s red card in injury time.

Madrid ended the night disappointed, Mbappé without a goal. Ancelotti was brutally honest.

“We need to defend better and above all have more balance on the pitch,” he said, his words, facial expression and body language leaving no doubt as to how unhappy he was with the outcome, even at this stage of the season.

Ancelotti and his staff have shown themselves more than capable of adapting the team earlier and solving early-season problems. They did so on more than one occasion last season, evolving Bellingham’s position to best suit his talents, from operating as a “false nine” to drifting to the left of midfield to help protect that flank. More work will now be needed to enable the team to accommodate all those attackers, or difficult decisions will have to be made about who is left out.

It is far, far too early to jump to conclusions. But some feared that with Mbappé signed by champions Madrid, they might stroll to another title, and that LaLiga’s competitiveness would suffer. This 1-1 draw was a very early indication that it might not be so easy.