Word From Author:
“Me and all my — yeah…me….yeah..
Me and Juni doin well (doin’ well, dawg). You not from the MM agenda city, I could tell (I could tell, dawg). Did it, did it, did it by myself (by myself, dawg). Juni blew up and I’m in MM agenda city, still (I’m still here dawg)…
Ohhh and we back dawg. Ohhhh, you & Vase just went and turned your back dawg. I thought that we were Real family? You showed me that we can’t be. Transfer Gods still saying I gotta talk to Xabi as if He isn’t near me. Based
on Oviedo, it’s hard to think that He don’t hear me. Hittin’ more CL goals than those with 11 on my jersey, man I’m gifted…Whole lotta praise for defensive 7s but I’m still like…”
– Rodrygo Goes #11
Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
Still Here: Refs
On La Liga Referees. So of course the big topic from our (ok) win at the Anoeta is the abysmal refereeing that occurs in La Liga. I’m only going to dabble into this because it’s a light news day. Trust, I’m not really in the business of the ongoing conspiracy theories / victimization of Real Madrid by RFEF / CTA as if we’re a club like Eibar or Betis. Now of course, I agree that La Liga referees have been particularly bad in the past 2-3 years an the entire system of promotion needs to be revolutionized. I’d argue that out of the Top 5 leagues, the only league that I can discernibly say has worse refereeing is the Premier League (English refs are atrocious). HOWEVER, I don’t think that there’s an active conspiracy where RFEF / CTA are here to destabilize Real Madrid. We often get favorable calls too. We’re a big club. I promise you that every fan of Espanyol, Oviedo, etc would complain that Real Madrid often gets better calls particularly in the Santiago Bernabeu. Spanish refs are bad across the board and imo that’s really all there is too it. WE need to put ourselves in positions where their calls don’t materially affect our end results.
Transparency. Anyway quickly touching further into this, the new-age transparency of the CTA should actually be a welcomed blessing. Yes, it’s frustrating for 24hrs later to hear that a ref made the wrong call but this is transparency is actually a step forward. La Liga is finally publicly holding refs accountable for their poor decisions and performances. This isn’t RMTV blasting a quite frankly propaganda video before or after a match. This is the actual organization foundation noting when mishaps occur and explaining why / how these are mishaps. This may not revolutionize La Liga refereeing TODAY but the hope is this type of even educational system will better generate future refs of a higher caliber.
Gil Manzano. Ok really quickly here. IMO I think Gil is actually taking too much flak for the red card when truly the VAR ref and line judge should be heavily criticized. If you watch how the play develops, Gil is pretty far from the play.
At times like this I wish La Liga refs had an on-field camera, but I highly doubt he saw Militao’s proximity to Dean in what appears to be a blatant breakaway for Oyarzabal. In this particular moment, I actually think Gil did the best job he could while the VAR ref and the line judge (who is literally standing right htere on that side of the pitch) should have stepped in to correct his decision. In all honesty, I’m not entirely sure why VAR didn’t look this over.
Anyway, this red card will likely be withdrawn and ultimately all will be well going forward.
Still Here: Kylian Mbappe & Tchouameni
Criticism. Two heavily criticized players during the last failed season, were Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni. And I’m here to say they’re still here and some of the best performers of the 25/26 season. Kylian has reiterated to many of why he’s been considered the best player in the world for the past 2-4 years with ludicrous performances despite the lack of consistency surrounding him in the forward position. Currently in Real Madrid’s 4 La Liga games, Kylian has 4 goals and 1 assist, leads European football with 14 key passes and 19 successful take-ons. Xabi has pretty much unlocked Mbappe and this is seen by the CFs positional fluidity, his key runs, and his consistent link up play. Kiki even presses!!! (Pressing = a trigger word at MM). There is legitimately no one better than Kylian Mbappe at the moment at Real Madrid.
Now it’d only be appropriate to also praise Tchouameni who has gone from being whistled at the Bernabeu to being the engine and brains of Xabi’s entire operation. Whether it’s playing CB because Dean got a red or last-ditch bone crunching tackles in the midfield or helping reorganize our pace of play, Tchouameni is central in everything that we do. Maybe it’s because he wears Xabi’s former number but Tchou has really become an anchor for this team. I’m actually a bit concerned about our likely dependence on his form (particularly while Camavinga — who I believe is better as an 8 — still struggles to be fit). But hey, I’ll take all the blessings that come our way while they still do.
Still Here: Glory
Big Ears. Just 24hrs until we’re back with the opportunity to become the Kings of Europe again. I’ll admit that I haven’t watched anything of Marseille in almost years, besides the few clips of them being absolutely dysfunctional. At the moment, Marseille is situated as 7th in Ligue 1 with 6 points (2 wins and 2 losses). They do play PSG on Sunday, so it’ll be interesting to see if the squad somewhat prioritizes the massive derby over this CL debut. This should be an interesting game to see what Xabi’s Real Madrid truly has in store.
Still Here: The R
Actually let’s save this for later…
Still Here: No Face
“(Ay, what? what?) This is the ish that AbiolaDave had praised me on. Vini gettin lit off the defensive features I skated on. I gotta know, I gotta know. How you get lit off the performances you hated on? 2025 numbers untouchable, tell Hala he got his data wrong. This is the moment I know they be prayin / preying on. (what? Ay, what? Ay). TR & Kiko try sell the Boy off, but f— it, I’m stayin on. Blankano keep on sendin’ me receipts to later go crazy on. daisuke keep sayin’ ‘its time to be patient — it’s so many people we turnin’ the tables on’. Juni got plans, but we’ll save that for later on. Hush we’ll keep sayin’ they know that they played it wrong. DangerNoodle ”What the f— are we waitin’ on?“ Damn. Me, I’m expressionless. MMers be talkin’ ‘bout don’t shoot the messenger. Fah-fah-fah you get shot for way less in here. None of you transfers is blocking my blessings here (what?). All these years throwin’ Madrid success in your face. All of these trophy reflections obsessed with my face. All the rumors they don’t address to my face. I can’t be showing no stress in my face…what? No face, no face, no face.”
– Rodrygo Goes #11
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“back like we never left”
