Real Madrid began their 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign with a victory as they overcame French side Olympique Marseille with a 2-1 win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Timothy Weah gave the visitors the lead 22 minutes in, but Kylian Mbappé leveled the scoreline seven minutes after and scored a winner on 81 minutes to seal a victory, with both goals coming from the penalty spot, either side of a red card for Dani Carvajal.
Three answers
1. How much rotation would there be?
The only certainty from Xabi Alonso’s
first four games in charge has been uncertainty. The new coach has regularly rotated and mixed up his team in the opening weeks of the season, and that was the case again here. Without Antonio Rüdiger, injured in training on Friday, there would be little room for experimentation beyond the choice of Trent Alexander-Arnold, albeit for only five minutes, ahead of Dani Carvajal at right-back. The surprise came in attack, where Vinícius Júnior was “rested”. Benched for the second time in five games, the Brazilian is not immune to the changes in the same way that Kylian Mbappé appears to be. “We’re at a very demanding point in the calendar, we need everyone, it’s important that everyone feels important,” Xabi Alonso explained in his press conference.
2. Would Real Madrid start off better than last season in the Champions League?
In 2024/25, Real Madrid ended up facing an up-hill battle after winning only two of their first four games in the Champions League group stage. Things started well with a 3-1 win over Stuttgart, albeit with two late goals, but Marseille posed a tougher challenge with a more experienced squad. AC Milan and Arsenal both won at the Bernabéu in the competition to weaken the air of invincibility around the stadium, and so Marseille came with perhaps less fear than they could have 12 months ago. With Juventus, Liverpool and Manchester City among those ahead, Real Madrid could not afford to slip up early on. The 2-1 win ensures that Real Madrid spent Tuesday night fourth in the table, level with Tottenham and Qarabag on goal difference and behind Arsenal and Union St. Gilloise. It’s early days, but a strong start from Real Madrid.
3. Would fatigue be a factor?
Playing 60 minutes with 10 men on Saturday was always bound to have an impact on Real Madrid’s performance just 72 hours later as Los Blancos took on Marseille. Having to do another 20 minutes again with only 10 men didn’t help, and the fact that the team are still adjusting to life under Xabi Alonso is still evident. In the first half, Real Madrid’s press was arguably the most effective it has been at any time since the coach’s arrival with good coordination and consistency, but that faded in the second half where basic errors crept in. Real Madrid’s pass accuracy dropped 6% in the second half compared to the first half, and Arda Güler, who has started each of the team’s five games and Turkey’s two international fixtures, was among those to show the toll of such workload.
Three questions
1. What was Dani Carvajal thinking?
In 433 appearances for Real Madrid, Dani Carvajal has only been sent off four times, including his dismissal on Tuesday night. It makes it all the more baffling that a 33-year-old veteran and the team’s captain would be so ignorant as to get himself red carded for violent conduct with the score at 1-1 in a crucial Champions League fixture, even more so after the team’s only other right-back limped off injured on the same night. This was his first straight red since December 2017, when he turned goalkeeper to clear the ball in a Clásico in La Liga, and seemed wildly out of character for such an experienced and responsible figure within the team. Now, he’s given Xabi Alonso a real selection headache for the visit to Kairat Almaty at the end of the month should Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury be as serious as it seemed.
2. How many penalties has Kylian Mbappé scored?
This was a landmark occasion for Kylian Mbappé as he scored goal number 50 for Real Madrid, a remarkable feat for a player who has only been at the club for a little more than a year. One big source of those goals has been from the penalty spot, as was reflected in the fact that he scored two penalties on Tuesday night. Taking his tally for the season to six goals in five games, three of those have been from the spot, with this duo adding to his winning goal against Osasuna from matchday one of La Liga. In total, 10 of his 50 goals, 20%, have come from 12 yards out. That’s in addition to three missed penalties, including the two penalties missed in a week during his lowest point as a Real Madrid player against Liverpool and Athletic Club last November. Now, he’s at arguably his highest point since.
3. When will Real Madrid start to take these chances and win convincingly?
When you take a look at the expected goals and see a score of 3.65 compared to Marseille’s 0.73, you’d have the impression that this was a comfortable win for Real Madrid and was plain sailing. The reality was anything but. Real Madrid have won five from five since the start of the season, and so there can be few complaints, but none have been completely convincing. Three consecutive 2-1 wins, twice coming from behind, have followed a 3-0 win over newly-promoted which was only 1-0 until the 82nd minute, and a 1-0 win over Osasuna. “We’re growing, the players feel that we can carry out what we talk about, we have very good phases in matches, perhaps we lack a bit of continuity, but we’re on the right track and in three months’ time we’ll be much better,” Xabi Alonso insisted post-match. It may take a little while for the team to get going with his new approach.
