Against Mallorca, Momentum to Restore Real Madrid's Attack Line

MADRID, FRIDAY – Xabi Alonso has transformed Real Madrid into a strong team in controlling the game during the first two matches of La Liga. However, this advantage has not been accompanied by an improvement in the attacking performance. The match against Real Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid, on Sunday (31/8/2025) at 02:30 WIB, provides an opportunity for Real to restore the sharpness of their attack.

Real swept through the first two matches of La Liga with victories without conceding any goals. This performance may seem impressive at first glance, but there are shortcomings in the attacking line that Alonso has yet to address. The indications were evident during the matches against Osasuna and Real Oviedo. Real's attacking line struggled to score in both matches, but was saved by the brilliance of Kylian Mbappe.

Statistics show that Real is one of the two top teams in La Liga that dominates ball possession. In two matches, the average ball possession of "Los Blancos" reached 67.8 percent, only trailing behind Barcelona with 76.5 percent.

Despite being strong in controlling the game, Real is not aggressive enough in breaking through the opponent's goal. They do not rank among the top three teams with the highest average goals per match. Villarreal has the highest efficiency in the league with an average of 3.5 goals per match. In fact, the "Yellow Submarine" team does not rank among the top three clubs with the highest ball possession in La Liga.

The issue is that Real's opponents tend to employ a low defensive line during matches. This follows the fact that Real is bolstered by Mbappe, who was the league's top scorer last season. Mbappe's presence encourages other teams to adopt a safer approach, namely by crowding many players at the back to narrow the attacking space of Real, which also includes Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior, and Brahim Diaz.

Oviedo and Osasuna have already implemented this. They employed a strong defensive approach with a 5-4-1 formation when not in possession of the ball. Oviedo even placed six defenders at one point to thwart Real's attacking maneuvers. As a result, Real struggled to score against Osasuna before being saved by a penalty execution from Mbappe, which became the only goal in the match.

Similarly, when facing Oviedo, Real struggled to score despite controlling the match from the beginning. Real's opening goal was only created at the end of the first half, once again thanks to a sharp finishing action from Mbappe.

To address opponents who tend to defend, Alonso typically employs two methods: penetrating through the wing corridors by relying on the individual skills of Vinicius or Rodrygo, and instructing Mbappe to drop into the spaces between the lines as a link-up player. This approach has relatively succeeded in stretching the opponent's tight defense, thereby creating several opportunities.

"Today’s match shows that we continue to develop. We want to maintain this. Now, we prepare for the match against Mallorca before the international break," said Alonso after facing Oviedo.

Although it has been proven successful in helping Real secure full points, Alonso needs to diversify his attacking creativity rather than continuously relying on those two methods to break down the opponent's defense.

The match against Real Mallorca presents an opportunity for Alonso to demonstrate the results of his work in restoring Real's attacking line. One thing Alonso could attempt is scoring through set-piece schemes. The ability to maximize set pieces for Real has not been particularly impressive since Alonso's arrival.

Real's defensive midfielder, Aurelien Tchouameni, admitted that he is not satisfied with the performance of his team's attacking line. According to Tchouameni, his team has a good balance between defense and attack. In the next match, Tchouameni believes that his team must strive to regain possession of the ball as quickly as possible when the opponent is building up play from the back. In such situations, it will be easier for Real to score, considering that the opponent has not yet established a defensive formation.

"We try to regain possession of the ball in the opponent's defensive area. When we regain the ball, scoring a goal becomes a little easier," he said.

Unlike Real, Mallorca is still overshadowed by a negative trend as they have yet to secure a victory in their first two matches. The team, coached by Jagoba Arrasate, suffered a 0-3 defeat to Barcelona in their opening match and then drew 1-1 against Celta Vigo at home.

Mallorca is not particularly favored in this match considering their last victory at the Bernabeu Stadium occurred in May 2009. However, Arrasate benefits from the return of Vedat Muriqi and Manu Morlanes.

New recruit Pablo Torre is likely to play as an attacking midfielder, supported by Sergi Darder and Toni Lato.

That situation contrasts with Real, which is still missing several of its key players, such as Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Ferland Mendy, and Endrick, who are still injured. (REUTERS)