From Struggles to Redemption? Real Madrid Face a Crucial 2025-26 Season
Kylian Mbappe, Real Madird forward strugled while tranistioning to playing more of a striker role during the 2024-25 season.
Ending the 2024-25 season many people would agree that Real Madrid had a rough campaign. After having won the double the season prior, winning the UEFA Champions League and La Liga they had a rough season this go around and went trophyless even with their new star signing Kylian Mbappe.
Real Madrid lost to teams such as Liverpool (2-0), AC Milan (3-1), and they even lost to Barcelona four times totaling a score of 16-6 across all four games!
What actually caused the 2024-25 season to be so horrific for Real Madrid though? Well there are a few reasons to explain what was behind the suffrage of Real Madrid.
One of the possible reasons for having such a bad season was player discipline and work ethic. When we go back to Real Madrid's infamous game against Premier League side Arsenal, we can see multiple errors Madrid players were making. One of the main problems with the Madrid side was lack of running. In their second game at home vs Arsenal. Real Madrid ran about 62 miles as a team while Arsenal ran a total of 70 miles as a team throughout the match. The eight mile distance is huge and shows that Real Madrid and their players were not working nearly as hard as Arsenal.
Another big problem related to work ethic is the amount of pressing, and defending players do. You see, in order to press and defend, you have to run and chase after the ball. When you have players like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior who do not like to defend and press, it makes it hard for the team to obtain the ball from the opposition.
With work ethic, Real Madrid's other problem was something to do with positioning. You see, Real Madrid had a strange attack with their three star players. Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo Goes are some of the best players in the world. The problem was that all three of these players were naturally leftwingers, meaning that they work the best off the left side.
Last season, Vinicius was the chosen player to play on the left while Mbappe played striker and Rodrygo went to the right wing. With this odd position Mbappe and Rodyrygo would struggle alot because they are playing in a position they are not used to. Also, at times we would see Mbappe and Rodrygo tend to drift over to the left by accident which opened up space in the middle and right side of the pitch meaning there was no player there to defend the opposition, which led to counter attacks.
Another issue that was evident was coaching. Carlo Ancelotti is arguably one of the best coaches there is, but there was one main thing that led to his sacking at Real Madrid.
Real Madrid had so many marquee players and with that comes competition and ego. Ancelotti was not that strict of a coach so when players were not working hard enough or pressing during a game instead of benching them and putting in players who would press and defend, Ancelotti kept playing the same players who obviously were not what the team needed. He put the players who have the biggest salary over the players that the team needed, and we do not really know why he did this but as a coach you need to do what is best for the team and not be scared to bench big names.
An additional problem with the team was injuries. Many of the team's most important defenders were out injured. Players like Dani Carvajal who was out for the season and Eder Militao who was in and out of injury throughout the season as well. With important players out for injury and no concrete players to fill those spots Real Madrid suffered defensively.
Beginning the 2025-26 season Real Madrid appointed Xabi Alonso as the new Manager/Coach of the team. Real Madrid have signed multiple players including Trent Alexandr-Arnold, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, and Franco Mastanuono. The three players named Carreras, Arnold, and Huijsen are defenders which a good signing for the team considering their injury problems in defense the season prior. Mastanuono is an attacking player who can play in the midfield and off the right wing which is also a good signing for the club with their positioning issues on the right wing last season.
Xabi Alonso also has implemented new rules including that players must arrive to training much earlier than last season. He also came out and said that a player who doesn't press and give effort will be benched.
Overall considering the circumstances for last season Real Madrid have definitely established a good footing going into the new Season by addressing all the issues that caused their downfall during the 2024-25 season.