Julen Lopetegui’s era started with a defeat (2-1) against Manchester United in the Hard Rock Arena at Miami (Florida). It wasn’t the best start for the new Real Madrid after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, but there are some aspects that could be positive for the future. The new manager needs to work a lot before the important game against Atletico Madrid in the European Supercup, on the 15th of August.
Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo are two big names in Real Madrid history and it will be hard to forget them. However, Real Madrid is bigger than the names and a new era has started and it needs to be successful. In Miami we saw many new faces in Los Blancos, but they couldn’t bring a victory in their first game in the club. Manchester United, with the old face of José Mourinho on the bench, was able to win the game in the middle of a humid and hot weather.
Actually, Manchester United were able to adapt themselves better to the circumstances and they scored two goals in the first minutes of the game thanks to Alexis Sánchez and Ander Herrera. The Red Devils didn’t start well the pre-season tour but they looked more confident against the European Champions. Karim Benzema was able to score the first goal of the season 2018/19 but it wasn’t enough to avoid the defeat.
Despite the bad result, we can highlight some positive things. Benzema and Gareth Bale have to improve a lot, but they will lead the attacking line this season. Therefore, the responsibility will be on their back and they have to forget Cristiano Ronaldo and focus on the goal. We could also see Vinicius, who shone for some moments as a winger.
Lopetegui is also very keen on giving opportunities to the Spanish youngsters. In Miami we saw Dani Ceballos with more responsibility in the midfield and the former Betis player should improve a lot this season. Besides, Odriozola showed a great level, in opposition of Theo Hernández, who was again very fragile in defense.
