REAL MADRID vs STUTTGART | UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday #1 | 17.09.24 | 21:00 CET

🗣️ Kylian Mbappé: “I returned the slaps to Rüdiger. He hits me a lot.“ pic.twitter.com/UkG0mloIeP

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) September 17, 2024

🗣️ Rodrygo Goes: "Mi relación con Mbappé, Bellingham y Vinícius es muy buena, cada día estamos mejor y somos más amigos."

Más alto imposible 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/OfzWlgO8pE

— REAL MADRID FANS 🤍 (@AdriRM33) September 17, 2024

 

that run by Vini there was not very smart

 

He also had terrible miss one on one in the stoppage time.

 

Seek help.

 

I was so surprised when I saw the goal . Great shot from the kid and what a confidence.

 

Well deserved MOTM for Tibu

 

Wrong choice though. It took a keeper error for the goal to be scored (should have saved it). Both Vini and Mbappe were clear in to goal and he took a shot from outside the box.

Result was good for him. But the decision wasn't. Love his confidence though. Better this than being afraid.

 

I know a lot of people are going to be critical of this game... but i saw some good things.

First off, we struggled in the first half because Carvajal was playing CB and Vasquez as a RB... that side of the park was a mess until halftime.

After halftime, we dominated for a good 20 minutes. Really great. Then we slowed down. Why? Jude and Tchouameni coming back from injury lost steam. We started losing control and then completely lost it with Modric and Guler coming in. Once those two get their conditioning back up, we'll control things again.

Rodrygo looked MUCH better to me.

Mbappe is now creating chances. Once he gets on a roll, the goals will come in quick succession. Learning the CF role every game.

Vini is a bit more worrisome... but i think he will adjust. Remember that he didn't have to think literally ever until now. He could just go. When he started, Benzema and Kroos did all the thinking for him (Kroos behind him and Benzema as his central striker). Last year, Kroos and Bellingham did all the thinking (Kroos still behind him and Jude making the central runs). He could just put his head down and attack. Now, he needs to add a lot more nuance to his game as the system changed to a 433 and he's required to think. It will come in time.

 

I'll add this... I'm less critical of the players and more critical of Carlo at this point.

We have a problem tactically with our movements. Namely, it's disjointed. That's a managerial issue. The players are trying very hard. Carlo hasn't developed a coherent tactic that fits this squad yet.

FYI, that's been Carlo's issue in the past (not Madrid). Namely, he's Italian so he's used to having regista midfielders as the basis for his transitions. He's struggled big time when he doesn't have that profile of a player in front of the defense. You don't have a Pirlo or Kroos or Thiago Motta or Michael Ballack on this team. His teams have done very poorly without this type of player.

Camavinga is the only one that COULD become a regista type CM.

 

We are the defending European and national champions; haven’t lost a game since January… but “Carlo must invent a new team” that basically doesn’t give the ball away at all.

The shit I read here (c)

 

It’s like one of those “bad shots” at basketball. The coach hilariously gets furious until the shot goes in and he says “nice shot”.

 

How dare you. This is a forum for UEFA badge coaches expressing wisdom.

 

So Endrick making Mbappe look like he should have been the "bakup plan" you know just in case the new Pele becomes the new Bobby Robson instead.

 

Stuttgart was the better team I see them doing well if they keep up what they did today even though they lost.

 

Congratulations on the "better team, but lost anyways" award.

I'm sure the parade and celebrations will be heard throughout Germany

 

In before Madrid was just lucky.

Which ironically has been the case for a whole decade now.

Big shoutout to Modric and Rudiger who came in clutch as always.

Also that Tchou long ball to release the runner for the first goal was Kroosesque.

 

It happens and Stuttgart had plenty of chances and Madrid took them so not really thinking that way at all. Germany has all strong teams to be contenders to go far in this competition

 

Germany had them last year as well.

That's why that "Better teams, but didn't win the CL or Europa" parade and celebration tour through the country was such a massive success.

Congratulations in advance for this year's "title".

 

I hope so. It’s good to see other teams win and not the same ones. Go Germany!

 

I just finished watching the replay. I didn't think it was a "good" game, but I had a blast watching it. I recognize that this forum isn't neutral fans and we prefer Madrid just dominate, but I'm kind of glad that I wasn't following along here in real time. I think it would have lowered my mood. ha

Really the only player I thought was "bad" was Vasquez. Not his game at all.

I didn't think Valverde had one of his better games, but Madrid had him in a really weird tactical position in the first half, where he was the high person on the press, with Rodrygo dropping back to the right. But we didn't fully press most of the time so it would just be him and one other player pressing and then the ball would be passed around them and then Stuttgart had an open channel through our center right. Still, I had fun watching Fede play with manic freedom even if he could have played multiple balls better after creating some disruption. Still, I didn't think he was as dire as most on here seemed to in the first half.

On the other hand, the odd inversion seemed to really energize Rodrygo. He was no longer using as much energy pressing and chasing didn't pull him back centrally. He seemed to be clearer that he was supposed to work from the right and he was able to be a bit sneakier with his runs as someone was often distracting at least one defender or he got more of a start before getting to them. I thought this first half was by far his strongest of the season (I'll include his run/assist in that). I doubt they will try the same tactical set up again too soon given the way Stuttgart played through us, but I'd be curious to see a variation as it really seemed to help him.

For me Tibo was the man of the match. Great performance. Rudiger was likely second. He's a player I didn't fancy who I've come to absolutely love. I thought the players returning from injury played pretty well, especially Bellingham in the first half. Hopefully their fitness is soon back at 100%.

Overall, I'm very happy we got the three points and enjoyed having the Champions League back for another year. Hopefully we keep improving!

 

That was entertaining.

Everyone had moments with Rodrygo being the stand out in the first half but we have no midfield. We simply can't play like this against decent sides. Even Stuttgart tore us a new one.

We kind of got away with this one. I'm glad we won but this lopsided attack doesn't fill me with confidence when they aren't performing up to par. We can't forget there's only one ball.

 

I very much enjoyed this game, very entertaining with lots of positives and even more negatives that I hope Carlo can figure out when the team is more complete. Our midfield being an issue is quite an understatement. Let's see how this develops when Camavinga is back.

Rodrygo was fantastic, particularly in the first half. And boy was Courtois immense!

 

Very poor performance last night and once again we were very lucky to win the match. Team looked disjointed and allowed too many chances for Stuttgart which Tibo somehow managed to save. The fact that Tibo was MOTM says a lot. The players tried their best but I think that Carlo still hasn't managed to find the system without regista which would benefit the players he has at his disposal. I'm not looking forward to this season at all.