Football Season Guide

The 2022/23 campaign was a disappointing one overall for Real Madrid, even though they won the UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup and Copa del Rey. The essentially gave up on the league title by February and were thrashed 4-0 as they were eliminated by Man City in the Champions League. For Real Madrid, that’s not good enough and that’s why some called for Carlo Ancelotti to be sacked. The Italian was kept on in the end, and that is concerning many in the Madrid media, as is the fact that Karim Benzema walked away and, barring the arrival of Kylian Mbappe, he won’t be adequately replaced. Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler, Fran Garcia, Brahim Diaz and Joselu have come in, and Ancelotti has experimented with a new 4-4-2 diamond formation built around Bellingham. But, it’ll largely be the same Real Madrid as last year, and it remains to be seen if that’s enough to collect major trophies. With Vinicius having taken a big step forward last season, he makes Real Madrid’s left flank one of the best in world football, and Fran Garcia should help with that too in 2023/24. Thibaut Courtois is also arguably the best in the world at his position, but Real Madrid’s leaky defence leaves him with a lot to do and the defensive lapses that occurred so often last term were also present in pre-season. This is far from the best Real Madrid side ever, but that might still be enough to win some silverware.