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There was a time when it was Real Madrid who dominated the summer transfer market with president Florentino Perez leafing through his ‘very expensive players’ brochure and telling director general Jose Angel Sanchez: ‘We’ll have one of them, one of them, and one of them.’
This summer, apart from the prudent and very early signing of Antonio Rudiger and the more costly but still very sensible recruitment of Aurelien Tchouameni, they have let Barcelona take all the attention.
Time will tell if it’s a masterful example of not fixing what isn’t broken, or if they are gambling on Karim Benzema not getting injured just one season too many. They did it last year and it paid off.
Real Madrid take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup final in Helsinki this evening
Time will tell if Carlo Ancelotti can break his second season stumbles with Madrid this year
The players who tried to replace him – Marco Asensio, Mariano, Luka Jovic and in the season’s second Clasico, Luka Modric – all came up short, but it didn’t matter because he played 46 games (scoring 44 goals).
If he stays just as fit this season then holding back from bringing in another player capable of playing at centre-forward will have worked once more. But in a World Cup year it seems far more of a risk.
‘We have many forwards,’ said Carlo Ancelotti in his press conference before tonight’s Super Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
‘Karim, Mariano, [Eden] Hazard, Asensio, Rodrygo. It’s clear that when you’re missing the best striker in the world, it affects the team. But replacing Karim right now is impossible because there isn’t anyone in the world who can. We have alternatives. If he catches a cold, we’ll adapt.’
Ancelotti says Madrid have forwards who can step-in should Karim Benzema get injured
It’s interesting to see Hazard and Rodrygo name-checked in the list of possible stand-ins.
The Belgium international does look in the best shape he has been in since he joined but his brief appearances in a central striking role in pre-season did not really work.
Rodrygo certainly has goals in him and could be the one to watch as Ancelotti gets around his squad’s only real limitation.
Elsewhere it’s indisputable that Madrid have strengthened impressively. Rudiger makes a defensive squad that also boasts, from right to left, Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Edu Militao, David Alaba and Ferland Mendy, even stronger.
And in midfield should Ancelotti ever be without his midfield ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos (‘I call them that because they make the ball disappear,’ he said in preseason) then Madrid now have a hugely impressively back-up trio of Eduardo Camavinga, Tchouameni and Fede Valverde, who can also play wide right in the front three.
Ancelotti has labelled Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric as football’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’
With the emphasis being on stability and continuity it’s fitting that in tonight’s final in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium Ancelotti plans to start with the same team that beat Liverpool in last season’s Champions League final. Thibaut Courtois will line up behind Carvajal, Militao, Alaba and Mendy; with Modric, Casemiro and Kroos behind Vinicius, Benzema and Valverde.
‘We have a better squad this season,’ said Ancelotti in his pre-match media conference. The new players will have to wait their turn, however, as the side which won the club its 13th European Cup is repeated.
Tonight can set the standard for the season. Their 2,000 supporters in the Finnish capital will be outnumbered by 20,000 Germans but the Spanish team ought to outclass their opponents on the pitch.
And they have already taken the appointment of Michael Oliver to referee the game as a positive omen – he gave them a late, late penalty in a 2018 Champions League quarter-final against Juventus, adjudging Medhi Benatia’s challenge on Lucas Vazquez to have been a foul.
Ref Michael Oliver awarded Real a penalty when Juventus’ Medhi Benatia impeded Lucas Vazquez during their 2018 quarter-final with Madrid – a good omen for their Super Cup clash
That sort of late drama became the norm last season as Madrid got to the Champions League final in such epic fashion. Ancelotti said the campaign as a whole had taken its toll on him. ‘I have suffered this season more than most and there are no pills that you can take, you just have to bear it,’ he said of the pre-match tension.
His challenge in this second campaign is to see it out. His record in second seasons is not great. He has lost his job during or at the end of second terms at Parma, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Real Madrid back in 2015 when he failed to top winning the Champions League the previous season. This time he has to top or match a remarkable double. Talk is already of the team trying to win all six trophies up for grabs.
He is surrounded by familiar faces as he prepares to attempt it. And there is a togetherness about his group too. Every squad member has travelled to Finland, even players such as Alvaro Odriozola and Mariano, who could yet leave before the window shuts.
Madrid squad prepare for their final training session ahead of the final in Finland this evening
Madrid have indicated that even if forward Mariano leaves there will still be no striker signing. So it’s all about Benzema again, just as it was last year.
When Benzema signed in 2009 Madrid also signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Kaka in the same summer, breaking the transfer record twice in the space of a month. That was back when they dominated the off-season activity. They won nothing that year.
Big signings don’t always add up to trophies. But if it does follow this season that Barcelona’s squad revolution sees them leave Madrid in their wake then there is always the winter window.
Don’t bet against Madrid picking out the star of the Qatar World Cup and signing him in January. So far though, they are banking on that not being necessary.