By El Maestro
Over the weekend, several official European fixtures took place with France kicking off their Ligue 1 season and Germany and England playing the annual Super Cup games, which sees last season’s league winner take on the cup winner. However, Tuesday will see arguably the most important and prestigious trophy of the summer take place as reigning Champions League winners Real Madrid take on Europa League winners Manchester United. The game will be played on Tuesday at 2:45 EST in the Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia.
On paper, it’s no secret that Real Madrid are the favorites. They have a better overall team and have only gotten stronger during the summer. Despite losing some important players from last season, Madrid replace them with some of the best young and upcoming talents in the world. They replace Pepe with 20-year old Jesus Vallejo returning from his loan spell with Eintracht Frankfurt where he helped them reach the German Cup Final. Madrid also found a replacement for Marcelo and Casemiro signing Theo Hernandez from city rivals Atletico Madrid and bring back Marcos Llorente, who both helped Alaves reach the Copa del Rey Final last season during their loan spell with the Basque side. In addition, the club replaces James with a more natural midfielder in Dani Ceballos from Real Betis, who was arguably Spain’s best midfielder during this summer’s U-21 Euro Cup.
Madrid did lose some goals with the departures of Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez, but they still have the BBC (Benzema, Bale, and Cristiano) up top and can also rely on Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, and Isco for additional goals. Initially, it was expected that Ronaldo wouldn’t take part in the final, but there may be a twist in the tale after Zidane’s pre-match press conference.
Zidane:
“The fact he has come with us means he is ready to play, but we’ll see tomorrow if he does.”
That being said, Manchester United will not be a cakewalk for Real Madrid. United may still be in a rebuilding phase, but that still doesn’t mean that they are a bad side. They’ve made some important signings over the summer with the additions of center back Victor Lindelöf, Romelu Lukaku at striker to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Nemanja Matić as United’s new defensive midfielder. That’s adding to a team that already has De Get in goal, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ander Herrera, and Paul Pogba.
The one upside Manchester United have over Real Madrid is that they have a better manager and one that is familiar to all Madridistas: Jose Mourinho. One of the top 5 managers in the world and a master tactician. It will be a real test for Zidane as tactics hasn’t exactly been his strong suit, despite winning all he’s won. That being said, Mourinho vs Zidane will also be a matchup of master vs apprentice. Even though Zidane worked as an assistant coach only under Carlo Ancelotti, he did work in some capacity with Mourinho during the his time in the Spanish capital.
History:
Though if Manchester United are looking for some motivation, it would be best to avoid the books because history in not on their side. In 5 two-legged European matchups, Manchester United have only been able to knock out Real Madrid once, which was back in 1968. Real Madrid eliminated United in the European Cup/Champions League editions of 1956/1957, 1999/2000, 2002/2003, and 2012/2013. Madrid have also left some iconic moments against “The Red Devils”, such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s decisive game winning goal in against his former side, Figo’s stunning golazo in 2003, Brazilian Ronaldo’s hat-trick at Old Trafford, and a dominant 2-3 victory in the “Theater of Dreams” that saw Fernando Redondo’s magisterial taconazo.
One Game Winner Take All:
With that said, the difference with tonight’s game is that it’s a one game winner take all matchup and anything can happen. It will be thrilling to see Real Madrid and their new look as they prepare to begin the La Liga season. However, what I’m most excited about is Zidane going up against Mourinho and seeing how he manages the game with ‘The Special One’ on the other bench. We’ll find out soon enough.
HALA MADRID Y NADA MAS!
REAL MADRID SOCIAL CLUB 