Without titles that have a calming effect, without Casillas, without transfers of substance, without sofas nor lamps (as Benítez would say), and without a consensus among the fans over where they are going, the new Madrid started with a draw without salt or joy against Roma (Madrid lost on penalties). However, to know how how much it weighs and how tall it is, the team needs more minutes of play, more weeks of preparation and possibly some reinforcement.
On a freezing Australian night and in a truly demanding opening test, against the team that finished second in the Italian league, a significant change of format arose. Madrid will attack with a 4-2-3-1 and they will protect themselves with a 4-4-2, with the healthy intention of ensuring that the centre-forward and the playmaker will become the first coordinated line of containment. Benítez will have to be more persuasive while he awaits the resolution of the problem of preventing the team from splitting, the incurable disease during the Ancelotti era.
Benítez’s first starting XI offered concessions to the politics of the club. Odegaard played on the right to make it clear that there is still a footballer to be developed. He had no involvement nor boldness. Bale was the playmaker, that role that his agent allegedly asked the club for at the end of last season. This frees him from the hassle of having to permanently change feet, of always being rebuffed in the opposite direction. He offers potency and the ability to finish in the position, but it will be hard for him to filter passes and employ himself in the pressing. And neither has that selfish outbreak of previous campaigns been shaken away. He ignored the runs of Cristiano and Jesé in a clear counter-attack in order to fire an innocent and harmless shot from distance. First match back and the first reproaches from his fellow front-line colleagues.
Jesé offered more fluency and speed than last season playing as a forward. Cristiano, on the other hand, did not leave a good impression. He always lacked a metre or he found himself overrun by an opponent. Neither did Illarramendi shine as a central midfielder of closure and Modric, who arrives after lengthy activity, must improve his rhythm. The good news pertained to those at the back – Varane was attentive, precise and very fast. They demanded little of Ramos and Carvajal had a hard time against the supersonic Gervinho. In this setting Roma had more spark. De Rossi fired the ball toward the crossbar and Totti made Keylor Navas work. Madrid only responded with Bale’s controversial long shot.
With the changing of the guard (the two goalkeepers were the only ones who started and ended the match) Madrid balanced the distribution of presences in the area, fundamentally because Benzema has landed well in the pre-season, with a slimmer silhouette and an above average speed. Isco accompanied him well in that ‘enganche’ role that will give him breadth of vision. He ended up as the owner of the match. Lucas Vázquez and Cheryshev, the commendable, walked enterprisingly as they seeked passages, Kroos underpinned for the good of the team and Lucas Silva returned to be the midfielder without substance that he was last season. At the back, without Gervinho, the question turned out to be easier. Bale had the game in his head before he left, Clattenburg wiped away a penalty for Madrid following a possible handball from Torosidis, Lucas Vázquez shot at the feet of De Sanctis with the best chance of the duel and Danilo overhit his shot in his first act as an end-to-end full-back. Destro also pardoned Keylor after an enormous oversight in the Real Madrid defence. And the match ended in penalties. Fourteen were fired and only Lucas Vázquez missed. An error that put Benítez’s premiere in the shadow.