Real's wild start between would and was

Cold showers for Dani Carvajal and Kylian Mbappé – which actually wasn't necessary. imago images (2)

Click. Click. Click. It could have happened that quickly for Real Madrid, less than ten minutes into this new Champions League season. But Kylian Mbappé fired an overhead kick just wide, Franco Mastantuono hit the inside of the post from a tight angle, and Rodrygo, unmarked from a central position, fired straight at Marseille's busy goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.

Yes, that would have been a truly fantastic opening phase for Xabi Alonso's team, one that was particularly prone to snoozing under his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti. But after ten minutes, the scoreboard still read 0-0.

The utilization of opportunities turned out to be a major issue for the Royals on Tuesday evening, who had a total of 28 shots on goal – and of course, they'd rather have chances than not. The fact that they had them is actually a good sign.

A low success rate at the very least would have been perfectly acceptable in the opening game if all those, sometimes truly great, chances had resulted in at least two goals from open play. However, the common starting point for both of Madrid's goals was actually exactly eleven meters from the opponent's goal. This makes the numerous missed shots a little harder to stomach.

Well, at least in terms of play and football, many of the things that Xabi Alonso wants to change with Real Madrid were on display more convincingly than ever before, especially in the first half. And if the focus were specifically on various forms of pressing, Madrid would have already reached entirely new levels of dominance since Tuesday evening.

But the Royal's defense, which could have been improved further, was also a relevant aspect, which led to a sudden and truly avoidable deficit in the 22nd minute, in the middle of a dominant phase. You can also make life difficult for yourself.

Ask Dani Carvajal, who came on early for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold and only continued a questionable trend for the Spanish record champions with his headbutt after about 70 minutes. Raul Asencio had already been sent off early at the Club World Cup, and Dean Huijsen had already been sent off early at both the Club World Cup and the most recent game against Real Sociedad . Perhaps the capital city team should get out of the habit of doing that.