The Santiago Bernabeu experienced a very special evening to bid farewell to 2024 — a year in which its resident team won five out of the six trophies available to them. Sunday’s 4-2 triumph against Sevilla puts La Liga champions Madrid two points ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona with a game in hand — and just a point behind leaders Atletico Madrid.
The stadium vibrated from start to finish. First, there was the presentation of the Intercontinental Cup by the squad, the club’s newest prize won in Qatar on Wednesday, then a brilliant footballing display from Madrid and, of course, a beautiful tribute to Sevilla’s Jesus Navas in what his last game as a professional at age 39.
“I’ve never seen anything like this on a rival pitch,” Navas, a 2010 World Cup winner with Spain, said in the mixed zone later.
Kylian Mbappe kept improving and Madrid’s strategy is working well, but there are still doubts about the defence. The Athletic’s Mario Cortegana has analysed the key points behind Madrid’s latest victory.
Fede Valverde’s goal highlights the quiet work at Valdebebas
Madrid took Sevilla apart with two powerful shots, first from Mbappe and then by Fede Valverde.
It may have seemed like a coincidence, but nothing could have been further from the truth: manager Carlo Ancelotti and his staff have long been asking their players to have a go for goal from long distance.
And Valverde has mastered this facet of the game, with five of his six goals this season coming from shots from outside the penalty area — the most by any player in Europe’s top five domestic leagues.
His goal on Sunday again reinforced the work being done at Valdebebas, the club’s training ground, and was reminiscent of the one he scored in October’s 2-0 win against Villarreal. As in that victory, Madrid surprised Sevilla with a short corner instead of putting the ball in the area, looking for an opportunity for the Uruguay international midfielder to shoot.
“It (the ball) could have hit the third tier of the stands,” Valverde joked later in the mixed zone. “We rehearsed these shots in training, some went well and some went badly. The coach had some doubts, but thanks to his assistants we did it.”
Unsurprisingly, Ancelotti and Valverde himself, who said he believes he can reach 10 goals this season, embraced Francesco Mauri, Madrid’s assistant coach and set-piece choreographer, after the goal.
Valverde’s celebration was pure Uruguayan panache, as usual. Though he’d merely made it 2-0 at home against a mid-table side in a mid-December game, he acted as if he had just scored the most important goal of his career. And that, of course, delighted the fans.
Mbappe is getting closer to his best level
Mbappe is proving right all those at the club who have been asking people to give Madrid’s marquee summer signing time and show patience in recent months.
A source in the coaching staff, kept anonymous to protect relationships, told The Athletic on Saturday: “I see him a bit more cheerful and with a different attitude, he’s improving. In Bilbao (the 2-1 loss to Athletic Club at the start of the month), he was broken.”
Mbappe himself acknowledged that on Sunday: “I know I have a lot more in my legs. In the last few games, I’m better. The game in Bilbao did me good things because I hit rock bottom.”
The France striker scored the first goal of last night’s game, as he did against Mexico’s Pachuca in the Intercontinental Cup final, making it four consecutive matches in which he has found the net.
The style of goal Mbappe delivered last night is becoming a familiar sight from him in a Madrid shirt. He did the same in October’s 2-1 win at Celta Vigo. With three touches at the edge of the area, he controlled the ball, set it up and smashed it into the corner of the net.
Then he sprinted to the sideline, full of joy, and hugged team-mates. He also celebrated fervently with the crowd, who chanted his name. He even had time to dance and make the sleeping gesture with his hands. And he crowned his catalogue of celebrations by embracing manager Ancelotti — a very significant detail.
Although it had gone somewhat unnoticed, the Italian had said something revealing on Saturday at Valdebebas: “Mbappe’s adaptation period is over.” The comment made so few waves, Ancelotti reused it after the game: “I said yesterday that the adaptation period is over and today he has proved that I am right from time to time.”
Against Sevilla, Mbappe was seen asking for more of the ball and being at greater ease with it, even enjoying himself by playing three backheels. With Vinicius Junior serving a one-game ban after reaching five La Liga yellow cards, he combined playing mostly centrally with some darting runs down the left flank.
Although he was unable to find a second goal from either position, he did manage to connect with Brahim Diaz for Madrid’s fourth. He gave the ball to Lucas Vazquez, before asking for it back straight away, already knowing what he would do with it: put Diaz in a clear position. Diaz then scored.
The celebration, in which Mbappe, Vazquez and Antonio Rudiger imitated Diaz’s familiar shrug gesture, and his big smile, showed the great friendship they have. Diaz has been one of the players closest to Mbappe since his summer arrival. The two also share a great friend in Achraf Hakimi — Diaz’s Morocco team-mate and Mbappe’s former Paris Saint-Germain colleague.
Mbappe goes into the Christmas break with 14 goals and four assists in 1,949 minutes for Madrid, giving him an average of involvement in a goal every 108 minutes.
The defence continues to generate problems and doubts
The least convincing part of Sunday’s game was the ease with which Sevilla — who had five shots on target — scored two goals.
Ancelotti surprisingly picked Eduardo Camavinga at left-back, even though he prefers to play in midfield and Madrid president Florentino Perez has indicated in the past to the manager that he does not like him playing there.
It was the first occasion in which the French midfielder has played in defence this season, compared to five in the previous one and 17 times in 2022-23. And it came despite Fran Garcia, who has not convinced Ancelotti and his staff midway through his second season with Madrid despite being a great professional and very much loved in the dressing room, and Ferland Mendy, now recovered from a thigh injury, were both available.
For Sevilla’s first goal 10 minutes before half-time, Camavinga was out of place and his compatriot Aurelien Tchouameni did not even bother Isaac Romero when they battled in the area. Vazquez’s reaction, showing tension as he raised his arms, summed up the situation.
The build-up to Sevilla’s second on 85 minutes seemed more significant. With Camavinga at left-back, Rudiger, a centre-back who has played the full 90 in every game this season but September’s 4-1 home win against Espanyol, and Tchouameni, another midfielder, were the central defenders, and Raul Asencio, a 21-year-old academy centre-back on as a substitute, was on the right. Sevilla snuck in between Tchouameni and Asencio, with eventual scorer Dodi Lukebakio taking advantage of a mistake from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who doesn’t usually make them.
Ancelotti wants the club to sign some reinforcements in January’s transfer window, but the board are not keen. Madrid into the break with 29 goals conceded in 26 games this season across all competitions. They have kept just 10 clean sheets.
(Top photo: Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
