Real Madrid’s U.S. pre-season tour: Lightning strikes, sightseeing and a warning to their rivals
After their final pre-season game in the United States against Chelsea, Real Madrid’s players left the dressing room with their passports in hand. They went through passport control and airport-style security checks at the Bank of America Stadium and went straight to the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas International Airport for a midnight charter flight.
It was a hasty end to a strange tour for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, who were without seven key players, including Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe. As has become the norm over recent summers, their results were mixed — opening with a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in Chicago, losing 2-1 to Barcelona in New Jersey, and winning the final game 2-1 against Chelsea in Charlotte.
But it was still seen as a commercial success for Madrid and their executives were smiling as they left the stadium on Tuesday night.
Here’s what we found out from Madrid’s 10 days in the States across three cities.
Davide Ancelotti the main man in training
One of the benefits of watching Madrid’s pre-season as a journalist is the opportunity to watch training sessions almost in their entirety. That doesn’t happen at any point of the regular campaign, apart from once at Christmas and once if Los Blancos reach the Champions League final.
What you notice in those sessions is how much Ancelotti remains in the background and leaves the bulk of the sessions to his son and assistant coach, Davide, along with his technical assistant, Francesco Mauri.
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Mauri was unable to take training in Chicago as he did not initially travel due to passport problems, meaning Davide was in sole charge of those sessions. He was not always happy, showing his frustration with the University of Illinois training pitch when the watering system was activated for too long. “How are we going to play like this?” Davide shouted as goalkeeping coach Luis Llopis calmed him down.
Davide and Mauri are both 35 years old and were physical trainers in their early careers, so they know how to introduce rhythm and intensity to these sessions and speak to the players in Spanish. Between each other, they speak in their native Italian, so as not to give plans away to reporters.
Davide, right, oversees training at the University of Illinois (Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, tactical analyst Simone Montanaro watches from the sidelines, regularly asking questions to improve their approach.
Before games, the team undergoes a gym workout under the guidance of physical trainer Antonio Pintus, who prepares individual exercises for the players and monitors their data. Llopis carries out specific goalkeeping exercises with Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin and youth player Fran Gonzalez.
Then training becomes more intense, moving from link-up exercises to ones with goals. The pitch is split in two for small-sided games and this is where Carlo comes into his own. “Come on, there’s not long to go before the end of training!” the Madrid coach could be heard shouting at this point in one session.
Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger were the most vocal players. The German could be heard praising youth striker Alvaro Rodriguez by telling him “Good, Toro, good!” in reference to his nickname, while Militao offered encouragement to his fellow Brazilian Endrick.
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Rodrygo on set pieces and Vinicius Jr on top form
Endrick and Arda Guler were the outstanding players in the early training sessions, scoring several goals and combining with ease. Another who impressed was the 16-year-old defender Joan Martinez, who trained with the calmness of a veteran and was constantly praised by the coaching staff.
Ancelotti called up 12 players from Madrid’s youth academy for the tour but ended up keeping 10. Only midfielder Mario Martin played in all three games, while the others’ participation was reduced to the second half of games.
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The focus turned to Brazilian stars Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior when they arrived in the U.S. on July 31 and August 2 respectively after their role in their country’s Copa America campaign.
Vinicius Jr inevitably took the spotlight, scoring plenty of goals in training and looking ultra-competitive during practice matches. He would claim a foul or penalty from Ancelotti at every opportunity, with the Italian playing the role of an improvised referee.
Vinicius Jr was on top form once he returned after the Copa America (Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
The 24-year-old had been preparing for two weeks before rejoining the squad, but with Rodrygo, things were slower as he suffered some muscle discomfort on arrival. As soon as he recovered, the coaching staff placed an emphasis on set-piece training.
Now that Toni Kroos has retired, Ancelotti’s staff have decided Rodrygo should replace him on dead balls. When fouls were called in Madrid’s training matches, they would tell the 23-year-old to step up.
The coaching staff placed an emphasis on passing out from the back, with central defenders playing as midfielders when the goalkeeper had possession. Madrid worked on the team’s movements the most the day before games but practised their pressing on several days.
Mauri shouted “Low block!” in one session to avoid the team pressing too high. The staff demanded more of it at times — although Endrick was chastised for being overly zealous, with Davide telling him to “calm down”.
Were the results important?
On the face of it, two losses and a win were a poor return from this tour.
Ancelotti said his idea was to work on an individual level with each player and help youngsters who were still developing given key stars such as Bellingham and Mbappe did not join them after reaching the final and semi-final of the European Championship.
The results were consistent with previous tours, in particular Clasicos in the U.S. — they have lost the last four. Not that it seems to have affected them in the regular season, with Madrid losing 3-0 to Barcelona in July last year before beating them three times across the campaign (twice in La Liga and once in the Supercopa de Espana final).
Dani Carvajal’s words after that Clasico loss in pre-season last year proved to be prescient. “Losing to Barcelona is not a good feeling, but you have to know the moment we’re in, what the game means,” he said. “I’m convinced that in official competition, we’re going to get the better of them.”
Ancelotti during the Clasico defeat (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Madrid went on to lift the Champions League and La Liga double, with Carvajal playing at his best. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remembered those words after the defeat to Barca at the MetLife Stadium.
“In the end what counts is during the season and, as ‘Carva’ said last year, at the end of the day we’ll see.”
It also proved a successful tour from a commercial perspective. Madrid were keen to make the most of their sponsorship deal with technology company (and the club’s sleeve sponsor) HP, with its logo appearing on advertising panels in stadiums, training sessions and press conferences.
They received visits from figures across U.S. sports, such as Chicago Fire midfielder Kellyn Acosta, Ikem Ekwonu of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA star Donovan Mitchell. The Indiana Pacers’ Pascal Siakam attended Madrid’s training session and game in Charlotte.
President Perez the star attraction
Not Vinicius Jr, new signing Endrick or any of Madrid’s other galacticos — instead, president Florentino Perez often took the limelight in the States.
He travelled directly to New York to attend the match against Barcelona on August 3, where he was greeted by large crowds. When he arrived at his box in the stadium, he greeted the fans and even some Barca supporters turned around to take pictures with him.
He attended events with American supporters’ clubs in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Charlotte. When some members of these groups were allowed to attend the open training session in Charlotte, they were subject to a strict protocol. They were not allowed to take pictures of Perez without permission, but at the end of the training session, he went to greet them and take photos.
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Perez was joined by the general manager Jose Angel Sanchez, the head of scouting Juni Calafat, director of football Santiago Solari and assistant to the general manager Carlos Ocana, along with club ambassadors and playing legends Emilio Butragueno and Roberto Carlos. All of them followed the training sessions closely from day one in Chicago.
Some figures present weren’t part of the club board. That was the case for the co-founder of A22 Sports Management — the company that is trying to revive the European Super League project — Anas Laghari. He advises Perez on his finances.
Madrid executives were visited by the Italian-American sports executive Charlie Stillitano, while they also met with Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali, who was presented with a miniature replica of the Santiago Bernabeu, in Charlotte.
Lightning strikes and sightseeing
It was an intense 10 days for Madrid with little time for leisure, but players and executives were able to enjoy themselves in Chicago.
Lucas Vazquez and Luka Modric went for a stroll along Michigan Avenue on one sightseeing trip and took pictures of the city’s skyscrapers. Some staff members took a boat ride on the Chicago River and others ran along Oak Street Beach, while everyone went for dinner at one of the restaurants in the River North Gallery District.
They had far less time for those activities in New Jersey, where they spent two days and were caught in a storm that threatened to suspend El Clasico. The game went ahead after a delay but was paused for more than 75 minutes at one stage because of a lightning strike, much to the disbelief of Madrid’s players.
Fans are told to take shelter during the Clasico in New Jersey (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
Contractual reasons meant it couldn’t be postponed another day and the organisers assured Madrid executives it could be played. It was a common theme across the tour, with the club having to share an unusual note with reporters telling them that matches would be suspended and “both teams and spectators must take cover” if lightning struck within an eight-mile distance. Matches would only be resumed after 30 minutes without a strike that close to the ground.
Madrid managed to avoid Hurricane Debby and flew back in the early hours of Wednesday. They won’t have to wait too long to return, though: they’ll be back for the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup next summer.
(Top photo: Eston Parker/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
