Real Madrid and Chelsea concluded their respective pre-season tours of the USA on Tuesday night, with Los Blancos running out 2-1 winners.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side, still without several key players such as Jude Bellingham and new signing Kylian Mbappe, managed to chalk up a win on the other side of the Atlantic before returning home, while the Blues were unable to improve on their record of just one victory, losing three times and drawing once on their Stateside adventure.
Strikes from Lucas Vazquez and Brahim Diaz saw Madrid race into a two-goal lead before Noni Madueke pulled one back for Chelsea before the end of the first half.
Here’s what we learned from their meeting in Charlotte.
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1. Fancy doing any defending, Chelsea?
Maresca has recognised Chelsea’s frailties / Grant Halverson/GettyImages
Chelsea conceded 12 goals in five games during their tour of the USA, with their only clean sheet coming in a 3-0 triumph against Club America.
A lot of those goals were self-inflicted, too. But the problem isn’t just wayward passing or a lack of numbers at the back, rather an absence of awareness and aggression.
It’s still only pre-season and the Blues are rebuilding under a new head coach (again) so it’s hard to definitively say if this is a major flaw for the campaign ahead, but the signs aren’t promising, particularly given Enzo Maresca recognising the problem and attributing it to the regimes of old.
“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high,” he said.
“We are not working on defensive lines so high. It’s a habit from last year, or years ago, I don’t know.”
2. Vinicius Junior and Reece James resume sparring session
Vinicius and James battled again / Grant Halverson/GettyImages
You don’t get too many top quality winger-versus-full-back battles nowadays, but God bless Vinicius Junior and Reece James for sticking true to old school footballing habits.
The Brazilian previously named James as one of his toughest opponents following their battles in the Champions League, and he has also commented on his Instagram posts out of respect for the England international.
It was a ‘friendly’ in name only between these two in Charlotte, with Vinicius getting his skates on and racing to the byline whenever possible, only for James to nullify and slow him down.
A fresh reminder of how great James can be when he’s not injured or suspended. Wonderful.
3. Noni Madueke stock is up, Mykhailo Mudryk stock is down
Madueke was on the scoresheet / Grant Halverson/GettyImages
Chelsea’s top scorer in pre-season is Noni Madueke on four goals, and considering he’ll likely be fighting Cole Palmer for a spot in Maresca’s starting lineup, he really needed to show his best form ahead of the new campaign.
Madueke should at least be a serviceable option for the Blues, and their participation in the UEFA Conference League will give him ample game time to keep improving.
While Madueke has seized his moment, Mykhailo Mudryk has not. In fact, he may have done the exact opposite, adding to his vast collect of row-Z piledrivers with another shot way over the bar in the second half when Chelsea were chasing an equaliser.
4. Brahim Diaz is a luxury bench option
Madrid’s star of pre-season / PETER ZAY/GettyImages
It is ludicrous that Madrid have assembled a team so good that it would take roughly 27 injuries (y’know, give or take) for Brahim Diaz to get into their strongest possible starting XI.
The Morocco international was the busy bee who continually buzzed at Chelsea’s standstill defence, and he was rewarded for these efforts with a well-taken goal from a tight angle.
Brahim would be a starter for nearly every other club in world football, and yet he’s just another option off the bench for Ancelotti. That doesn’t seem fair to everyone trying to dethrone the European champions.
