{"id":18641,"date":"2025-06-27T08:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18641\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T08:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:58:08","slug":"three-questions-and-three-answers-from-real-madrid-3-0-rb-salzburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18641\/","title":{"rendered":"Three questions and three answers from Real Madrid 3-0 RB Salzburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real Madrid<\/a> got the job done to top group H at the FIFA Club World Cup by beating Austrian side RB Salzburg 3-0 in Philadelphia at the Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night. After a slow start, Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior broke the deadlock on 40 minutes from the edge of the box and then set up Fede Valverde to score his second goal of the tournament in injury time of the first half, with Gonzalo Garc\u00eda breaking away to make it three in the closing stages of the game.<\/p>\n

Three answers<\/p>\n

1. Which side of the draw would Real Madrid end up on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sadly for Real Madrid, victory over RB Salzburg and topping the group actually makes their lives a little more challenging. The result is that Real Madrid are now on the trickier side of the draw, with Juventus<\/a> up next in the last 16, followed by a potential game against Borussia Dortmund<\/a> or Sergio Ramos\u2019 Monterrey in the quarter-final. The real test would come in the semi-finals, which could pit Los Blancos up against Bayern Munich<\/a> or Paris Saint-Germain. Failure to win would\u2019ve put Real Madrid against the equally challenging Manchester City<\/a>, and then Champions League<\/a> finalists Inter, but would\u2019ve made for a smoother semi-final against Benfica, Chelsea, Palmeiras or Botafogo. However, Xabi Alonso was clear pre-match, \u201cwinning the match is our aim, it\u2019s not a good idea to look at that [and do anything but going for the win], it\u2019s not a good message for anyone. The feelings we have are important. I\u2019ve seen the table, I\u2019m not blind, but we\u2019re going to go out and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Who would replace Ra\u00fal Asencio in defence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Xabi Alonso responded mysteriously when asked about this pre-match<\/a>, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve thought about it, but I can\u2019t say\u201d, but when the line-ups were revealed it was clear why, as he didn\u2019t just select one man to replace Ra\u00fal Asencio, but instead made the most of his squad depth to change shape completely and go for a back three, the system he used at Bayer Leverkusen. Despite going for a back four in his first two games, here we saw a back three deployed with Aur\u00e9lien Tchouameni and Antonio R\u00fcdiger joining Dean Huijsen, which allowed Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fran Garc\u00eda to push up higher as wing-backs. With R\u00fcdiger\u2019s minutes still being managed he was replaced by Jacobo Ram\u00f3n in the second half, but Alonso stuck with the system which could be an intriguing tactical tweak if this is his preferred approach, given that he\u2019s deployed it at the very first opportunity of having enough options available in defence.<\/p>\n

3. Would Gonzalo Garc\u00eda be able to make the most of his chance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 now back in training and reports that Endrick Felipe could jet out to the United States to join the squad after overcoming an injury himself, this game looked like it could be Gonzalo Garc\u00eda\u2019s last shot at starting to stake his claim. He took it with both hands. While he registered the least touches of any outfield player, he scored a superbly-executed goal to wrap up the win as he played the full 90 minutes. Intriguingly, he also led the stats for the most tackles, relfecting Xabi Alonso\u2019s desire to press high and showing his ability to do that. \u201cHe is a typical number 9, he reminds me of Raul,\u201d Xabi Alonso told Kiyan Sobhani of Managing Madrid post-match<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s always in the right position and always waiting for the chance. His work ethic is great. The players from Castilla \u2014 they get a chance and they fight for it. That\u2019s what he\u2019s doing. We need him more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three questions<\/p>\n

1. Is Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior has not been at his best for several months now, so it was a welcome surprise to see the Brazilian take the MVP award as he produced his best performance in some time. Scoring and assisting in the same game for the first time since December 2024, Vini looked to have his confidence back, producing match-high numbers for completed dribbles and chances created. He wasn\u2019t knocked back when his strong chance on 20 minutes was saved comfortably after a tame right-footed shot, but his finish just before half-time was pinpoint and only minutes later he fed through Fede Valverde to double Real Madrid\u2019s lead. Playing almost in a front two with Gonzalo Garc\u00eda, who was putting in a lot of the leg work to press and keep the Salzburg defenders busy, Vini thrived as the main man. With Mbapp\u00e9 close to a return, that power balance could shift, even if the formation doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

2. Is Arda G\u00fcler first choice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turkish midfielder Arda G\u00fcler struggled to break into the team regularly under Carlo Ancelotti, but was brought on at half-time in Xabi Alonso\u2019s debut game against Al Hilal and has now started against both Pachuca and RB Salzburg. With Tchouameni dropping into defence, there was once again a role for him in midfield, where he is building an increasingly strong connection with Jude Bellingham and on the right flank with Trent Alexander-Arnold. Where Ancelotti wasn\u2019t convinced by his physicality, G\u00fcler won more duels than any other player on the field with nine, and he crucially led the field for progressive carries with 10. Still only 20, it seems that Xabi Alonso may have much more belief in the youngster than his predecessor did.<\/p>\n

3. Will Xabi Alonso stick with a back three?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the game, Xabi Alonso admitted that \u201cit\u2019s always been in my mind\u201d as he explained that \u201cthe players have the football intelligence to understand why we use this shape, we had a lot of stability and control\u201d, but perhaps most tellingly adding a final comment to say, \u201cI like the flexibility\u201d. That ability to change formations may be the approach that the new coach opts for, giving an element of unpredictability to Real Madrid which hasn\u2019t been present for several years. With the back three providing more defensive stability, if Alonso has the options in defence, which seems likely with \u00c9der Milit\u00e3o also close to a return to fitness, David Alaba working to recover and Ra\u00fal Asencio now having served his suspension, the back three could be a regular option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid got the job done to top group H at the FIFA Club World Cup by beating…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[931,17713,1075,204,5036,5035,17712,6651,8659,17438,62,4237,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-18641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-answers","10":"tag-from","11":"tag-front-page","12":"tag-madrid","13":"tag-managing","14":"tag-questions","15":"tag-rb","16":"tag-real","17":"tag-salzburg","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-three","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114754506155158681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}