Four matches is not much to go on, especially when assessing a Real Madrid coach. Imperfect versions of this team are supposed to breeze through many of their domestic challenges and usually do, something that is not unique to Alvaro Arbeloa two weeks after assuming the helm. The surprise defeat to second division Albacete Balompie in the Copa del Rey notwithstanding, Arbeloa has followed that up with three successive wins, wins they likely would have collected if Xabi Alonso was still in charge. One thing is clear, though – if Alonso had to be convinced to find a place for both Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior on the field, Arbeloa understood the task from the start.
The power balance has always been the club’s defining feature, for better or for worse, and remains the theme of the season even as the team grapples with life after Alonso’s surprise ouster earlier this month. Arbeloa has obviously been tasked with finding some tactical harmony with Vinicius and Mbappe, starting the pair in each match since the Copa del Rey defeat. The results have been favorable – they have outscored the opponents 12 to four in those three games and generate 2.4 expected goals per game, identical to their season average thus far. Mbappe has scored five goals in each of those games while Vinicius notched a goal and two assists in last week’s victory over Monaco in the UEFA Champions League. Everything is trending in the right direction, at least for the time being.
“I don’t think it’s changed that much, every coach has his own way of training, but maybe something is clicking better now,” Thibaut Courtois said after a win over Villarreal over the weekend, signaling what the results indicate.
How to watch Benfica vs. Real Madrid, odds
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 28 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio da Luz — Lisbon, Portugal
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Benfica +300; Draw +310; Real Madrid -125
One question continues to loom large over Los Blancos this season, though — is this strategy going to work against more challenging opponents, and when might we finally get those answers?
The answers are unlikely to come on Wednesday at Benfica, even if the Portuguese side really need the points. The team currently sit in 29th place, two points outside the top 24 and in need of a win to even have a shot at reaching the knockout phase playoffs. Jose Mourinho’s hire, which came after a shock defeat to Qarabag on Matchday 1, has not offered the jolt the team’s higher-ups may have hoped for – they are amongst the Champions League’s worst attacking teams with just six goals from 9.02 expected goals in seven games, their middle-of-the-pack defensive operation so far, not enough to rescue them from probable elimination. An imbalanced Real Madrid are likely able to handle this test, much as they did against an inferior Monaco side in a 6-1 drubbing on Matchday 7.
Instead, some will choose to view the match as a passing of the managerial torch between Mourinho and Arbeloa, his former Real Madrid player. Arbeloa spoke glowingly of Mourinho, someone who he said he still stays in touch with.
“I know who Mourinho is, I know what his phone must be like,” Arbeloa said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “You can understand why he changes his number so often. I’ve tried to ‘bother’ him as little as possible. But he’s one of those friends you can go a long time without speaking to, and then if you call him at 3 a.m., I’m sure he’d answer.”
Arbeloa also spoke glowingly of his former boss and commended his work at Real Madrid, where he won a league title.
“What the victory here 12 years ago [by winning the Champions League] meant deserves so much credit, just like Carlo [Ancelotti]’s or [Zinedine] Zidane’s later on,” he said. “But Mourinho laid the foundations for those years. That’s something I feel. I believe he’s always been valued within the club. And that’s why he was, is, and always will be one of us.”
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