Real Madrid's Trophy Win Raises Midfield Concerns
Real Madrid lift a trophy, but doubts refuse to go away. The Teresa Herrera Cup will sit nicely in the cabinet, yet the performance in La Coruña has left a very different aftertaste among those who watched it closely.
At Riazor, José Mourinho sent out a full-strength Real Madrid in his second spell in charge. They beat Deportivo La Coruña, they did the job, but they did not calm any nerves. If anything, the 90 minutes underlined what has been growing clearer all pre-season: this team still has a hole in the middle of the pitch.
On SER Deportivos, journalists Antonio Romero and Tomás Roncero stripped away the friendly gloss.
Romero started with a caveat. Pre-season, he reminded listeners, can mislead. He estimated this Madrid are operating at “20 to 30%” of their true level. The engine is still cold. The legs are still heavy.
Even so, his conclusion cut through: Real Madrid lack a true playmaker in midfield.
“They have a superb defensive team, and an almost unbeatable attacking force,” he argued, “but there is room for improvement in midfield.” A spine of steel at the back, fireworks up front, and a gap in between that refuses to close.
Roncero attacked the same issue from another angle: the failed chase for Rodri Hernández. For him, that saga has consequences that cannot be brushed aside with a trophy photo.
“If you wanted to sign Rodri and you did not, that means you have to fill that void,” he warned. “If you do not end up signing him, you will feel this deficiency all season.” The message was blunt: the club can no longer act as if nothing is missing.
With the market question hanging in the air, Romero pointed towards the man on the bench and a familiar formula. He called it “the Mourinho method”.
If any coach can bend a team around a weak point and still win, Romero suggested, it is Mourinho. Build around the defence. Stretch the pitch with the forwards. Find ways to bypass the lack of a classic conductor.
But even that has limits. Romero reminded listeners that the most dominant Real Madrid side in history was built on a very different idea of midfield: Casemiro, Kroos and Modrić, three specialists who controlled games rather than skipped past them.
So who could offer something similar now? One name, for Romero, stands out.
Based on what he saw in La Coruña, and on years of watching him at Manchester City, Romero singled out Bernardo Silva as the player most likely to accept a more sacrificial, hard-working role for Mourinho. A star willing to become a soldier.
“If he is asked to play alongside Tchouaméni and provide some support, he reminds me a little of Modrić,” Romero said. Not in pure style, but in the willingness to knit play, to suffer, to do the dirty work between lines. He ruled out Camavinga, Arda Güler, Bellingham and Valverde for that specific task. Their profiles are different, their gifts lie elsewhere.
While the debate over the ideal playmaker rumbled on, attention also turned to those only just beginning their Madrid story.
Romero urged patience with Yan Diomande. The midfielder is still a teenager, still learning what it means to wear this shirt. Real Madrid, he stressed, is another planet entirely compared to shining for “five good minutes with Leganés”. The step up is brutal. The margin for error is tiny. Demanding instant stardom from a player who is not yet twenty risks crushing him before he settles.
One new face, though, already stirs a different kind of anticipation.
“Diomande attracts a lot of attention,” Romero admitted, “but the player everyone is eager to see running down the wing at the Bernabéu is Cucurella.” The full-back has quickly become a name to circle on the team sheet. Energy, aggression, vertical runs — the sort of left-back the stadium falls for.
“He is the type of footballer you have to love,” Romero said, placing him in a lineage that carries real weight in Madrid. Since Marcelo and Roberto Carlos, there has been a lingering hope at the Bernabéu: the return of a truly vertical left-back, one who can tilt the whole game with a single surge down the touchline.
The friendly in La Coruña handed Real Madrid a minor title and a few snapshots of promise. It also left a clear warning on the table. Until someone truly takes command of that midfield, every trophy lift will come with the same question: how long can this team keep winning while living with such a visible flaw in the heart of the pitch?
