AS: Real Madrid Show Two Faces at Home and Away, Struggling in Attack and Defense on the Road

According to AS, Real Madrid have shown a clear contrast between their home and away performances, with a strong attack but continued defensive mistakes.

There is one Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu and another completely different Madrid away from home. It can be like a hurricane, or like a tropical storm, producing fierce attacks but also proving far from impossible to withstand.

Real Madrid are extremely dangerous in attack, but their defense frequently switches off. The problem does not only come from the back four, but from the entire team. They are like a predator with saber-toothed fangs, yet they repeatedly expose space behind them during battles, perhaps because of excessive confidence.

This Real Madrid has two faces, and their performances match their current situation: a team still taking shape, a frightening machine that still needs some screws tightened, and one that is not yet perfect.

What truly draws attention is that the most obvious difference in the opening rounds of the league has been the contrast between home and away performances. A drop after leaving home is not unusual in football; it is common and understandable. But this team under Mourinho feels genuinely different away from home. Against Real Sociedad and Málaga, Madrid scored four goals in each match. The consecutive big wins allowed the team to win comfortably and increased confidence through goal-scoring displays. In reality, the issue is not only about goals. Looking at the numbers, Madrid averaged 10 shots on target at the Bernabéu while allowing opponents only two.

But away from home, the situation was completely different. In the league opener at the Cornellà-El Prat Stadium, Madrid struggled for periods. Their possession advantage did not translate into the same effectiveness. The team was indeed better overall than Espanyol, but the win was extremely difficult. Madrid had one-third fewer shots, only seven shots on target, and scored six fewer goals. The attacking firepower seemed to have been watered down. In the heat at La Cartuja Stadium, Madrid failed to score, which is uncommon: in their previous 24 matches, Madrid had only been held scoreless once, in the May 10 Clásico. Away from home, Madrid also allowed opponents more shots, four per match, double the home figure.

This two-sided performance is also reflected in defensive lapses. In the end, these mistakes are moments of losing focus, avoidable errors that hurt the team even more. Espanyol's goal came from a coordination mistake between Valverde and the defense while marking Calatrava, with Valverde bearing greater responsibility. Real Sociedad's goal came from Konaté and Carreras lacking physical strength during repeated attempts to stop counterattacks. Last night at La Cartuja Stadium, Valverde lost his marker while defending the second ball after a corner clearance.

These are not tactical imbalances, nor problems with the team's structure; they are more like individual mistakes. When winning by large margins, such errors often go unnoticed, but they become especially damaging in tight matches. With games approaching where mistakes cannot be allowed, these issues are particularly concerning because one error could directly knock the team down. The screws still need tightening, and this machine under construction still has circuits that occasionally short-circuit.

Moreover, Real Madrid have already experienced defeat. In fact, Mourinho joked during preseason that this team actually had three states: “good form, tired, and extremely tired.”

As time has passed, he has eliminated the final state. Ultimately, that was only the minimum requirement; after preseason preparation, fitness training should begin to show results. But Madrid's “tired” side still exists, especially in certain players. Bellingham is one of them. Because he participated in England's World Cup matches, he was one of the last players to join preseason preparation, making the impact almost unavoidable. From the 70th minute onward, his energy reserves were nearly depleted. Without his energy, the team's tempo naturally drops, which is not surprising.

These details are not enough to trigger an alarm, and they do not even amount to a yellow-card situation, but they show that this team is still far from its peak. Real Madrid still need to continue polishing and developing.

Real Madrid are extremely fierce in attack and have a strong ability to create chances, but their defensive lapses continue to cause some concern.

This is their two faces: at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid strike again and again, scoring four goals; away from home, they have scored only two. Last night, they were also kept scoreless.

For a frightening yet still imperfect machine, the screws still need to be tightened.