Real Madrid welcome newly-promoted Málaga to the Bernabéu

Agosto 30, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

By Filip Mishov

Mourinho’s blueprint already visible

Real Madrid’s sluggish first-half display against Real Sociedad in midweek even attracted some boos from the Bernabéu faithful at half-time but Kylian Mbappé turned on the heat in the second half to seal the win by completing a hat-trick.

Even though José Mourinho might not be completely pleased with his team’s performances during the opening couple of rounds, especially with the opponents enjoying a lot of time on the ball (43% possession on average), Los Blancos are off to a flawless start in LaLiga and are averaging an xG of 2.9.

On the other side of the pitch, a clean sheet for Thibaut Courtois is surely the next target, but the new look defence is still finding its feet with three new players (Ibrahima Konaté, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella) all starting in front of the Belgian goalkeeper.

Estadio La Rosaleda witnessed Málaga’s first top flight match since 2017/18 on Monday with Los Blanquiazules drawing with Deportivo A Coruña, which followed defeat at Atlético Madrid in the opening round. Now, Juan Funes‘s squad is heading back to Madrid to face one of the club’s toughest opponents, as Málaga’s record against Real Madrid attests.

Mourinho was, however, at the helm back in 2012 when Manuel Pellegrini outwitted a world-class side featuring Sergio Ramos, Mesut Özil and Cristiano Ronaldo to celebrate Málaga’s last win over Madrid in all competitions.

Key players

In order for Los Blancos to make the most out of their rich attacking talent, tlast season’s runners-up need a solid and well-organised backline, and Dean Huijsen is set to be one of Mourinho’s defensive leaders this campaign. The talented centre-back already worked under the Portuguese coach at Roma back in 2024 and The Special One then labelled him as “one of the biggest prospects in football”. So, it is no surprise to see the 21-year-old start and excel in the opening matches of the season, earning a FotMob rating of 7.1 and 7.8, respectively.

Chupe is living the dream after guiding his boyhood club back to LaLiga with the academy product scoring 25 goals and six assists in the second tier last season. Subsequently, the 22-year-old finished as the second-highest scorer and was among the leading forwards in terms of goals per 90 (0.81) and xGOT (21.9). The No. 9 will be Málaga’s protagonist once again and the prolific striker has opened his account for this season by scoring against Deportivo A Coruña.

Team news

With Real Madrid playing three league games in a span of eight days, Mourinho is expected to make changes in the starting XI, but Éder Militao, Raúl Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Thiago Pitarch, Rodrygo and Endrick remain out of contention.

Málaga’s injury list is less extensive, but still Diego Murillo, Fernando Calero, Aarón Ochoa and Adrián Nino will be absent through injuries.

Prediction

José Mourinho is off to a perfect start in LaLiga, and with the newly-promoted Málaga coming to the Bernabéu, I expect them to make it three out of three at the start of the season and ahead of their difficult trip to Real Betis next week.