Real Madrid kicked off their Champions League defense with a 3-1 win over a brave Stuttgart side, stopped only by an immense Thibaut Courtois, this Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu, in their European debut with a goal from Kylian Mbappe and Endrick in the legendary white shirt.
The new Real Madrid idol opened the scoring in the 46th minute, with Deniz Undav equalizing in the 68th. Finally, a header from Antonio Rudiger against the team where he trained as a footballer left three points in the Spanish capital (83) and the Brazilian Endrick scored in the last play (90+5).
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‘On the way to the sixteenth’, warned a huge banner at one end of the Bernabeu in the team’s first Champions League match since winning the 15th against Borussia Dortmund (2-0) in London on June 1.
The competition is launching a new format – a single group of 36 teams, eight matches against different rivals, and the top eight qualifying directly for the round of 16 – and Real Madrid is trying to fit the pieces of its new puzzle together without Toni Kroos in the middle and with Mbappe in its attack.
The German’s departure means less fluidity in the build-up, while the presence of Mbappe means more wood in front of the opposing goal, but increases the risk of jams when joining Vinicius, Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo near the area.
The new quartet is in full search of automatisms. This Tuesday Vinicius and Mbappe alternated between the center and the left wing, Bellingham moved into the attacking midfield, and the right wing was for Rodrygo.
With fewer problems than the rich, Stuttgart, in their fourth participation in the Champions League, the first since 2010, showed up at the Bernabeu without complexes, generating a carousel of opportunities in the first 20 minutes saved by the giant Courtois.
After this stretch of German display, with the first murmurs of disapproval in the stands, Real Madrid began to take the pulse of the match.
Without controlling the game and being vulnerable at the back, their star team began to show details. Mbappe signed his favorite play bicycle kick from the left, the ball profiled towards the center and cannon, cleared this time by goalkeeper Alexander Nubel (25).
In the first play of the second half, the captain of the French national team opened his account in Europe: his teammate in Les Bleus Aurelien Tchouameni played a long ball to Rodrygo who laid it on a plate for the number 9 to score into an empty net.
The break had already unsettled Stuttgart, who had been confident and solid in the first half, but were distracted and fragile at the start of the second.
The Whites had a quarter of an hour to kill off the match Mbappe had the second but shot in the center (48) and Vinicius hit the crossbar (58).
Stuttgart came out of their lethargy and began to haunt the opposition’s area again. On the hour mark, Jamie Leweling tried a cross-shot but Courtois’ wall came up against him.
After the warning came to the equalizer, Undav headed a ball from one side of the area to the other and it hit the far post.
Addicted to strong emotions, with the luxurious substitute Luka Modric from a corner kick, Rudiger made the Bernabeu roar. Endrick, 18, closed out the scoring with a whiplash on the final play.
