Real Madrid won their sixth game of the season in their Champions League opener. Aurelien Tchouameni did not look like a newcomer at all
Toni Kroos and Luka Modric were impressed. After Real Madrid’s 3-0 away win at Celtic, the first thing the midfield giants – or the staff who do it for them – emphasised in their thank-you posts on social media was how spectacularly the Scottish fans had supported their team, which had only lost in the second half.
However, the defending Champions League champions had absorbed all of Glasgow’s storming efforts without conceding a goal that was definitely in the air. Vinicius Junior (56th) and Maestro Modric (60th) then made everything clear within four minutes. Service by the book, typical Real.
Benzema replaced early – Hazard shines
Now perhaps the big story from Celtic Park could be that the almost written-off Eden Hazard, an early substitute for the stricken Karim Benzema, not only set up those two goals but scored the final 3-0 scoreline himself. But for Real Madrid, who also won their sixth competitive match of the new season, spectacle has played only a secondary role in these weeks.
The Blancos have won the European Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt, have already secured top spot in La Liga and have also completed their CL opener in style – in fact, always in the same pattern.
Real sound out their opponents, patiently let them run riot and then punish them (or the other way round) – before the victory is swung home with aplomb. One could almost think that the Madrilenians had played the same game six times.
And yet they had recently – rather surprisingly – had to give up an absolute cornerstone whose contribution to the balance had been worth three championships and five CL victories in the past years, among other things. The 30-year-old Casemiro, who had played (and excelled) against Frankfurt, went to Manchester United for a good 70 million euros – and a 22-year-old newcomer by the name of Aurelien Tchouameni had to fill quite big shoes relatively seamlessly.
The young Frenchman’s cool and prudent manner in achieving this almost overnight must have impressed Kroos and Modric at least as much as the atmosphere at Celtic Park – and not only them. It almost seems as if Real Madrid had simply been given 70 million euros and lost nothing at all in return.
Of course, one should not ignore the fact that Tchouameni himself cost the royals around 80 million euros. But ten million minus for eight years plus sounds like a pretty good deal. After the first impressions, Real Madrid could not have moderated the transition in the position in front of the defence much better.
