Real Madrid host a Malaga side still finding their feet back in the top flight, with the visitors yet to win and already showing defensive frailties. Jose Mourinho’s team sheet is missing several regulars, but the starting XI still boasts Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude B…
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Sign inJose Mourinho’s Real Madrid continue their 2026-27 La Liga campaign on Sunday 30 August when they host Malaga in the third round of the regular season. Fresh from a dramatic late victory on the opening weekend, Madrid return to the Santiago Bernabéu aiming to build momentum against a Malaga side that played on the competition's first Monday night.
Madrid approach the home fixture still nursing several long-term absentees. Éder Militão, Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy remain unavailable as they recover from serious injuries. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Endrick are also close to returning from the muscle problems they picked up during the summer, and Mourinho has taken a deliberately cautious stance with the French midfielder. “We’ve decided, together with him and the coaching staff, that he should wait, so that he can return a week or two later, but at 100 per cent,” the Portuguese explained before the previous match-day. That makes it unlikely Tchouaméni will be rushed back for this encounter.
The forward line, however, carries no fitness concerns. Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham, who combined for Madrid’s opener against Espanyol, should feature prominently again. Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior both returned late from post-World Cup holidays and lacked sharpness in Catalonia, but a full week of training and a first home crowd of the season ought to lift their output.
Mourinho’s second tenure began with a 2-1 win at Espanyol that was more anxious than anticipated. Güler fed Bellingham for an early lead, yet Madrid’s attack lost its edge and the hosts equalised, conjuring memories of the club’s troubled previous two campaigns. Substitute Espi, a summer signing from Levante, smashed in a stoppage-time winner that Mourinho hailed as “a win with soul, with resiliency”.
The performance underlined the gap between Madrid’s known quality and their current rhythm. Big-money arrivals Yan Diomande, Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konaté have been added to a squad tasked with halting Barcelona’s domestic dominance, but the early evidence suggests cohesion will take time.
Malaga opened their season on Monday 24 August with a home fixture against Deportivo La Coruña. The Andalusian club are back in the top flight seeking to consolidate after several years of rebuilding. Away trips to the Bernabéu are among the sternest tests in Spanish football, and Malaga’s recent record in the capital gives little comfort; Madrid have won 13 of the last 16 league meetings between these clubs at the Bernabéu across all opponents of a similar profile.
Malaga’s best route into the contest will be through defensive organisation and quick transitions. The visitors will note that Espanyol troubled Madrid on the break when Vinícius and Mbappé were still finding their feet, and a repeat of that disjointed first hour could give the Andalusians hope.
Mourinho leaned heavily on Güler and Bellingham to provide rhythm and direction at Espanyol, and the pair responded by swapping positions and sharing creative duties. With Tchouaméni still working back to fitness, much of Madrid’s incision will again flow through the young duo operating behind the front line. Malaga’s central midfielders will have to track both runners diligently while preventing straightforward passes into the feet of Mbappé. If they sit too deep, Güler in particular has the close control to find pockets and unhinge a compact shape.
Madrid’s obvious ambition is to make it two wins from two before the calendar thickens with September’s international break. For Malaga, a disciplined display that frustrates the home crowd would represent an early-season statement, even if the points are hard to come by.
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