Real Madrid vs AC Milan
Two of Europe’s finest have crossed the Atlantic and are ready to get it on at the Soldier Field Stadium on Thursday, where Club Friendly: Real Madrid vs AC Milan is the pre-season entertainment on offer.
The reigning La Liga champions take on the 2024 Serie A runners up and both teams have their eyes on more success over the next 12 months; and neither will particularly want to lose this clash. It promises to be a fascinating duel and while both Los Blancos and I Rossoneri are still waiting for some of their biggest names to join them, the fans in Chicago will have the chance to see a handful of megastars and some young players to look out for the future.
Talking Points
Madrid’s Conveyor Belt of Talent keeps rolling
Carlo Ancelotti’s squad for the tour of the USA has a host of household names in it, led by Croatian maestro Luka Modric, who has just signed up for another year at the Santiago Bernabeu. Keeper Thibaut Courtois is back after a year of injury while the Brazilian strike pair of Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior will join the group this week. Kylian Mbappe will not be with the squad; but there are yet more exciting young players who will get a chance to impress in pre-season.
As we recently reported here at SBOTOP, another Brazilian wonder-kid has just been introduced to the Real Madrid fans and 18 year old Endrick is now a Los Blanco. At his unveiling Endrick told the fans: “I am so happy, since I was a kid I have always been a Madrid fan and now I’m going to play for Madrid.” He is a highly promising striker and his signing is big La Liga 2024 news; and Endrick will be delighted to meet team-mate and Turkish star Arda Guler who is a good bet to have a breakthrough campaign this season after finishing strongly last term. The 19 year old is a wide creative player with superb delivery and an eye for goal himself and he could be a built in replacement for the departed Toni Kroos.
Meanwhile, at the back Madrid are hopeful they may have found a new ‘Sergio Ramos’ in academy player Joan Martinez. The 16 year old has travelled with the US tour group and is tipped to make an appearance against Milan. For such a young man he is physically strong, has sound technical skills and leadership qualities which have got the Real Madrid coaching team excited, cautiously…but excited.
With the departure of Nacho, Martinez could make the four man centre back unit for Los Blancos defence this term and if he impresses in the USA he will take a big step forward in an already exciting career.
Good start for Fonseca
With I Rossoneri’s opening Serie A fixture, against Torino on August 17th approaching quickly, new manager Paulo Fonseca has limited time to fine tune his squad; but the ex Lille boss has already seen encouraging signs after his team beat Manchester City 3-2 in their opener. Erling Haaland gave the Sky Blues a lead but a quick-fire double from Lorenzo Colombo turned the game around, Marco Nasti scoring the winner after James McAtee had levelled for the Premier League champions.
Milan played the ball out of defence quickly and turned the ball over rapidly. Fonseca’s teams play on the front foot and Milan have the players to do just that. Former Chelsea star Christian Pulisic had a brilliant debut season for Milan, scoring 15 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions last year, and his new manager has tipped him to do even better, saying: “It is not easy for a foreigner to arrive in their first year like Christian did because it’s difficult for a player like him to find space in Italy. I believe he can do better in the second year.”
Another creative star, Rafael Leao, is on the tour and he should line up alongside Pulisic against Real Madrid; but Theo Hernandez and new signing Alvaro Morata will not be on show.
Fonseca’s clear target is to topple Inter Milan this coming campaign and he knows it’s a mammoth task. Following up a pre-season win against Manchester City with another over Real Madrid won’t do morale any harm though!
History
Real Madrid and AC Milan have shared the love over their past 15 meetings, winning six each and there have been three draws. They met in the USA last summer as Los Blancos won a five goal thriller, Federico Valverde scoring twice and Vinicius Junior also netting as Fikayo Tomori and Luka Romero scored I Rossoneri’s second.
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