Three observations from Real Madrid 3-0 Pachuca

Real Madrid easily beat Pachuca in the Intercontinental Cup final to claim their fifth trophy of the calendar year, with goals from Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo. Here are three quick observations from a routine victory.

Jude Bellingham gives another good performance

Jude Bellingham has been on fire lately. He’s actually been a talisman of late, but just because he hasn’t scored goals all season like he did last time doesn’t mean he’s had a bad season or that he’s arrived late.

Bellingham has been good all year. He has done well in whatever role Carlo Ancelotti has given him, it’s just that the roles he has been given have sometimes not required him to score goals. It was pretty good without them: goals were just the icing on the cake, which was sometimes necessary to win and draw.

However, he has been exceptionally good in recent months and his form continued in another competition, another final. It was a game like the one at the beginning of the season in which, although he did not score any goals or assists, it was crucial for the team’s success.

The onus fell on the offensive end, but Bellingham was good, as always, all over the field. In three successive sequences, you can probably find him: 1) on the attack, making a beautiful pass to Vinicius Jr, 2) carrying the ball from point A to point B, dribbling past countless Pachuca players in the process, or, 3) winning possession with Lucas Vázquez or Fran García.

Bellingham played like a true box-to-box, and although he was quite involved in the attack, the way he moved with the ball was exquisite and, at times, made you jump out of your seat.

The way the Englishman defended like a warrior on the defensive end shouldn’t make any sense after everything he provided on the remaining two-thirds of the field, but when you watch a workaholic like Bellingham play for a couple of seasons, you get used to it it.

Was there really a need to form Real Madrid’s best eleven?

One could argue that the team needs to play more and more games together to improve chemistry and know how they should play in this system, without Toni Kroos and with Mbappé. You could argue that the players on the field need it for confidence and continuity, which is why it was important for them to be starters.

The question remains: did they have to play the full 90 minutes? Was there a need to play the gala XI? Was there a need to risk injury in a match that was not considered particularly tough? Surprises are common in football and, furthermore, Ancelotti did say that they were taking this competition seriously, which makes sense. Winning a trophy definitely helps morale and confidence, but I think there is a world in which Real Madrid win this final without having to take out some of the players who started today.

There were several players on the team who could have used the minutes. Raúl Asencio has not yet had a bad performance with the first team, but he only saw the pitch towards the end of the game. Endrick hasn’t played much this season and remained on the bench for the entire game. There were other Castilla players who could have rested the first team players once it was ‘confirmed’ that Real Madrid was going to win the game.

It also gave Ancelotti the opportunity to try things for the future that he wouldn’t have had the chance to see in other games, for example playing against Lorenzo Aguado or Raúl Asencio (he was reportedly being tried out at right-back during training). ). Asencio did come on, but he only played two minutes, which actually could have been 20 if Ancelotti wanted to see how everything works with him there.

This sort of thing baffles Ancelotti’s most passionate followers. Real Madrid won without injuries, which is good, but it would have been a very different story if there had been an injury in a game that they could have won without some of the players playing in it.

Some game notes.

It was a 3-0 victory. A clean sheet. Real Madrid did not concede a goal. It’s a good thing. However, something that will inevitably go unnoticed due to the lifting of the trophy is how easy it was for Pachuca to get into the Real Madrid box and how hard-working Real Madrid looked when trying to create chances in the first half. It’s not a big problem, but Real Madrid had problems in the first minutes of the game and it’s something they need to work on collectively.

Real Madrid also conceded an offside goal towards the end of the match, similar to two of the three goals Rayo Vallecano managed to get past Thibaut Courtois: an unmarked run into the box. It didn’t register as a goal tonight, but it has on previous occasions, and it could on other, bigger nights. Something Ancelotti should have written down in his notebook.

Mbappé looked good. With all due respect to Pachuca, it wasn’t against the toughest opponent, but his passes were good, he made good runs and created danger. Solid 60 minutes, and even though this is supposed to be Mbappé’s most disappointing season, he still has 13 goals and 3 assists this season, which isn’t bad for any player in the world. There is still room for huge improvement, but hopefully these are encouraging signs.

Vinicius Jr showed once again why he is the best player in the world and it seemed effortless. A beautiful Karim Benzema-style assist in the first that sent the Pachuca goalkeeper into a different dimension, and then he scored a penalty to show once again that he is made for the finals. 14 goals and assists in 12 finals so far. It’s not easy.