The poster for the 81st edition of the Teresa Herrera, the oldest summer trophy in Spanish football, was so enticing with Real Madrid’s visit to Deportivo that the entire first half at Riazor was a disappointment until Brahim showed one of his wonderful tricks in stoppage time. The Spanish-Moroccan winger received a long ball in midfield that Lunin had thrown to him with his hand, controlled it as if he had a padded chest under pressure from Soriano, propelled it with his knee, and finished with his right foot in front of Leo Román, the goalkeeper who just had a great season at Mallorca and whom the Coruña club signed this summer in their return to the First Division after spending eight years in the lower leagues for no less than nine million euros. Brahim’s action gave Madrid the win to lift for the tenth time the gigantic trophy shaped like the iconic Tower of Hercules of the city of A Coruña and brightened a first half that until then had bordered on soporific due to the circulation pace displayed by José Mourinho’s team, almost incapable of troubling the well-organized group of Antonio Hidalgo, a compact block that also knows how to hide the ball when it passes through the feet of Soriano and Amatucci.
Still without Mbappé, Cucurella, Courtois, Tchouaméni, and Bellingham, the Portuguese coach bet on Endrick up front, Güler in the attacking midfield, and Bernardo Silva and Camavinga in the engine room while Fede Valverde waited on the bench. The wingers were Brahim and Vinicius, who in his first match as a starter since renewing his contract showed again a still gray version, needing minutes to gain rhythm and ignite a musculature that years ago dazzled with its power. It has been a while since the Brazilian regularly found that 2023-2024 version that led him to finish second in the Ballon d’Or voting, shy tonight in one-on-ones and also inaccurate in some passes in midfield.
The choice of Bernardo Silva to accompany Camavinga did not solve the construction problems Real suffers when their opponent locks themselves in their own half, problems that seem atavistic since Toni Kroos retired and Luka Modric left. With no options left to sign Rodri, and without a similar-profile player in the squad, it remains to be seen if Mourinho continues with the idea of fielding the veteran Portuguese in the double pivot, who is more an attacking midfielder, an interior, or a false winger than a playmaker, no matter how fantastic his left foot is for linking up.
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Real struggled so much against Deportivo’s tight and well-organized lines that they did not force Leo Román to stretch until Endrick finished a free kick taken by Güler in the 39th minute. Lacking combinations, the white team found in set pieces a way to break through the Coruña side’s defense, which next Monday starts the League against Elche at Riazor after eight years suffering through the fields of Segunda, Segunda B, and Primera RFEF. The young Brazilian forward again got minutes and mixed good details, like a gallop in which he left two opponents behind, with signs of haste, like when he made a reckless tackle on Ede at the start.
Deportivo, still without Yeremay because the talented youth player has just recovered from pubalgia, saw the electric Noé Carrillo get injured in the first part. Antonio Hidalgo’s team held up well against Real, who found the goal with Brahim on a counterattack between him and Lunin after the Ukrainian goalkeeper blocked a shot from Noubi. The Galicians stayed in the match during the second-half substitutions and even had the chance to equalize when the curtain was falling on a clear shot from Loureiro saved by Lunin. Mourinho’s Madrid won their second preseason match after defeating Ferencvaros and drawing against Fiorentina, but the team seems to have quite a bit of work ahead to fine-tune the pieces and reintegrate the internationals who have just joined the group before debuting in the League on August 22 at Espanyol’s stadium.
