Real Madrid Season Preview: Five Key Questions Ahead of 2026-27 Campaign

By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-08-14 19:47:48 | Updated at 2026-08-14 23:07:14 9 hours ago

José Mourinho is back, Vinícius Júnior has committed his future to the club, and Kylian Mbappé is fresh off a World Cup Golden Boot. We look at five key questions to be asked of Real Madrid heading into the 2026-27 season.

The new La Liga season gets underway this weekend. Real Madrid won’t be playing, though. Their opener against Espanyol has been delayed by a week, as have those for Barcelona, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad due to the involvement of their players in the latter stages of the World Cup.

Los Blancos will be eager to hit the ground running, though, aiming to get back to the top of Spanish football. For a club never shy of self-promotion, it isn’t a great look to be finishing behind fierce rivals Barcelona in their domestic title race in consecutive seasons.

That is why he has been brought back to the Bernabéu.

José Mourinho is in the hot-seat for a second spell in Madrid, tasked with overthrowing Hansi Flick’s Barça and providing a more credible challenge in the Champions League than we’ve seen in the last couple of years.

There are also new arrivals as far as players are concerned, with, among others, a nine-figure sum paid for Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig, and Spain’s World Cup-winning left-back, and Barcelona youth product, Marc Cucurella from Chelsea.

What can Real Madrid hope to achieve, though? Well, as is the case every season, they’ll aim to win the lot. But how likely is it?

We’ve asked five questions of Real Madrid ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, the answers to which could determine how happy the fans are by the end of May.

Will Mourinho Recapture the Magic?

He’s baaaack.

José Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013, but 13 years later, the club have turned to the Portuguese coach once again to try and get back on their perca.

Ryan Benson has already explained why Mourinho’s return might make sense for Madrid in his La Liga season preview, but will the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss be able to make Madrid competitive in the league and Champions League this season?

His first spell wasn’t actually all that productive. In his three seasons in the Spanish capital, Mourinho won the Copa del Rey in his first year, La Liga in his second, and only a Supercopa de España in his third.

That said, it was a stunning title win in 2011-12. Real Madrid had not won the league since 2007-08, but racked up 100 points, winning 32 La Liga games, a competition record at the time (equalled by Barcelona the following season), including 16 away wins, which remains an outright competition record.

After earning a reputation as one of the best coaches of a generation in spells with Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter, Real Madrid and Manchester United, his star fell somewhat in tenures with Tottenham, Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica. That said, he still won the inaugural UEFA Conference League in his time in Rome.

Things didn’t work out for Real Madrid under Xabi Alonso last season, which followed years of relative success under Carlo Ancelotti. The club does often do better with a head coach who just keeps the best players onside and takes a more hands-off approach tactically.

Mourinho showed he can still produce when it matters. His Benfica side won a dramatic Champions League game with Madrid last season in Lisbon 4-2, with their late fourth goal from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin earning them a place in the play-off round. However, they weren’t able to repeat the trick against Los Blancos in that round, losing 3-1 on aggregate.

His teams are still tough to beat. Benfica went undefeated through their 2025-26 Primeira Liga season. However, they also weren’t ruthless enough when it came to winning games. Their 11 draws ultimately cost them, as Benfica had to settle for third behind Porto and Sporting CP.

Perhaps having some of the best forwards on the planet will help, which leads us nicely on to…

Getting the Best Balance Out of the Attack

When you have a forward line featuring Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé, do you think ‘Oh my, we have two of the best attackers on the planet, how lucky are we?’ No, absolutely not. You think ‘We need a third!’

With Rodrygo out injured, Franco Mastantuono heading to Fiorentina on loan and Arda Güler more or less reinvented as a centre midfielder now, there was an opening on the right of the attack for Real Madrid. They have filled it with Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig. The Ivorian winger joined for a reported club record fee of €140 million, and could complete one of the deadliest front threes football has seen in a while.

Vinícius ultimately stayed despite weeks of flirting with Premier League champions Arsenal, with the Brazilian signing a new deal at the Bernabéu.

Mbappé is fresh off scoring 10 goals for France at the 2026 World Cup. How on earth could this triumvirate not obliterate all before them in the coming season?

Well, while Vinícius and Mbappé were not exactly goal shy last season, scoring 22 and 42 respectively in all competitions, there was a general belief that they didn’t work as well together as they could, and that Madrid’s lack of silverware and disappointing performances in the biggest games could be somewhat blamed on the attack not firing when it mattered most.

It led to Alonso trying to change things up, including bringing Vinícius off in a Clásico against Barcelona in October last year. Madrid actually won the game, but all the headlines were about the Brazilian’s touchline tantrum at his then coach’s decision.

With the addition of eye-catching dribbler Diomande, who managed 13 goals and nine assists for Leipzig in all competitions last season, the hope is that teams won’t be able to double up as often on Vinícius and Mbappé, giving them more space to link up.

Mourinho might have a reputation as being a defensive manager at times, but his Real Madrid side scored 121 goals in 38 league games in the 2011-12 campaign, the most scored by any team in a single La Liga season (since 1929).

That year, Mourinho was able to get the best out of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuaín and Karim Benzema, so perhaps he can do with same with Vinícius, Mbappé and Diomande.

And we’re sure they’ll get help from another player who shone at the 2026 World Cup…

Is Jude Bellingham Back to His Best?

More than once this summer, we were treated to the familiar image of Jude Bellingham celebrating, arms outstretched, saying “I’m the man” without saying it, kitted out in angelic white. England saw the best of Bellingham at the World Cup, with his seven goals helping them on their way to third place in North America.

Now, Real Madrid want the Birmingham-born midfielder to get back to that in their famous white kit.

Bellingham was not bad last season, but he was below his previously exceptionally high levels. The former Borussia Dortmund man recorded just eight goals and five assists in 40 games for Madrid last season, only one more goal than he managed in eight appearances at the World Cup.

In his first season in Spain, Bellingham recorded 23 goals and 13 assists, followed by 14 goals and 13 assists in his second, so last term was a fairly significant reduction in output for him.

Under Thomas Tuchel, Bellingham played as a 10 behind Harry Kane, and it worked brilliantly. He was able to use his all-action style to really impact games, and get into goalscoring positions time and again.

Perhaps Mourinho will consider returning Bellingham to more of a 10 role at Madrid this season. In the 2025-26 campaign, he actually played more minutes in central midfield, only moving into the position closer to the striker in 28% of his La Liga minutes (compared to 71% of the time at the World Cup).

Having an in-form Bellingham playing just behind a frontline of Vinícius, Mbappé and Diomande? What’s the Spanish for ‘Cor blimey!’?

Will New Signings Click?

We’ve already discussed Yan Diomande. A real statement signing for a record fee. A 19-year-old star in the making.

He will add plenty on the ball, with only Lamine Yamal (133) completing more dribbles across Europe’s top five leagues last season than Diomande (118).

But he also works hard off the ball. Only nine players from Europe’s top five leagues won possession in the opposition’s final third more often than Diomande (27).

You can read more about Diomande here, but he is not the only new face through the door at the Bernabéu this summer, with plenty of valuable experience also arriving.

Marc Cucurella was signed just before he went on to win the World Cup, Denzel Dumfries boosted the options on the right in a relatively cheap deal from Inter, while Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konaté came in on free transfers from the Premier League.

Diomande is exciting, but if there’s a profile of player Mourinho loves, it is one who brings experience, know-how, and quality, and he has that with each of those four acquisitions.

Only Moisés Caicedo (87) made more tackles for Chelsea last season in the Premier League than Cucurella (55), while only Enzo Fernández (61) and Pedro Neto (43) created more chances from open play than the left-back (37).

Marc Cucurella open play chances created PL 2025-26

Dumfries was an interesting addition. To be honest, it would have been very easy to include a question in this article on how Mourinho will get the best out of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had an underwhelming debut season in Spain, but with the arrival of the marauding Dutchman, it’s unclear whether the former Liverpool man will even be a regular feature in the starting XI this season.

Silva arrives having won six Premier League titles with Manchester City, while Konaté was an English champion himself a year ago at Liverpool. The French centre-back had a difficult time last season, but he remains dominant in duels, particularly aerially. Only former centre-back partner Virgil van Dijk (74.4%) won a higher percentage of aerial duels in the Premier League than Konaté (71.3%) last season (minimum 150 aerial duels contested).

There is also the signing of Carlos Espí from Levante as a replacement for Gonzalo García as back-up striker to Mbappé. The 21-year-old scored 11 goals in 25 games in La Liga last season, four of which were headers (36.4%). Of players who scored at least 10 goals in La Liga in 2025-26, only Atlético Madrid’s Alexander Sørloth had a higher percentage (38.5%, 5 of 13).

Mourinho will certainly have plenty to work with, but can he knit it all together to challenge on all fronts?

Do They Need a Rodri Alternative?

One signing that appears to have eluded Real Madrid is Rodri. The Manchester City midfielder has long been talked about as a target, but now seems like he’s on his way to Barcelona. A double blow for Madrid should it happen.

However, it’s unclear if that means Madrid will need to look at other options, or if Rodri was seen as a ‘unicorn’ option. A unique talent who you bring in if you can, but not necessarily because you need someone in that area.

Let’s face it, Real Madrid already have some of the best midfielders in the world in their ranks. Bellingham may be utilised higher, but Aurélien Tchouaméni, Federico Valverde, Bernardo Silva, Arda Güler and Eduardo Camavinga are an impressive group, while much is expected of talented youngster Thiago Pitarch.

Can Rodri be duplicated? No, but we can use our Opta Player Radars to see which players were most like him last season in terms of output.

It’s a very interesting list. The player from Europe’s top five leagues who profiled most closely to Rodri last season was new Man City arrival Elliot Anderson. The second closest? Tchouaméni.

Juventus’ Manuel Locatelli – who Madrid were recently linked with – and Rodri’s deputy at City Nico González come after that, so really you could argue that Madrid already have Rodri at home. Just back Tchouaméni, and surround him with the immense talent of Valverde, Silva, Güler, Camavinga and Pitarch.

There are more questions than answers at Real Madrid right now, but with Mourinho back at the helm, one thing it’s unlikely to be is boring.

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