Fiorentina vs Real Madrid: 5 Questions for Managing Madrid

MiQ: How do you assess the general mood in the Real Madrid camp after winning the UEFA Supercup. What are the general expectations of the coming season on all fronts?

Lucas: Everything is calm, this was just the first step into the new season ahead, but I think the expectations couldn't be higher, and I understand that because we have a really powerful roster on all fronts. Still, it's very hard to win trophies and most of the time you need some good luck to achieve your goals even if you are the best team, so Real Madrid need to take things one step at a time in order to be successful. The goal should be to win all six trophies, but that never comes easy. Patience is what Real Madrid need. To have such high expectations can never be a good thing.

MiQ: Who is the most in-form Real Madrid player (Out of the players you expect to start the match? Does Fiorentina present him with problems, or is he likely to continue his good play?

Lucas: You have to name Cristiano Ronaldo after his brace against Sevilla, though I am not sure he will get much playing time against you guys. The schedule of this friendly doesn't fit Real Madrid very well, as we play Atlético on Tuesday. Therefore, I expect Carlo Ancelotti to travel with a lot of canteranos and give some usual reserves a chance to impress. Expect Illarramendi and Isco to start, and this could also be Keylor Navas' very first match under a Real Madrid shirt. I guess Isco is going to be the man Fiorentina need to take care of. He's impressive.

MiQ: If you could have one Fiorentina player on the Real Madrid roster for this game, who would it be and why?

Lucas: This is a very interesting question. I'm aware that Cuadrado is your best player, but I think Real Madrid could use Mario Gómez. After all, we need a backup for Karim Benzema and Mario Gómez would add another style to the team as well.

MiQ: What's been the most frustrating part of this Real Madrid Pre-season? The most positive?

Lucas: Casillas, obviously. He showed some very poor form against Manchester United, but it's also true that he delivered against Sevilla. We did not have the whole roster during the pre-season, so these bad results never got me worried, but it's frustrating to see some Academy players playing that timidly and not showing their worth on a friendly game. I also expected a bit more from Isco and Illarramendi. Both of them had a very good chance of fighting for a starting spot since Kroos, Khedira, James and Modric were out for the first games. Their performance was good, but not brilliant.

MiQ: Who is the best new Madrid signing? Kroos or James? Feel free to ignore the names if you think it is someone else

Lucas: Kroos, no question. This is a ridiculous signing. To sign him away from Bayern for just 30M€ is simply absurd, since he was arguably one of Europe's greatest midfielders. We need to consider that we signed Modric for 35M€ and Kroos for 30M€, while Fellaini cost United 30M€ and Barcelona paid 40M€ for Fàbregas. We've been lucky with these two signings and I can only be excited to see where this midfield goes! James, on the other hand, was expensive, but I believe he can be a really good player for the future as well.

My answers to Lucas 5 questions will be shortly published on Managing Madrid and the link will be included in this article as soon as the article is published.

For my answers to Lucas Questions click Here!