Real Madrid Lift Teresa Herrera Cup Amid Midfield Concerns
Real Madrid lift a trophy. The doubts lift with them.
The Teresa Herrera Cup will sit nicely in the cabinet, but the performance in La Coruña has lit up a warning sign that many around the club believe will flash all season long.
At Riazor, José Mourinho sent out a full-strength Real Madrid in his second spell in charge. They beat Deportivo La Coruña, job done on paper. On the pitch, it told a different story. The same problem that has stalked pre-season refused to go away: the hole in the middle of the pitch.
A win that convinces nobody
On SER Deportivos, journalists Antonio Romero and Tomás Roncero stripped away the gloss. Yes, it is pre-season. Yes, players are still short of rhythm. Romero even stressed that Madrid are running at “20 to 30%” of their potential right now.
But his conclusion cut through the usual summer caveats.
“Real Madrid still feel they are missing a playmaker in midfield. They have a superb defensive team, and an almost unbeatable attacking force, but there is room for improvement in midfield.”
That is the crux. The team looks solid at the back, terrifying up front, and incomplete in the engine room. The Teresa Herrera Cup didn’t change that. It underlined it.
The Rodri void that won’t go away
Roncero went straight for the transfer-market bruise: Rodri Hernández.
“If you wanted to sign Rodri and you did not, that means you have to fill that void. If you do not end up signing him, you will feel this deficiency all season,”
he warned, making it clear that the club can no longer pretend this is a secondary issue.
The message was blunt. Miss out on your primary target, fine. Fail to replace the profile you were desperate to sign, and you are choosing to live with a structural weakness. In a Mourinho team, that is a dangerous gamble.
The “Mourinho method” and a nod to the past
Romero then turned to the man on the bench. If anyone can build a winning side while skipping a classic playmaker, it is Mourinho. He even gave the idea a name: “the Mourinho method”.
“If there is a coach in the world capable of getting past the midfield to build a winning team, it is probably Mourinho,”
Romero said. But he did not stop there. He pointed to the benchmark that still frames every debate at the Bernabéu.
“There is no need to look far to see that Real Madrid's most successful team in history included Casemiro, Kroos and Modrić.”
That trio is the shadow hanging over every experiment. Madrid know what a perfectly balanced midfield looks like. Right now, they are trying to approximate it without the same blend of brains, bite and control.
Bernardo Silva as the “sacrifice”
So who can step into that sacrificial, all-purpose role? For Romero, one name stands out: Bernardo Silva.
“Based on what I saw in La Coruña and what I have seen from him at City and his experience, I think Bernardo Silva would accept this sacrifice,”
he said.
He sees the Portuguese as a player who can give up some of his freedom for the structure of the team, a high-class technician willing to work in the shadows.
“He can be a soldier for Mourinho, and if he is asked to play alongside Tchouaméni and provide some support, he reminds me a little of Modrić,”
Romero added, while explicitly ruling out Camavinga, Arda Güler, Bellingham and Valverde for that specific job.
The idea is clear: someone has to do the unglamorous, connective work. Someone who can think like Modrić, run like a midfielder, and obey like a soldier.
Patience for Diomande, excitement for Cucurella
Not all the talk centred on the problem. There was room for the new faces too, and a call for calm around one of them in particular.
Romero urged patience with Yan Diomande, reminding fans that he is “not yet twenty” and that Real Madrid is a world away from “playing five good minutes with Leganés”. The shirt is heavier, the scrutiny harsher, the margin for error smaller. Nobody should expect instant domination.
On the left flank, though, there is genuine anticipation. Romero lit up when speaking about Cucurella.
“Diomande attracts a lot of attention, but the player everyone is eager to see running down the wing at the Bernabéu is Cucurella,”
he said. “He is the type of footballer you have to love. Since Marcelo and Roberto Carlos, we have had a feeling at the Bernabéu that we will be able to enjoy a vertical left-back.”
That is a powerful comparison. Mention Marcelo and Roberto Carlos in the same breath as a new full-back and you tap straight into one of the club’s deepest emotional veins: the thrill of a left-back who plays like a winger and attacks like a number 10.
The trophy in La Coruña will be forgotten quickly. The questions it raised in midfield will not.
