Real Madrid's Identity Crisis After Derby Defeat

Real Madrid are only seven games into their league campaign, but the mood around the club already feels heavy. Fourth place in La Liga, 15 points on the board, and a nagging sense that something fundamental is wrong with Florentino Perez’s grand project.

The 2-1 derby defeat to Atletico did more than dent the standings. It stripped away any illusion that this was just a slow start.

“Same problems for two and a half years”

Alvaro Benito, former Real Madrid player and now a prominent analyst, did not bother with diplomacy when he spoke to Cadena SER, with his comments later carried by Sport.

“Here the thinking needs to be much deeper,” he warned. “If you have been seeing the same problems on the pitch for two and a half years, then the nature of these problems is exactly the same.”

It was not a passing complaint. It was an accusation of structural failure.

“We do not see any change with the coaches, despite the different nature of each of them,” he stressed. “So the problem is much deeper. Isn’t it? That is what I am saying.”

Different managers, same issues. Different ideas on paper, the same flaws on the grass.

Wins that convince no one

Benito pointed to recent results as proof that the table is hiding more than it reveals. Even victories, he argued, have done little to calm the doubts.

“The problems have persisted for two and a half years, and nothing has been solved,” he said. “You can win. For example, you won the last match against Elche, but the impression the team leaves at a collective level is that the same problems keep recurring.”

The message was clear: the scoreline might change, the performance rarely does.

That is why the derby at the Metropolitano felt almost pre-scripted to him.

“We could all have expected that, barring something exceptional, when you come to the Metropolitano stadium you would see what we in fact saw,” he continued. “You could have won or lost, but I am not talking about losing or winning, because the road that leads to the result can take different paths.”

Even the individual incidents, he suggested, do not mask the wider pattern.

“If Cuti Romero had been sent off in the first half, then you might even have been able to win the match. I am talking about the collective impression, about the idea of play, what you offer, and which players you will put in the starting line-up in most matches.”

For Benito, the issue is not a refereeing decision or a missed chance. It is the absence of a recognisable plan.

Mourinho’s missing blueprint

At the heart of his criticism lies one central question: where is Jose Mourinho’s football?

Benito argued that the coach is not imposing the philosophy that made his name, and that this disconnect is damaging a squad seemingly built to thrive in that very system.

He laid it out in simple terms.

“Mourinho historically relies on a very strong medium defensive block, a team with compact lines, ferocious pressing, winning the ball back and then attacking directly and quickly. Excellent. This style would be ideal for Real Madrid, given the characteristics of the players they have, but the problem is that we do not see it.”

No compact block. No ferocious press. No clear, direct transition game worthy of Mourinho’s reputation.

So Real Madrid sit fourth, with points on the board but an identity up for debate, and a project that now faces a harsher question than any league table can ask: what exactly is this team trying to be?