José Mourinho has set his squad a target with no wriggle room in it.
With Barcelona refusing to drop a point and the Betis defeat still stinging, the Mourinho Real Madrid plan for the next fortnight is blunt: nine points from nine before the international break, and no more excuses about a team still finding itself.
According to AS, the Portuguese had originally wanted to arrive at the first break of the season with a perfect 21 points from 21.
A statement start that would have kept Los Blancos level with their rivals while the new-look side settled. The trip to Seville ended that idea. Four league matches in, Real Madrid sit three points behind Barcelona, and Mourinho has decided the remaining nine points matter more, not less, because of it.
The Mourinho Real Madrid plan: no more slips
The context is uncomfortable. Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have won all five of their matches in all competitions and scored 22 goals doing it, hitting five in four of those wins. They face Levante and a trip to Sevilla before the break, and will start favourites in everything they play. If Madrid drop points again, the gap stops being a blip and starts being a deficit.
Mourinho’s counter-argument is the one he has made for 20 years: the Spanish title is a marathon in which the early leader rarely stays perfect. Every side hits a bad month. The job is to still be within touching distance when Barcelona hit theirs — and that means banking points in exactly the kind of fixtures that follow now.
There was at least a reminder in midweek that this team has a level. Real Madrid opened their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over Inter Milan at the Bernabéu, captain Federico Valverde adding the second, even if the performance drew as much grumbling from the stands as applause. Mourinho will take the result and worry about the football later.
Rayo Vallecano arrive short-handed
The first of the three is Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday, and the visitors could hardly have picked a worse week to travel across the capital. Mundo Deportivo report that Beñat San José will be without forward Randy Nteka, who picked up a muscle problem in training, alongside winger Isi Palazón and goalkeeper Augusto Batalla, who has had surgery on a fractured right tibia.
On top of the injuries, Rayo must serve suspensions for Fran Pérez and Jorge de Frutos after red cards in their previous league game, while right-back Iván Balliu is a genuine doubt with heavy ankle bruising.
“His ankle is badly bruised, but he’s a tough one and is doing everything he can to be fit,” San José said. Several of Rayo’s late summer additions are still acclimatising and unlikely to start.
Madrid, by contrast, have had better news on their own team news front, with Raúl Asencio back in training. Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy remain long-term absentees, and Éder Militão is still working back from hamstring surgery.
Elche and the derby to follow
After Rayo come Elche and then the Madrid derby, the fixture that will tell Mourinho far more about his side than the other two combined. Our September fixture guide has the full run of dates and kick-off times.
It is a demanding set for a team that has looked functional rather than fluent — heavy on possession, light on the killer pass, and reliant on Thibaut Courtois more often than any Madrid manager would like. Mourinho has been clear, though, that the standard he is asking for right now is not beauty. It is nine points.
Get them, and Real Madrid go into the break in the Barcelona slipstream with a squad that has had three weeks to breathe. Drop them, and a season that was supposed to start with a statement instead starts with a chase.
