Malaga will walk into the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday as the newly promoted side nobody expects to survive the afternoon — and their head coach has already made it clear he will not be setting up like one. Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Juanfran Funes said the Real Madrid vs Malaga occasion will not turn his team into something they are not, because in his view trying to simply cling on against Los Blancos is the quickest route to a hammering.
Real Madrid vs Malaga: Funes refuses to park the bus
The line that will travel furthest was blunt. “Against these teams, what you are able to do depends on what they allow you to do,” Funes told reporters, as quoted by Marca. “We are going to stay faithful to our style — if you go out to draw and to defend, they can still put eight past you.”
It is a striking admission of the gap between the two squads, and a refusal to pretend that damage limitation is a strategy. Funes backed it up with a number that will not comfort travelling fans: “Of their last 100 home games, they have only lost six.”
He also framed the trip as a night to be enjoyed rather than endured. “It is a very unusual setting for us. It is the first time for many,” the Malaga boss said. “We have to live it with the excitement it deserves. It is a beautiful situation. These challenges have to be a stimulus.”
What the Malaga coach expects from Mourinho’s Madrid
Funes was clear-eyed about the specific problem in front of him: a Madrid side that can shift gear inside a single half. “The team has mechanisms to work better in a particular way. Madrid can show you different versions. They can flip the switch quickly thanks to their determination,” he said, before adding that “if there is one team in the world that can push you to such a high level of demand, it is Madrid and Barcelona.”
Madridistas will recognise the pattern he is describing. Real Madrid were made to work for long stretches of Wednesday’s Bernabeu opener before pulling clear to win 4-1 against Real Sociedad, Kylian Mbappe helping himself to a hat-trick on Jose Mourinho’s first night back in the home dugout. Six points from six, seven goals scored and a Champions League league-phase draw now settled: the mood around the club could hardly be better set for a visit from a promoted side.
Team news: Mourinho still short of bodies
The one caveat for Mourinho is availability. Marca reports that Aurelien Tchouameni and Endrick are both still working to an individual programme at Valdebebas and look set to miss the game, the Brazilian after a muscular overload and the Frenchman still building back up following his post-World Cup break.
They join a treatment room that already contains Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao, Raul Asencio and Thiago Pitarch, although Militao, Mendy and Pitarch have at least been pictured touching a ball again in training. With a congested run of fixtures either side of the international break, rotation is coming: reports in Spain suggest Trent Alexander-Arnold could be handed his first Real Madrid start against Malaga, while Brahim Diaz and Dean Huijsen both face a club with roots in their own stories, as covered in our Malaga team news.
The Madridista view
Funes talking about conceding eight is not bravado, it is honesty dressed as ambition, and it is exactly the sort of pre-match framing that suits Madrid. An opponent who commits to playing gives Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham space to run into, and this Madrid front line has looked increasingly comfortable when invited forward. Kick-off is 17:00 local time on Sunday, 16:00 BST.
