Last season’s Champions League winners swept aside their Premier League opponents, leaving Enzo Maresca with a lot to improve upon

Real Madrid are a lot better than Chelsea; we didn’t need a pre-season friendly to tell us that. Tuesday’s 2-1 win for Los Blancos in Charlotte, though, proved just how big that gap was. Madrid, even with star players still not back from post-tournament holidays, are ready for their season to start. Chelsea? Not even close.

Lucas Vazquez opened the scoring for Madrid here, although Dani Ceballos claimed that he got the final touch. Brahim Diaz then made it 2-0, rounding new Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen to cap what was a Man-of-the-Match performance. Noni Madueke did pull one back before half-time to maintain his good pre-season scoring run, but it proved to be merely a consolation.

Madrid’s season officially starts on August 14 when they take on Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup. Chelsea’s, meanwhile, begins four days later against Manchester City in the Premier League. On this evidence, one team is ready for their first competitive assignment, and the other couldn’t be further away.

WINNER: Vinicius Jr
Having came off the bench against Barcelona this past weekend, Vinicius Jr made his first start of pre-season against Chelsea. And if this was any indication, Vini is ready to play.

The Brazilian star was unplayable in the first half as he ran Chelsea’s defence ragged. He created several chances all on his own and provided a spectacular trivela assist for Brahim’s goal. If something good was happening for Real Madrid, Vini was usually at the centre of it.

It’s scary to think that this season he’ll actually be under less pressure, despite him being the Ballon d’Or favourite. With all eyes on Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius may even have more space to run and more chances to make magic.

If he’s this good without Mbappe, the thought of them playing together is frightening. Defenders, be warned; this won’t be easy.

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  LOSER: Chelsea’s defence

  Oh boy, that was bad! Every time Madrid got forward, Chelsea looked clueless. It was chaos from the opening whistle and every time they got asked to defend, it felt like it got worse.

  Chelsea started with the centre-back pairing of Benoit Badiashile and Levi Colwill and, to put it lightly, they were terrible. There was no effort, no communication and no composure. In truth, they were lucky to only concede two in the first half. It could, and maybe should have, been worse.

  Goalkeeper Jorgensen shouldn’t be spared, either. His indecision on Brahim’s goal was a real lowlight in a game that didn’t have any highlights for Blues supporters.

  If this is what Chelsea are working with, they’re in real trouble. Maresca has to sort out this defence, and he needs to do it quickly.

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    WINNER: Noni Madueke

    Chelsea’s competition for minutes on the wing is fierce, although that can be said all over the pitch due to the sheer size of the Blues’ squad. Madueke has certainly furthered his case for more opportunities this summer, though.

    The England Under-21 international’s back-post offered Chelsea a route back into the game, and though he didn’t set the world alight outside of that, goals matter, even in pre-season, and he has now found the net in each of the Blues’ last three friendlies in the United States.

    Madueke is fighting for minutes and, in a game where other wingers failed to impress, he stood out. Raheem Sterling was largely bad during his time on the field, while Mykhailo Mudryk absolutely skied his only real chance to score.

    Madueke standing out was at least partly due to other’s failures, but he also got his goal, and he will hope to carry his current form into the upcoming campaign.

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    LOSER: Enzo Maresca

    We’re now five games into Maresca’s first pre-season as Chelsea boss, and he has won just once, against Liga MX side Club America, while tasting defeat against Manchester City, Celtic and now Madrid having drawn with League One side Wrexham.

    The truth is that Chelsea have looked no better this pre-season than they did for most of the 2023-24 campaign. It would be one thing if you could see the vision in these defeats, but so far, it’s hard to even find big-picture wins. Right now, the Blues are going backwards.

    That isn’t all on Maresca, as the Chelsea job has become something of a poisoned chalice ever since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover. But the earlier signs are not good for the ex-Leicester City boss as his team continue to struggle.

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    WINNER: Brahim Diaz

    After two seasons out loan at AC Milan, Brahim solidified his place within the Madrid squad last season, making a number of key contributions both as a fill-in starter and off the bench. Competition for places, though, has only grown at Santiago Bernabeu this summer, and thus the Morocco international will have been keen to remind Carlo Ancelotti of his talents this summer.

    The ex-Man City starlet scored a fantastic goal in the first half of Tuesday’s match, rounding Jorgensen before tucking a shot into the far post. It was the type of goal only a confident player can score, and Brahim made it look easy.

    With Mbappe, Vinicius, Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Arda Guler and Endrick arguably ahead of him in the pecking order, Brahim needed a game like this one. If he can continue to show this kind of form, he may prove too good to ignore.

    Source goal.com