SOCCER
Mourinho’s Madrid: Three Games, Three Wins—and a Team Taking Shape
Real Madrid have nine points from nine. Mbappé’s goals and Bellingham’s central role offer the first clues to José Mourinho’s new team.
Three games. Three wins. Ten goals. José Mourinho’s second Real Madrid tenure has begun with a convincing set of numbers—and a more interesting question underneath them.
Can he make all this attacking talent feel like one team?
After the 4–0 win over Málaga on August 30, Mourinho chose togetherness as one of his themes. “People embrace, celebrate together, and work together,” he said in the club’s published English translation of his press conference.
That is a useful way to watch this Madrid side. The goals are arriving. The relationships between the players may tell us whether they keep coming.
The opening ledger
2026–27 La Liga · Through September 2, 2026
| Date | Match | Result | The detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 22 | At Espanyol | W 2–1 | Carlos Espí’s late winner rescued the opening night. |
| Aug. 26 | Real Sociedad | W 4–1 | Kylian Mbappé scored three; Vinícius Júnior added the other. |
| Aug. 30 | Málaga | W 4–0 | Jude Bellingham opened the scoring; Madrid’s first clean sheet followed. |
Watch Bellingham, not just the score
Mbappé has four league goals, but Bellingham has been central to the early story. He scored the opener at Espanyol and supplied two assists in the Real Sociedad victory. Against Málaga, he scored again.
Mourinho explained after Málaga that he wants Bellingham operating centrally, not spending his match as an extra left-back. The distinction matters: a player who can arrive in the box, connect attacks and win the ball high up the pitch is being given room to do those things.
The supporting moments are worth noting, too. Vinícius set up Mbappé’s hat-trick goal against Sociedad. Against Málaga, he supplied Arda Güler for the fourth. These are small pieces of evidence for the collective Mourinho described, not proof that every selection problem has disappeared.
The part Mourinho still wants better
Even at 3–0 against Málaga, the manager saw a stretch in which Madrid lost its structure and tried to rush forward. A comfortable score did not make that period satisfactory to him.
The opening match is the other useful restraint on the excitement: Espanyol were level until Espí’s late intervention. This start has contained both control and a rescue act.
For now, Madrid have earned every available point. The reason to keep watching is how Mourinho balances the freedom that produces the goals with the order he still insists on. That contest is only beginning.
About the reporting
This analysis uses Real Madrid’s match reports and August 30 press conference, plus Espanyol’s account of the opening game. Results are current through September 2; the quote uses Real Madrid’s English translation. The interpretation is The Sporting Page’s.
