Going up
Real Madrid: Are the serial champions finally stirring? The holders have been sleepy and tetchy amid the new format as the problems of assimilating Kylian Mbappé play out in public. But in a vital 3-2 away win over Atalanta, Mbappé played his part, scoring a fine goal before leaving with an injury. That left the stage open for Real’s other modern Galácticos, with Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham scoring the goals that took the game away from last season’s Europa League winners. Mateo Retegui’s late effort had Madrid’s hearts thumping but it flew wide, and was probably offside anyway. To automatically qualify in a top-eight place Madrid need to rediscover the belief that winning games at this level is their right. Their final two assignments, against Salzburg and Brest, look very winnable, although Real sit 20th, four points off the automatic qualifying spots. If they qualify, the knockouts are where the Madrid machine can kick into action.
