As every year, Real Madrid participated in summer friendlies, where the team that will be on duty for the new season, played as a whole and worked to further enhance their strength, cooperation, tactics and all of the other aspects. Real Madrid played 4 official games, with all of the games being part of the summer tour in USA. This was Real Madrid’s 22nd trip to the USA. The club first visited the North American region in 1927 and has gone on to play 53 matches including those played this summer. Meanwhile, as the Health Sciences and Nutrition Partner of the Real Madrid Football Club and Global Partner of the Real Madrid Foundation, Abbott and the club worked together to support thousands of children around the world live better, healthier lives through nutrition, education and science-based innovation.
Real Madrid's 2023-24 pre-season was an important phase as Los Blancos are faced with the issue of revitalizing an aging squad by bringing and integrating several young players and closing the gap on Barcelona in La Liga. Last year, Carlo Ancelotti's side kept things simple, heading to the United States for a brief tour before returning to Valdebebas to prepare for the year. This season, things looked to be much the same. And without the European Super Cup to worry about, Los Blancos had a little more time to prepare.
Carlo Ancelotti has been linked heavily with the Brazil job during the summer but remained in post at the Bernabeu where a number of familiar faces moved on and fresher players were brought in with an eye on the future. Jude Bellingham who arrived in a massive summer transfer, Arda Guler, Fran Garcia, Brahim Diaz and Joselu were seen with curiosity by the fans donning the Blancos kit for the first time in pre-season. It was an unfortunate event however for the young Turkish player, as he suffered a problem with the internal meniscus and had to turn back in Madrid, where it was decided that he should undergo a surgery to resolve the problem in the best way.
Los Blancos opened their America pre-season tour with a 3-2 comeback victory over last season's Champions League semi-finalists AC Milan at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. The Merengues went 2-0 down to the Rossoneri at the break but overturned the deficit thanks to an impressive second-half display. Their tour continued as they overcame Manchester United 2-0 on July 27 in Houston, Texas. The Spanish giants, though, were on the wrong end of a 3-0 thrashing in an American Clasico at the hands of arch-rivals Barcelona on July 29, where they spectacularly struck the crossbar on four different occasion. Madrid's final pre-season match of their US tour also ended in a defeat, a 3-1 loss at the hands of Juventus at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando on August 3.
Milan: Real Madrid's 2023/24 campaign got off to a winning start at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles in the opening match in the Soccer Champions Tour. Milan went 0-2 up before half-time, but our team flipped the result on its head with a swift Valverde double inside two minutes. Vini Jr. completed the turnaround with 84 minutes gone, latching onto a superb Modrić through ball. Bellingham and Nico Paz both made their debuts.
Manchester United: Real Madrid beat Manchester United at the NRG Stadium in Houston and, following on from their opening win over Milan, to claim their second win on the Soccer Champions Tour. Bellingham's first goal as a Real Madrid player helped set up the win. The Englishman, who was named MVP of the match, capped a superb first-half display with a stunning lob after Rüdiger's pinpoint assist from inside his own half. Joselu then scored a brilliant bicycle kick in the 89th minute to seal the victory.
Barcelona: Real Madrid were beaten in the Dallas Clásico, but deserved much more in the third game of the pre-season. Our team had the clearest chances of the game and had four attempts that hit the crossbar, one of them from a Vini Jr. penalty and another that clipped the post. Dembéle, put Barca ahead in the 15th minute, collecting Pedri's pass and shooting past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. López made sure of the win not long after being introduced as a substitute, picking up the ball and beating Courtois from outside the box in the 85th minute before some nifty work in the box saw Torres get on the scoresheet. It seemed that up front something was missing, maybe the final touch and a striker that does not forgive the opponent’s team in any chance.
Juventus: Real Madrid deserved to do better in their final match of their United States tour. The Whites carved out numerous chances to turn the game around against Juventus, but the Italians withstood Ancelotti's men's onslaught and set themselves on the road to victory with two first-half goals. Vini Jr. reduced the deficit before the break and the referee failed to award a penalty when Rodrygo was fouled in the 90th minute. Vlahović secured the spoils for Juventus in stoppage time.
Meanwhile, there were too many meeting with the fans as well. Butragueño and Roberto Carlos held meetings with the representatives of several madridista supporters' clubs and the players greeted the gathered fans in every city they visited to leave some great memories for both the club and the fans. Besides this, Madridista players were surprised by Real Madrid’s former star, Kaka, during their time in Orlando.
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