Real Madrid Faces Pre-Season Challenges Against Deportivo La Coruña
Real Madrid head to Galicia light on stars and heavy on intrigue.
With less than a fortnight to go before La Liga roars back into life, José Mourinho has named his travelling squad for Wednesday night’s friendly against newly promoted Deportivo La Coruña – and the omissions tell the story of a pre-season walking a tightrope between conditioning and caution.
Mourinho’s plans, without half a team
Real Madrid’s summer has already taken them through tests against Fiorentina and Ferencváros, tune‑ups designed to sharpen a side expected to mount a far stronger challenge to Barcelona in the 2026/27 title race. The work has been intense, the minutes carefully managed, the expectations sky-high.
Now comes a different kind of examination. The squad list for the trip to Riazor strips away a chunk of Mourinho’s first-team core. Eleven senior players have been left at home, ruled out by a mix of injuries and incomplete match fitness.
The names are striking:
- Marc Cucurella
- Jude Bellingham
- Thibaut Courtois
- Rodrygo
- Kylian Mbappé
- Yan Diomandé
- Ferland Mendy
- Raúl Asencio
- Ibrahima Konaté
- Thiago Pitarch
- Éder Militão
For a club built on star power, that is a sizeable hole.
Bellingham, Mbappé, Rodrygo. Courtois, Militão, Konaté. Across the pitch, from back to front, Mourinho will be forced into improvisation. This is still pre-season, but the absences cut across every line of the team and leave the coach leaning heavily on depth options and youngsters looking to turn opportunity into status.
Deportivo’s return, Madrid’s reality check
Deportivo, fresh from reclaiming their place in La Liga, will treat the occasion as a statement night: Riazor under lights, a giant in town, a chance to measure themselves against the standard they must meet to survive.
For Madrid, the game carries a different edge. With so many headliners missing, the evening becomes a live audition. Who can step into Cucurella’s energy on the flank? Who organises a back line without Courtois and Militão behind it? Who leads a forward line shorn of Mbappé and Rodrygo?
These are not theoretical questions for Mourinho. The league is almost upon him. The rhythm, the pressing triggers, the partnerships – all of it has to be built now, even if the cast is incomplete.
Pre-season friendlies are often dismissed as background noise. This one is not. Not for a Real Madrid side trying to chase down Barcelona with half a team in the stands and the other half fighting to prove they belong when the real thing starts.
