The optics are unusual, and that is putting it mildly. José Mourinho’s second stint as Real Madrid boss began behind closed doors on Tuesday in a training-ground friendly against Leganés, which is a very preseason way of saying the real work starts now. No noise, no crowd, no ceremony — just a first chance to see what this version of Real Madrid looks like before the season begins to bite.
That matters because this is not a club drifting into the 2025–26 season with comfort and certainty. Real Madrid are coming off a trophy-less campaign in which they finished second to Barcelona in La Liga, and the squad already looks different from the end of last term because some new arrivals have been tied up with World Cup ventures. In other words, the manager has walked into a moving target, not a settled team.
And that is exactly why this kind of fixture has value, even if it is hidden from public view. These training-ground friendlies are where fringe players and youth players get their shot at making a case, where sharpness matters more than reputation, and where a manager can quietly begin to sort the useful from the ornamental. Mourinho is not being asked to solve everything on Tuesday. He is being asked to start forming opinions quickly.
A quiet first test, but not a meaningless one
Leganés are not arriving as easy entertainment. Two seasons ago they were relegated to the second tier, and last term they failed to return to the top flight, finishing 16th. They are preparing for a season in the second tier under new manager Rubén Albés, with the Segunda due to begin on August 16. For them, this is a useful benchmark. For Real Madrid, it is a reminder that preseason is often less about glamour than about habits.
That does not make the friendly dramatic in itself. It makes it revealing. When a club of Real Madrid’s size is coming off a disappointment, every early session carries a slightly sharper edge. The Champions League and Copa del Rey are not won in August, but bad habits can be formed in August. The opposite is true as well. A clean, disciplined start can matter more than people like to admit.
There is also a simple calendar truth hanging over all of this. Real Madrid’s La Liga campaign is scheduled to begin on August 22, which does not leave much time for experiments that go nowhere. The Tuesday meeting with Leganés is part assessment, part rehearsal, part warning sign for anyone who has arrived expecting the shirt alone to do the heavy lifting.
So yes, it was only a behind-closed-doors friendly. But it was also the opening note in Mourinho’s second spell, and these things tend to tell you more than the score ever will. If Real Madrid are going to turn a frustrating season into something much better, they will need more than star power. They will need clarity, urgency and a squad that understands the manager’s demands quickly. Tuesday was the first step toward finding out who can provide that.
