Real Madrid secured victory in their opening UEFA Champions League match of the season, beating Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart 3-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday night. It was no walk in the park for Los Blancos, who had a first-half penalty disallowed by VAR and had to wait 21 seconds into the second period to break the deadlock through Kylian Mbappé after good work from Rodrygo Goes on the counter. Deniz Undav then equalised with a header from a corner in the 68th minute, but Real Madrid pushed on, with Antonio Rüdiger putting them ahead again in the 83rd minute from another corner, and Endrick Felipe then scored to get the party started in injury time.

Three answers

1. Is Éder Militão really fit? And if not, how will he be replaced?

Éder Militao missed training on Monday and was seen limping and clutching his recently injured knee in last weekend’s win over Real Sociedad. Carlo Ancelotti played down any concerns, saying that Militao was fine and just needed a little longer to recover, but ultimately opted to leave the Brazilian out of his line-up. With a disastrous first half in defence, Ancelotti decided to gamble and bring on the Brazilian and it took just seconds for the game to be turned on its head with Kylian Mbappe opening the scoring. Militao didn’t look as comfortable as he usually does, but he appeared to move quite freely and showed none of the discomfort he had shown in San Sebastián. Even at half-fit, he was a more natural choice in central defence than Dani Carvajal, who stuck out like a sore thumb. The risk is that Ancelotti can’t rely so heavily on Militao, especially if he’s not fully fit. Is Jesús Vallejo in such bad shape that he’s out of the question? And if so, why is he still at the club?

2. Would the new Champions League format change anything?

To a certain extent, yes. This was only the first game in the new format, but there were already signs that this new format would be something different. The league format meant that a home draw would be detrimental, regardless of the opponent. While a draw in a group stage format might result in more of an uphill battle, it wouldn’t stop progress. The same is true here, but a draw in the league format could mean a greater chance of an extra play-off round. As Carlo Ancelotti stressed this week alone, the fewer games Real Madrid have to play, the better. That seemed to influence team selection. Would Jude Bellingham or Aurelién Tchouameni have been considered as starters after injuries? Would Militao have been brought on at half-time? The desire to keep pushing for a winner and not sit back after scoring to make it 2-1 reflected that.

3. How would Jude Bellingham fit back into the team and the front three?

If anyone was expecting Carlo Ancelotti to make changes to his system, they were mistaken. The defensive imbalance had no effect on the team’s attacking setup and we saw a repeat of the front three that morphed into a front four early in the season, with Bellingham on the left side of midfield and moving up to join the front line of attack when needed. In the first half, it did little to help with the defensive issues the team was experiencing. Fede Valverde was severely restricted and forced to drop deep on the right to provide additional support, and Aurelién Tchouameni was often needed to drop into a back line, while Bellingham would quickly attempt to counterattack on the left. This resulted in a one-sided midfield with little presence in the middle and gave Stuttgart a chance to dominate.

Three questions

1. Are Kylian Mbappé’s nerves getting the better of him?

Kylian Mbappe scored his first Champions League goal in a Real Madrid shirt when he opened the scoring early in the second half, but it was one of five shots and a total of 1.29 xG. While Stuttgart may not have been the big event at home, Mbappe looked to be aware of the importance of the match. The Frenchman looked to take chances and hesitate at times when he had the ball in the final third, whereas we’ve seen him look far more confident with the ball at Paris Saint-Germain and with his national team.

2. Is there a better goalkeeper in the world than Thibaut Courtois?

Real Madrid simply wouldn’t have been in this game by the time they took the lead with almost every other keeper between the posts. He made four saves in the first 30 minutes alone, and a total of six saves in the 90 minutes with 1.44 xGOT saved due to those saves. The Belgian has proven his ability and the fact that he is simply world class, and in the first 45 minutes of this game he seemed to be the only one alert and at his best to keep Stuttgart at bay.

3. Is Luka Modrić a solution in midfield?

The biggest impact from a player on the bench was that of experienced midfielder Luka Modrić. His expert finishing of a corner kick off Antonio Rudiger’s head helped, of course, but he also helped Real Madrid regain some control of the ball. Along with Fede Valverde and Bellingham, who was later replaced in midfield by Arda Guler when the Englishman went off after 80 minutes, he took on the role of central organiser at times, dictating the tempo, while without possession he allowed Valverde to move centrally as a destroyer while he would move to the left. He created one chance from open play and claimed the assist for Rudiger’s winner, while also looking to slow the pace and maintain control. That experience and composure in the latter stages of the game were crucial.