Fresh Legs, Old Name: Can Real Madrid’s Fringe Men Win Over Mourinho in Budapest?

When a squad sheet has more academy graduates than household names, what does a friendly actually tell you? That’s the question hanging over Ferencváros Stadion this evening, where Real Madrid have arrived for the second test of their preseason with a lineup built almost entirely around players still fighting for a place in the group photo. There is no Mbappé here, no Bellingham, no Tchouameni — the World Cup kept them away a little longer — and no Courtois, still working his way back from the thigh injury he picked up in the tournament. What’s left is a version of Real Madrid that owes more to Valdebebas than to the Bernabéu marquee, and that is precisely why this fixture matters more than a routine August kickabout might suggest.

Ferencváros, for their part, arrive with a squad several weeks further into competitive rhythm than their visitors. Bálázs Borbély’s side have already navigated qualifying football this summer, and while a friendly against European royalty carries little table significance for a team preparing for domestic and continental campaigns, it is the kind of fixture a Hungarian champion measures itself against. This is also uncharted ground physically: it is Real Madrid’s first-ever appearance at the Ferencváros Stadion, a compact 22,000-seat ground that will be asked to host a club used to filling stadiums four times its size.

📋 Talking Points Before Kickoff

• Bernardo Silva has been included in Mourinho’s travelling squad and is in contention to make his first appearance for the club in Budapest.
• New signing Yan Diomandé, who only trained with the group for the first time on Friday, has not been included in the matchday squad for this trip.
• Real Madrid follow this fixture with the Teresa Herrera Trophy against Deportivo La Coruña on August 12, meaning rotation and minute-management are as much a priority as the result tonight.
• Ferencváros go into the match already further down their preseason curve, having played competitive qualifying fixtures that Madrid’s squad has not yet faced.

🚑 Confirmed Injury News — Both Squads

Neither absentee list changes the shape of tonight’s game as much as the collective absence of Madrid’s World Cup contingent does. With Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouameni all still working their way back into training after the tournament, Mourinho is effectively fielding a squad built for continuity rather than star power — a chance to see how far the club’s younger layer has come since May, rather than a dress rehearsal for the LaLiga opener against Espanyol on August 22.

🔵 Named Starting Sides

What stands out about Madrid’s XI is not who is missing but who is starting: five of the eleven — Rivas, Martínez, Ciria, Endrick and Carreras — are still building first-team pedigree at the club, with Carreras the most established of the group after a full season as first-choice left-back. Mourinho has paired that inexperience with proven control in the middle of the pitch, trusting Camavinga and Valverde to dictate tempo against a Ferencváros side that will look to press through Kanichowsky and Corbu and spring Zachariassen into the pockets behind them.

Ferencváros’ own selection reads as a team already several matches into its rhythm rather than one improvising through a summer friendly. Dibusz anchors a settled back four, and with Arzani still short of match fitness, Yusuf drops into a free role behind Joseph — the same arrangement that has carried the Hungarian champions through their qualifying assignments this summer. It gives Borbély’s side a coherence that Madrid, still waiting on half their squad to return from international duty, simply cannot match yet. Whether that translates into anything meaningful on the scoreboard is beside the point tonight; what both benches will actually be watching is how their fringe players hold up when the setting briefly resembles the real thing.

Watch Ferencvaros vs Real Madrid full match replay and highlights, At Saturday, August 08, 2026. as Friendly.