Kylian Mbappe scored and was booked and Marc Cucurella and Yan Diomande made their Real Madrid debuts as Jose Mourinho’s side beat Schalke in a friendly at the Veltin-Arena.
MBAPPÉ POUNCES! ⚡️🔥
He takes full advantage of a defensive mistake and buries it to open the scoring vs Schalke 04! 🎯#DAZNPreseasonFriendlies pic.twitter.com/QSyQ3OTnYo
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) August 16, 2026
Marking the 25th anniversary of the opening of the stadium, where Mourinho won the Champions League final with Porto against Monaco in 2004, Los Blancos took a sixth-minute lead when Mbappe intercepted Ron Schallenberg’s misplaced pass and slotted coolly in.
HUIJSEN MAKES IT TWO! 💥
A decisive header from the defender doubles the lead, 2-0! 🎯#DAZNPreseasonFriendlies pic.twitter.com/QhggBLXSY6
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) August 16, 2026
Centre-back Dean Huijsen headed in Arda Guler’s corner for Madrid’s second in the 20th minute, with Mbappe booked during the first half for appearing to ignore refereeing instructions before new forward Carlos Espi headed in Alvaro Carreras’ searching cross at the far post with 33 minutes remaining.
THIS is exactly why they brought him in. 🎯🔥
Carlos Espí finds the net to round off a dominant 3-0 win!#DAZNPreseasonFriendlies pic.twitter.com/aQtcf4Gd32
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) August 16, 2026
Full-back Cucurella and winger Diomande came on five minutes after Espi’s goal alongside England international Jude Bellingham and new wideman Denzel Dumfries.
Schalke vs Madrid: Mourinho side sign off in style
Madrid had enjoyed a strong pre-season with wins over Leganes, Ferencvaros and Deportivo La Coruna and a draw with Fiorentina, and this victory was their last warm-up before their Liga campaign begins at Espanyol on August 22 (20:30 BST).
Schalke won the German second tier last season and start their season away to fourth-tier Hallescher in the German Cup on August 24 (19:45 BST), followed by their league opener at Augsburg six days later (16:30).
Home manager Miron Muslic had suggested before the game that the prestige friendly was less of a priority than the cup contest.
Schalke team vs Real Madrid
Schalke starting XI: Loris Karius, Hasan Kurucay, Timo Becker, Ron Schallenberg, Moussa Sylla, Junior Adamu, Dejan Ljubicic, Soufiane El-Faouzi, Adil Aouchiche, Nikola Katic, Vitalie Becker
Schalke substitutes: Kevin Muller, Mertcan Ayhan, Janik Bachmann, Edin Dzeko, Christian Gomis, Dylan Leonard, Finn Porath, Satoshi Tanaka, Luca Vozar, Maximilian Wober
Madrid team vs Schalke
Madrid made four changes, including Thibaut Courtois’ return in goal, a debut for Ibrahima Konate in defence, Federico Valverde’s reintroduction in midfield and Mbappe – last season’s Liga top scorer – coming in up front.
Defender Eder Militao, midfielder Thiago Pitarch and forward Rodrygo were all out with knee injuries, as was Ferland Mendy (tendon).
Real Madrid starting XI: Thibaut Courtois, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, Federico Valverde, Bernardo Silva, Brahim Diaz, Arda Güler, Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid substitutes: Andrii Lunin, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Marc Cucurella, Carlos Espi, Antonio Rudiger, Denzel Dumfries, Yan Diomande, Jorge Cestero, Mario Rivas, Alexis Ciria, Illia Voloshyn
Schalke v Real Madrid stats
- Schalke suffered a 4-2 defeat to Sevilla in their only meeting with a Spanish side last season, Moussa Sylla and Mauro Zalazar scoring in front of almost 46,000 fans in a friendly in July 2025 in Gelsenkirchen
- Their last competitive meeting with a Spanish team was against Madrid in the Champions League last 16 in March 2015, winning 4-3 away but exiting 5-4 on aggregate
- That is Schalke’s only win over Madrid, losing 6-1 at home and 3-1 away at the same stage of the 2013/14 competition in their other encounters
- Madrid all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in three of those matches and once in another for a total of seven goals against Schalke
- In competitive games against Spanish teams, Schalke’s record is W8 D7 L12, last prevailing in such a match with a 3-1 home victory over Valencia in the 2010/11 Champions League last 16 to complete a 4-2 aggregate win
- Promoted as champions last season, The Royal Blues won three more matches (21) than any other team in the second tier and had the best defensive record by eight goals, conceding 31 times across 34 league games
- Loris Karius kept two more clean sheets (13) than any other goalkeeper in the division, twice helping Schalke keep four clean sheets across five consecutive matches in the league
- The last three Spanish clubs to visit Schalke competitively have won, including Athletic Club triumphing 4-2 in the 2011/12 Europa League quarter-finals as part of a tie they won 6-4 on aggregate
- Los Blancos’ competitive record against German teams is W44 D16 L26, although they lost both such games last season with a 2-1 home defeat and 4-3 away loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals
- They had won their preceding four such matches as part of a nine-game unbeaten run against German clubs (W7 D2)
