BERGAMO, Italy – After Saturday’s 3-0 win over Girona, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti announced: “We’re back.”

Yes, they are not. At least not when it comes to being a real team that is greater than the sum of its parts. And the fact that they lost another piece – Kylian Mbappé – 35 minutes into Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Atalanta in the Champions League won’t help, although they did regain another piece in Vinícius Júnior.

The caveat is that they played against Atalanta and, as Pep Guardiola famously said, played La Dea “It’s as much fun as going to the dentist.” The good news is that Madrid won’t be playing against Gian Piero Gasperini’s side – or anyone who plays like them – for a long time. The bad news is that there is still room for Ancelotti’s team to improve and improve.

On Tuesday evening, many of Real Madrid’s shortcomings became clear. Dani Ceballos has shown (again) that he is not a useful playmaker when there are boys in his squad. Lucas Vázquez is not someone you like defending one-on-one (especially against Ademola Lookman). And when Vinícius, Mbappé and Jude Bellingham are on the pitch, they can’t help but drift to the left. When they try, as Mbappé occasionally did, to maintain their positions and distances, they appear unnatural, like children trying to impress the teacher.

However, the victory in Bergamo also underlined two of the things that make Real Madrid so good: star power and grit. Just look at the names of the scorers on your favorite app – Mbappé, Vinícius, Bellingham – and you have proof of it. Mbappé’s control and finishing in the opening game was next level. Vinícius impressed not so much with his goal – the result of a lucky jump – but with the absurd pass for Bellingham that made it 3-1. As for Bellingham, the intelligent movement, powerful run and dead-eye finish say it all. You can also lump Antonio Rüdiger into the same pot. His two stops on Charles De Ketelaere’s crosses in the first half were crucial, as was his leadership in defense. Yes, defenders can be stars too.

But then there is the courage. That feeling of watching games finish. Whether it was Vázquez eating up a full minute of injury time by staying on the ground after a collision with Odilon Kossounou (and receiving a yellow card in the process), or Bellingham popping up all over the field to head off late trouble… This team has done it. This intangible attitude of seeing wins across the board.

Gasperini’s Atalanta are something special, especially in the flesh

Before kick-off, the Atalanta Ultras tifo showed Gasperini as a kind of medieval knight in the Europa League on a horse. Which is kind of funny, since in real life Gasperini looks more like the bachelor uncle who shows up at family gatherings to laugh at his own jokes. But you can’t deny what he’s doing. Europa League winners, Serie A leaders, in position to compete with Real Madrid and come close to stopping Mateo Retegui’s exit from the season.

Atalanta are fearless: they flip the switch, their man-to-man pressure ignites and the lights often go out for the opponent. The fact that they have also managed to become stronger defensively – instead of serving up yesterday’s feast-or-famine fare – shows how much this team has grown.

Oh, and this isn’t some tactical expert coming up with a plan and acquiring players that fit his ideas. No, Gasperini takes a grab bag full of waifs and strays – Lookman (unwanted at RB Leipzig), De Ketelaere (unwanted at AC Milan), Raoul Bellanova (unwanted at Internazionale), Isak Hien (a no-name from Hellas Verona), Lazar Samardzic (a sluggish soloist) – and makes her fit into his system and bring herself to her knees in the process.

That’s a great coach, guys; However you slice it. And that’s why they’re so good. And so different to any other team in Europe.

Mbappé’s injury should not overshadow his performance

Mbappé is injured again and although Ancelotti said his exit after 35 minutes was largely a precautionary measure, we will have a better feel for it after his tests on Wednesday. But in about half an hour he was on the pitch, the French star scoring a goal and could have added two more. Equally important, he was a willing runner, constantly showing the ball rather than waiting on the wing as he sometimes did at Paris Saint-Germain.

Some will cruelly say that it was Vinícius’ return from injury that prompted Mbappé to act. I think it’s just a desire to make yourself useful. He’s no fool, he knows exactly how unbalanced and irrational Real Madrid’s lineup is when he and Vinícius are on the pitch together. So he tries to compensate for that with work rate (sure, Mbappé standard work rate off the ball, but still). For 35 minutes he did exactly what was expected of him.

The story will be about how long he’s out and how Madrid cope without him, but we shouldn’t discount how good he was when he was out there.

Ederson is one of the best in the world in his role

No, not the Manchester City goalkeeper (maybe he is, although Pep doesn’t seem to think so lately). I’m talking about the Atalanta midfielder. Not only did he overwhelm Federico Valverde and Ceballos for most of the game, but he showed up everywhere and did his Superman act by defeating players in every area of ​​the pitch.

Whether it was beating Vinícius in a footrace, overpowering Mbappé, playing a one-two with Lookman in the penalty area or making more recovery runs than your local ambulance… he’s looked the way he’s looked for much of the last 12 months had: like the prototypical energetic midfield all-rounder.

Are there midfielders who can offer more quality and quantity for 90 minutes each week? Perhaps. I just can’t think of one at the moment.