Real Madrid are taking preseason away from the training ground and traveling to into central Europe for the next phase of their summer plans. Fiorentina await in Austria on Saturday.
Los Blancos have so far cast aside Alcorcón and Leganés with varying degrees of ease, with the latter beaten 4–1 in Madrid’s most recent outing. Federico Valverde, whose Uruguay team was one of the major disappointments of the 2026 World Cup, scored twice in the victory.
José Mourinho is taking a similar group of players with him to Austria, with Madrid’s World Cup cohort expected to be back in time for the start of the La Liga season. Many enjoyed deep runs at the tournament, including new signing Marc Cucurella.
Fiorentina have already seen the sights of London this summer, facing a pair of EFL Championship teams on their tour of the English capital. After losing 3–2 to QPR, La Viola ensured their trip finished on a high, as they edged past Watford 1–0.
After flirting with relegation last season before pulling away during the final stretch, Fiorentina will want to move back towards the top half of the Serie A table in 2026–27. They parted ways with manager Paolo Vanoli in June and appointed Fabio Grosso, whose managerial résumé had been rather underwhelming before he helped Sassuolo return to the top flight last season.
This is a fixture that just doesn’t come around very often. You’ll have to go back to the 1957 European Cup final to find the last and only time these two teams met. Madrid, boasting a stranglehold over Europe at the time, won 2–0 in front of a reported 124,000 people at the Bernabéu.
That period was Fiorentina’s heyday, with success more sporadic in the decades that have followed. Still, for one of Italy’s biggest clubs, they’ve been distinctly trophy-shy this century. Their last piece of silverware was the 2000–01 Coppa Italia.
Last season was a major underperformance, and those running the show in Florence must regard the roster at Grosso’s disposal to be one capable of creeping towards the top half of the table again. They were UEFA Conference League finalists under Vincenzo Italiano in back-to-back years, with the pivot to Stefano Pioli proving disastrous.
Their early start to preseason means this is a good test for Madrid, who are easing into the summer and without a long list of superstar names.
