Real Madrid made a smooth start to life without Casemiro following the announcement of the Brazil midfielder's move to Manchester United, beating Celta Vigo 4-1 in LaLiga on Saturday night.
With Casemiro having said an emotional goodbye to Los Blancos on social media earlier in the day, all eyes turned to Carlo Ancelotti's first starting line-up without the Brazilian at Balaidos.
Ancelotti opted for four midfielders in his side's second LaLiga match of the season, with summer signing Aurelien Tchouameni alongside France team-mate Eduardo Camavinga and 36-year-old Luka Modric, with Fede Valverde further forward and Toni Kroos absent because of flu.
Modric, who will be 37 next month, scored Madrid's second goal with a wonderful curler from outside the box and the Croatia midfielder also set up Vinicius Junior for the third 11 minutes into the second half.
Tchouameni, signed from Monaco for an initial €80 million earlier this summer, began the move for that goal with a block and his run also led to his side's fourth – netted by Valverde 10 minutes later.
🏁 FT: @RCCeltaEN 1-4 @realmadriden ⚽ Iago Aspas 23' (p); @Benzema 14' (p), @lukamodric10 42', @vinijr 56', @fedeevalverde 66'#CeltaRealMadrid | #Emirates pic.twitter.com/0oKW4CzACcAugust 20, 2022
It was an encouraging display from the 22-year-old and following Casemiro's exit, he will now have a much bigger role to play this season.
"He is a player with different qualities to Casemiro," Ancelotti said afterwards. "He played well, he did what he shows in training: personality, good on the ball, enjoying the team's good game."
And on Modric, the Italian said: "He's immortal. He is always prepared, he always plays well. His goal changed the game."
Karim Benzema scored Madrid's opener from the penalty spot, before handing another spot-kick opportunity to Eden Hazard later on, but the Belgian missed. Iago Aspas scored Celta's goal.
So far, so good then for Real Madrid: six points for Los Blancos from their two fixtures in LaLiga this season, both away from home.
