The evening of July 16, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
On Real Madrid's first weekend after arriving in the United States for training, they welcomed their first warm-up opponent: the Los Angeles Galaxy.
This was the team Beckham played for.
Ancelotti's lineup for this match was clearly deliberate. In the first half, for example, he arranged a defensive line of Casillas, Maxwell, Pepe, Ramos, and Arbeloa. This was currently the strongest defensive starting lineup Real Madrid could field.
Javi Martínez appeared in the defensive holding-midfield position, but his partner was the new signing Modrić. The front line was almost entirely changed as well: David Silva on the left, Herrera in the middle, Vázquez on the right, and Morata at center forward.
It was obvious that the back line consisted of the starters, while the midfield and attack were meant to evaluate the players.
Precisely because of that, although Real Madrid had controlled the match for the first half hour, they were unable to score. That lasted until the thirty-first minute, when David Silva won the ball on the left and played a superb pass to Herrera. Herrera sent it diagonally into the right channel, where Vázquez followed up and calmly slotted it past the goalkeeper.
In the fortieth minute, Maxwell surged forward on the left and crossed. Morata struck from the left side of the penalty area and found the net. Two-nil.
After the halftime switch, Ancelotti replaced nine players in one go, including goalkeeper Casillas.
Adán took over in goal. The back line consisted of Nacho, Vermaelen, Varane, and Carvajal. In midfield, Xabi Alonso played as the lone defensive midfielder, with David Silva and Modrić in the center. Up front was the trio of Yang Yang, Ibrahimovic, and Robben.
This was just as deliberate. The attacking trio consisted