FIFA 20: Real Madrid Career Mode Guide, tactics, formations, who to sign & more tips

Real Madrid have started to slip from their extremely high standards over the last few years. Ever since the departure of world-beater Cristiano Ronaldo, they haven’t looked the same team.

Los Blancos have finished third in the last two La Liga seasons, and the 2018/19 season saw them lose the Champions League for the first time in four years. 

Now it’s your turn, can you help Real return to their winning ways? RealSport is here to give you a helping hand as you set up your game on FIFA 20.

Team Rating

Real Madrid have a five-star rating, with strong stats all round of 85 attack, 87 midfield and 86 defence.

Formation

Real Madrid’s default formation on FIFA 20 is a 4-3-3 False 9. However, with the talent on display, we’d recommend changing to 4-3-3 holding, but move your left centre midfielder in to a left attacking midfield role (sitting in that pocket in between your striker and left winger). If you feel you can win without any defensive midfield at all, then by all means try out 4-3-3 Attack.

The ex-Chelsea, world class goalkeeper Courtois (88 GK handling) starts behind a front four of Marcelo, the experienced Sergio Ramos, world Cup winner Raphael Varane (87 defensive awareness) and Dani Carvajal.

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Casemiro sits in front of the defensive line, combining with Toni Kroos and Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric to make up the midfield, whilstnew signing Eden Hazard (95 dribbling), Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale (91 sprint speed)make up a powerful front three.

A well-balanced bench would consist of Areola, Nacho Fernandez, Ferland Mendy, Isco, Vinicius Jr., Marco Asensio and Luka Jovic.

Tactics and instructions

For your offensive tactics, you should use balanced; the quality of Real Madrid’s team means you are best to retain your formation and play your system. Madrid’s default setting is possession, which also works, but results in a lack of forward runners.

Defensively, you should go for press after possession loss; Real Madrid’s team is defensively superb, so a high press will not only allow you to win back and retain possession, but suffocate any opportunity your opposition may have.

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If you’re chasing a game, Isco and Vinicius Jr. make immense attacking impact substitutions, whilst the young Federico Valverde can offer a helping hand in defensive midfield if you’re trying to see out a win.

Team instructions allow even deeper customisation when managing your team; the following instructions are what we recommend. 

Real Madrid’s default instructions offer a solid foundation in terms of playing style, but there’s a few tweaks that need to be made. Primarily in attack, you’ll want to utilise Hazard and Bale’s pace and finishing ability.

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Therefore, set both of their support runs to ‘get in behind’ and their chance creation to ‘cut inside’. These tactics will allow your wingers to get on the end of long balls, before cutting in on to their strong foot, making them a nightmare for your opposition’s defence.

Secondly, you’ll want to set some custom tactics for Modric, who as stated previously is going to play in an attacking midfield role, offering support to the front three.

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With Casemiro and Kroos providing ample defensive cover, you should set Modric’s defensive support to ‘stay forward’, so he is available for all attacks or counter attacks. You may also wish to set Modric’s positioning freedom to ‘free roam’, giving him free reign over the final third, but this is a matter of preference.

With all new manual defending in FIFA 20, some players are finding it more difficult to protect their net. Due to this, it’s wise to set Casemiro’s attacking support to ‘stay back while attacking’. This ensures that he will not advance up the pitch, but remain in front of the back four to help with any defending. 

Training

Real Madrid have an outstanding starting line-up, but you still need to plan for the future. Madrid already own several high growth players with fantastic potential - these players are indicated by the green symbol in the training section of Career Mode and should be your priority.

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Our recommendation is to focus on the development of Ferland Mendy (POT 86), Eder Militia (POT 88), Federico Valverde (POT 86), Vinicius Jr. (POT 92) and Luka Jovic (POT 89).

The Transfer Market

Starting transfer budget: £194 million

Starting wage budget: £619,000 a week

Who should go

Real Madrid have a substantial squad, with 33 players at the club and a further 12 players out on loan; evidently, there’s room for a bit of a clear out. Forwards Lucas Vazquez (£19m) and Mariano (£16.5m) have failed to reach the level of quality required to play for Real Madrid and therefore can both be sold. 

In addition, long-serving striker Karim Benzema (£55m) has proven a valuable asset for Madrid over the years, but if you’re going to reclaim Los Blancos’ reputation as the best in the world, you need the best striker in the world. 

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The sale of these three forwards will grant you an extra budget allocation of £85 million and free up a massive £590,000 a week in wages.

Youngsters Manu Hernando (£800k) and Sergio Lopez (£1.2m) may yet make something of themselves in football, but EA predicts they are nothing special, giving them low potentials. The sale of these two players will earn you an additional £2 million, with a total of £34,000 a week in wages.

Loans

With such a wealth of quality players at Madrid, both Brahim (POT 86) and Rodrygo (POT 89) will struggle to get game time. Therefore, you’re best to loan these two wingers out, so they can get first team game time, helping them reach their potentials quicker.

Who to Sign

New transfer budget: £281 million

New wage budget: £1.2m a week

The best striker in the world

With the exit of Benzema, you’re going to need to find a replacement. Jovic will one day be a world class striker but he’s not ready to lead the Galacticos quite yet. The new striker’s credentials should fit Madrid’s policy of signing the best players in the world.

Kylian Mbappe may only be the third highest striker on FIFA 20, but at just 20 years old with a potential of 95 overall, he is set to blow every other forward out the water.

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Unsurprisingly, his transfer fee is extremely high and will cost you around £130 million, with wages of £180,000 a week. But Mbappe is very much a ‘get what you pay for’ signing, with incredibly high sprint speed (96), dribbling (91) and finishing (89) stats, as well as his five star skills.

Alternate Options:

• Harry Kane – Tottenham, Age 25, OVR 89, POT 91, Cost: £100 million, Wage: £200,000 a week
• Antoine Griezmann – Barcelona, Age 28, OVR 89, POT 89, Cost: £127m, Wage: £333,000 a week
• Luis Suarez – Barcelona, Age 32, OVR 89, POT 89, Cost: £97.8m, Wage: £320,000 a week
• Sergio Aguero – Manchester City, Age 31, OVR 89, POT 89, Cost: £85m, Wage: £270,000 a week
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Arsenal, Age 30, OVR 88, POT 88, Cost: £75m, Wage: £185,000 a week

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Up and coming Centre Mid

Madrid currently have two of the best midfielders in the world in Kroos and Modric. However, Modric is aged 33 and Kroos aged 29, meaning Madrid may soon be lacking legs in the middle of the park.

Therefore, we want to sign a young central midfielder with high potential, who is happy to play under the current midfield maestros, before taking over once he’s reached his full potential.

Houssem Aouar is the best option as he has the potential to be world class, but is happy with a rotation squad role. Aouar is a product of the Lyon youth system, making his first team debut at just 18 years of age. Since then he has accrued 16 goals and 19 assists across 102 appearances for the French club.

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The Frenchman has a solid skill set with dribbling, short passing, ball control and vision all rated 84. Aouar will set you back £34 million and you’ll have to increase his wages to £80,000 a week.

Alternative options:

• Youri Tielemans – Leicester, Age 22, OVR 80, POT 87, Cost: £38.7 million, Wage: £69,000 a week
• Harry Winks – Tottenham, Age 23, OVR 80, POT 86, Cost: £30 million, Wage: £73,000 a week
• Rodrigo Bentancur – Piemonte, Age 22, OVR 79, POT 89, Cost: £30 million, Wage: £77,000 a week
• Merino – Real Sociedad, Age 23, OVR 79, Pot 87, Cost: £28 million, Wage: £30,000 a week
• Maximillian Eggestein – Werder Bremen, Age 22, OVR 80, POT 85, Cost: £28 million, Wage: £30,000 a week

Contracts

There are three very important contracts you need to sort out at Madrid. Ramos, Modric and James Rodriguez all have contracts expiring in 2020, so getting these three signed up to new contracts should be your highest priority.

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Other 2020 contract expiries include Javi Hernandez, Alvaro Fidalgo, Adrian de la Fuente and Diego Fran Garcia. You can let these four go as none of these youngsters have great potential.

Managerial objectives

The managerial objectives at Real Madrid are difficult, with the board expecting an exceptional first season under your guidance.

Domestic success is of critical importance and will be a challenge, with the board expecting you to win both La Liga and the Copa de Espana. With cup games prone to upsets, you’ll have your work cut out completing this objective.

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Continental success is a critical priority, with the board expecting nothing less than winning the Champions League. Considering the domestic objectives as well, you’ll have to win the treble in your first season to fulfill the board’s expectations.

Brand Exposure is a critical priority, with an objective of earning £180 million through shirt sales within the season. With the high-profile signing of Kylian Mbappe joining your high scoring forwards, this objective won’t cause you any issues.

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Financial is a very low priority, with the board giving you no objectives to complete.

Finally, Youth Development is of low priority. The first objective is to sign one player to your youth academy assigned to the midfield position. Secondly, you must sign one youth player to the senior team in the same season they were scouted and give them five appearances in the season. Set up your youth system early on and you’ll complete these objectives with ease.

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Restoration of Real Madrid’s Reign

With the high standard of players at your disposal (and your new signings), you should be looking at going all out for both the La Liga and Champions League trophies in your first season. 

Give the Copa de Espana a good go, but don’t sacrifice first team fitness if you have more important games coming up – The League and European Cup are your priorities.

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If you don’t manage to lift both the La Liga and Champions League trophies in the first season, then it is a necessity for your second season.

The pressures on, but with a substantial level of squad quality and a gigantic wage budget, there are no excuses. Sign well and plan for the future and you could restore Madrid’s world dominance for years to come. 

Full Real Madrid Player Ratings

*Currently on loan

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