The move that opened the scoring in Budapest was pure Madrid academy. Alexis Ciria whipped in a cross from the right, and fellow Castilla graduate Mario Rivas rose to meet it, heading Real Madrid in front against Ferencváros. Two products of La Fábrica who began the summer as afterthoughts combined for the goal that set Los Blancos on their way to a hard-earned 1-2 win.
It was more than a pretty moment. With four first-teamers injured and José Mourinho openly lamenting a “short squad,” the Madrid academy is doing far more than making up the numbers this pre-season. In Hungary, the kids did not just fill a bench — they won a game, and gave the manager plenty to think about before the serious business begins.
The Madrid academy production line delivers
Ciria was the standout. “What a gem,” wrote Managing Madrid of the winger, praising a “fun, explosive and entertaining dribbler” whose delivery produced the opener. Rivas earned the same top marks, defending soundly across his 45 minutes and attacking the cross with real conviction for his header. Behind them, Joan Martínez looked composed on the ball and calm in possession — another Castilla name growing into these occasions.
It is exactly the kind of night that keeps the Valdebebas conveyor belt humming. Real Madrid have long leaned on their youth system to plug gaps, and with senior options thin on the ground, Mourinho is getting an early, unfiltered look at which academy prospects can be trusted when the injuries bite. For a club with the deepest pockets in world football, there is a particular romance in a home-grown teenager settling the biggest questions of a pre-season night — and a practical value, too, in knowing the next name is already in the building.
Carlos Espí’s first goal in white
The second goal belonged to another of the club’s young forwards. Summer signing Carlos Espí, introduced from the bench, doubled the lead after a slick team move, timing his run and finishing after Fede Valverde teed him up. It was Espí’s first goal in a Real Madrid shirt, per Bernabéu Digital, and the kind of instinctive strike that will do his confidence no harm as he settles into life at the Bernabéu.
Ferencváros did pull one back through Kenan Kodro, and Mourinho will want cleaner defending before the campaign starts. But the headline was the youth. Arda Güler ran the game from midfield, Endrick pressed relentlessly from the front, and the two goals both came from players still making their names.
An opportunity Mourinho cannot ignore
Pre-season friendlies are not the finished article, and a summer window is still open. Some of these youngsters may yet be loaned out to play regularly; others could earn a genuine place in the rotation. Either way, the message from Budapest was clear: when Real Madrid needed goals, it was the next generation who provided them.
That is the enduring value of a Madrid academy that keeps producing. Whether or not Rivas, Ciria and Espí are first-team fixtures by season’s end, they reminded everyone in Hungary why Real Madrid Castilla remains the club’s quiet, dependable engine — and, on nights like this, its match-winner.
