The start of the Spanish league season is still a week away and yet Real Madrid's new boss Bernd Schuster is already under pressure to live up to his promise of playing a more entertaining, attack-minded style of football.
Real have lost five of their eight pre-season fixtures and the club's fans are expecting a more convincing display as the team attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit against King's Cup winners Sevilla in the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup at the Bernabeu today.
Despite showing signs of improvement, the Spanish champions suffered an almost comical defeat in a pre-season tournament against Real Betis on Wednesday.
Anticipating a penalty shoot-out, Schuster decided to replace keeper Iker Casillas with Jerzy Dudek in the final minute of the game, but Betis were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area and Juan Pablo Caffa fired past the bemused Pole.
Schuster shrugged off the defeat, saying that his new-look team was still very much a work in progress.
"We are still in pre-season and these things happen," the German told reporters.
"If we start getting worried about winning pre-season tournaments then we are in trouble.
"Taking charge of a new team takes time and we still have to do some fine-tuning."
Unrelenting pressure
But the unrelenting pressure that comes with the Real job means that the team will be given little time to bed in and are obliged to produce something special against Sevilla.
"The problem with Madrid is that the team is constantly under scrutiny," Casillas said.
"But if we beat Sevilla on Sunday no one will remember this defeat (to Real Betis)."
Midfielder Emerson and right back Cicinho have been left out of Real Madrid's squad for tonight's second leg, amid speculation about their future at the club. Emerson has expressed his disappointment about the collapse of a move to Milan while Cicinho has been linked with Sevilla and Roma in the last week.
Sevilla passed their first major test of the season with flying colours when they claimed a classy 2-0 win over AEK Athens in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier on Wednesday.
The team put the distractions over the possible departure of influential defender Daniel Alves behind them and young winger Jesus Navas gave a virtuoso performance as he set up second half goals for strikers Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute.
Brazilian Alves has been included in Sevilla's squad but coach Juande Ramos said he was unsure if the right back would start.