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Espanyol Vs Real Madrid: The Starting 11







The upcoming match is against Espanyol away from home in the La liga match day 32. Espanyol are 20th on the leader-board and Real are 1st and with equal points with Barcelona on the league table. This game is one of the most important game to have any chance in the league, Madrid can not take any risks at all and have to win at any cost if they want to remain in contention, more so with football coming back after a break.

Real Madrid had won 2-0 at home in the first leg.

Looking at the 

Injury list:
  1. Nacho
  2. Lucas Vazquez
  3. Reiner Jesus
Suspended:
  1. Mendy
  2. Modric
Just recovered:
  1. Jovic
Practiced:

The  rest of the team is available. 

Skipped Practice:
  • None
Coach Comments:
  • To be updated. 
Other Comments:
  • None.
Squad Updates:




This is a very crucial game for the league title as with no point difference it is still under sight but very tight, it can only get wider if we play well and wait for Barcelona's mistakes. This is one of the slightly easy games after which there will be several tough ones, but know Zidane he will rotate his team to keep them fresh and sharp.

In the goal Courtois will start, should be a no-brainer.

Militao and Varane will start as the center backs, as Ramos needs some rest. Mendy is not available due to suspension so Marcelo will start on the left and will provide better defensive option and Carvajal will start on the right. So Marcelo, Militao, Varane and Carvajal should start. Defence has to be particularly alert, there has been occasional lapses causing goals, more so when Ramos is not their.

All the mid-fielders except Modric, who misses out due suspension are available but all are not sharp on most days. It is a very difficult decision for ZZ to pick the three. There has been lack of any consistency in the last few games but looking at the next game, it is going to be Kroos, Casemiro and Isco in the middle. Valverde and James will be on the bench. With matches coming thick and fast these substitutions will be key to maintaining the fitness.

As forwards have been sharp but their are several options available of ZZ, it is a real headache, whom to start. Vinicius was great but needs rest, so it should also be a tough decision to start him. Ideally it should be HBR, Hazard, Benzema and Rodrygo, and Vinicius, Bale and Asensio should be on the bench.

As now 5 substitutions are available, this is a great time to rotate the squad for ZZ.

The probable substitutions will be: 

Rodrygo > Asensio
Hazard > Vinicius
Isco > James
Kroos > Valverde
Benzema > Mariano/Bale
Militao > Ramos

So the formation would be 4 3 3.

So the final starting 11 will be:







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