Real Madrid Match Day 4 Preview: Real Madrid Will Play Without BBC
Real Madrid will visit Barcelona sunday night to play against Espanyol in their fourth league match of the season. Here’s the run down of all the information you need before tomorrow’s match.
When and Where to Watch
The match will be broadcast from RCDE Stadium in Barcelona on Sunday, 18 September 2016 at 2:45PM EST
(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)
No BBC
Real Madrid have had to do without the famous BBC forwards for most of the season. With Karim Benzema’s case of sacroiliitis and Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury in the Euro 2016 final, Real Madrid have only have had to do with only Gareth Bale in the attack.
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While the injuries did provide the opportunity for Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata to join the first team as starters, everyone was waiting for the return of the deadly attacking trio. We seemed to finally get that on Wednesday night, but it seems all three of the forwards will miss the match against Espanyol.
If Wednesday’s match is anything to go by, it’s clear that Benzema hasn’t fully recovered from his injury. Zidane will be keen to play Alvaro Morata after his performances in his last couple of matches.
Earlier today, Zinedine Zidane also confirmed that both Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo will miss tomorrow’s match. Gareth Bale is on the injury list after picking up a hip injury in Real Madrid’s Champions League opening match.
When asked if Gareth Bale wanted to play, even with an injury, Zidane replied “He suffered a heavy blow (on Wednesday) so we won’t risk anything. All the players want to play, but we have a lot of games.”
Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t on the injury list but will miss the game just the same. The Portuguese forward mentioned feeling under the weather earlier this week. When asked why Cristiano wouldn’t play, Zidane replied “Cristiano won’t travel. He has a problem with his throat and is not ready to play. We are not going to risk anything and much less so with Ronaldo.”
(Photo by Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto) (Photo by NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Recent Match History
Real Madrid has won every match up against Espanyol the last two seasons. Last season, both matches ended 6-0 in Madrid’s favor. If this is anything to go by, it should be an easy afternoon for Los Blancos. Espanyol’s defense is still their weakest point, and you can expect Real Madrid to test Espanyol’s goalkeeper all throughout the match.
Predicted Lineup
As mentioned earlier, Real Madrid will be playing without their first choice forwards. Real Madrid have five games in the next two weeks, so Zidane will be looking to rest players for Wednesday’s match against Villareal. With James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata being in form, its safe to assume they’ll make the starting XI
Predicted Lineup: Kiko Casilla, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Varane, Danilo, Casemiro, Kovacic, James Rodriguez, Marco Asensio, Alvaro Morata, Lucas Vasquez
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