Real Madrid will be hoping to close down the gap at the top of the table in the La Liga, when they take on Espanyol on Sunday night at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Zinedine Zidane’s side have started their league campaign slightly off pace and find themselves at 6th place in the standings, 7 points shy of leaders and bitter rivals Barcelona. The Frenchman will be hoping that his side cut the distance, with a strong performance at home. Confidence will be high after their clinical 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in the midweek and a strong performance is very much on the cards.
Karim Benzema continues to be absent for the Galacticos along with both senior left-backs Marcelo and Theo Hernandez. Midfielder Mateo Kovacic is also unavailable, while there are concerns over the fitness of Gareth Bale, after he seemed to have sustained a muscle injury in the UCL tie.
The Costa Rican international will continue between the sticks for Zinedine Zidane’s side, ahead of Kiko Casilla.
Not many options for the manager in the right-back position means Dani Carvajal has to start every game in the backline. This game isn’t going to be an exception.
The Frenchman has been solid at the back so far this season and will look to continue in the same fashion against Espanyol.
Partnering Varane in the heart of the defence should be club captain Sergio Ramos. Will be hard to get past for the Espanyol attackers.
With no recognised left-back available at Zidane’s disposal, he should once again call on Nacho to do a job in the full-back position on Sunday.
The Croatian is the beating heart of the Madrid midfield. He is expected to make his 5th league appearance of the season on Sunday, against Espanyol.
An ever-present in the midfield for Los Blancos, the Brazil international will sit as the deepest in the centre of the pitch and try to break attacks in the bud.
The summer signing from Real Betis scored a double in last weekend’s win over Alaves, but was unlucky to miss out on a starting berth in the midweek. Might start on Sunday ahead of Toni Kroos.
With Bale an injury doubt, we might see Lucas Vazquez getting a rare outing from the kick-off, on the right flank against Espanyol.
The Portuguese maverick has been in hot form in the European stages and scored another brace against Dortmund in the midweek. But he hasn’t been able to translate the same form in the league outings. Will be hoping that it changes this weekend.
One of the most exciting footballers in the world right now, Asensio recently inked a new deal with Real and will want to celebrate it with a great performance over the weekend.
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