Real Madrid will host struggling Real Betis today in the Santiago Bernabéu. Real are coming off a hard fought win over Napoli on Tuesday in the Champions League, advancing to the quarterfinals with back-to-back 3-1 victories in both Madrid and Naples, dispatching the Serie A side from the tournament.
Ben Sundock gives you thee things to watch for in today’s important La Liga matchup.
A Rotated Squad
It was an emotional and resounding 6-2 aggregate victory over Napoli on Tuesday for Real Madrid, and it was a primarily full strength squad. Due to the travel and the tough game that was played in Italy, manager Zinedine Zidane will roll out a rather rotated squad.
Gareth Bale has been omitted from the lineup today and won’t be available for yet another match. The Welsh international will miss his 19th match of the season due to his red card he picked up in his heated exchange with a Villarreal player a couple games ago.
Zidane has repeated several times that he wants to start Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Bale. With Bale out again, it limits the speed and threat on the right wing for Los Blancos.
📝✅ #RMLiga#RealMadrid 1⃣1⃣🏃🆚 @RealBetis#RMMovistar #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/tdF0olV7p1
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇫🇷 (@realmadridfra) March 12, 2017
It will be interesting to see Real Madrid start Isco and James Rodriguez, as well as the always scoring Alvaro Morata. Isco and James in the game indicates that Zidane wants his team to be attacking and go for goals. The team has been scoring in bunches as of late and the players on the field indicates that Zidane wants to get that trend going.
Also missing from the lineup yet again today is Casemiro who is on the bench again for tonight’s match.