Real Madrid fell to Manchester United Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara in a woeful penalty shootout after a rather uninteresting match as a whole that was tied 1-1 after 90 minutes. Los Blancos will now turn their focus to the other Manchester team, Man City, as the Royal Whites battle the Citizens at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum tomorrow night. Here are three things to watch.
Marcelo and Luka Modric
Two players to keep an eye on tomorrow night in LA are a pair of key veterans. Marcelo looked in mid-season form on Sunday against Man U in the first half, making great plays against a talented United attack.
The best play in particular from the Brazilian left back was in the 13th minute when Marcelo cleared a center ball into the box away by juggling the ball over Marouane Fellaini in a great display of skill.
Marcelo tech is a different thing https://t.co/IU6EfjtL9o
— #TouchlineFracas (@touchlinefracas) July 24, 2017
Another player to watch will be Luka Modric who continues to have a bigger and bigger role under Zinedine Zidane. With his new #10 jersey, Modric will feature even more prominently in the midfield this upcoming year.
Modric and Marcelo both started the match on Sunday and played until halftime. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Zidane employ the same lineup and strategy in this match, with the clear cut first teamers playing just 45 minutes.
Man City’s summer signings
A third place finish in the Premier League Pep Guardiola’s first season was rather disappointing for City fans. So, the club has gone out and spent nearly £200 million on several new players to help improve the side.
City’s most recent signing, Benjamin Mendy, who was just purchased from Monaco could make his debut against Los Blancos on Wednesday.
Mendy, however, is not expected to play a huge role in his first match with his new team. Other summer signings like Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, and Ederson Moraes have been with the club for some time and featured in City’s 2-0 loss to rivals Manchester United last week in Houston.
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Goalkeeper Ederson was brought in to shore up the struggling goalkeeping position for Guardiola and made the start against United, giving up two first half goals to Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford.
Ederson made some good saves in the second half as he was able to find his rhythm and play much better.
Real Madrid could also see their former right back Danilo make his debut with his new team after being sold from the club just a few days ago.
Walker and Silva both also featured in City’s loss to their rivals, and will likely get at least some playing time as they prepare for the Premier League season which begins in a little over two weeks.
Real Madrid’s fitness level
If you’ll recall, this was one of my three things to watch before Sunday’s match, but as is usually the case, this is one of the most important pieces if the preseason.
Who cares about the outcome of the match? Zidane and his staff are doing everything they can to get their players to full match fitness before the start of the season in exactly two weeks from today.
Many of these players took off well over a month and a half, and it is no easy task to be fully fit and in-form to begin the season. It should be interesting to see who Zidane goes with to begin the match, as Dani Ceballos could make his debut in a white jersey, and Marco Asensio could be available for this match after not playing against Manchester United.
The match kicks off at tomorrow night at 11:35 PM EST, and 8:35 PM local time.
Next: Real Madrid lose first match of the pre-season; still need to shake off rust