Real Madrid play their first home match of the La Liga season against Valencia on Sunday. Here’s a preview of the La Liga fixture.
Valencia are hoping that this season can be a turnaround season. Peter Lim the owner, was lambasted last season by fans for his incompetence in running the club, appointing Gary Neville as coach despite the fact that he didn’t speak the Spanish language and had never coached a La Liga team before. Valencia finished 12th last season after a brief flirt with the relegation battle.
This year, Lim seems to finally have a better grasp on things, and has appointed a new coach, Marcelino, to take the helm this season. Marcelino has plenty of La Liga experience, and has managed to get Valencia off to a good start with a 1-0 win over Las Palmas through a Simone Zaza goal.
Valencia are always a dangerous team for Real Madrid. Valencia were the team who started the February mini-crisis for Real Madrid last season, when Madrid lost to them and then drew with Las Palmas.
Valencia just added Geoffrey Kondogbia to their squad, from Inter. He was stellar for Sevilla in 2012-2013. He then went to Monaco, before Inter. That move just happened so we’ll see if he makes it to the match day squad. He is their fifth summer signing after Nemanja Maksimovic, Norberto Neto, Gabriel Paulista and Jeison Murillo. Valencia have definitely strengthened this summer.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid is in the middle of a mini squad depth crisis when it comes to their defenders. Sergio Ramos is banned from the Valencia game for his stupid second yellow card against Deportivo. Jesus Vallejo, Real Madrid’s returning loanee center-back, has been on the injury list for a while now. He is now joined by Raphael Varane, who has been experiencing some discomfort in training and may not be available to play against Valencia.
Zidane will have to do some major tinkering to put out a serviceable back line. He may be forced to play one of Real Madrid’s defensive midfielders as a makeshift center-back, calling on Casemiro or Marcos Llorente to play in a position they’re not entirely comfortable with for one match.
Next: Real Madrid sweep UEFA positional player awards.