Real Madrid face off against Malaga in the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday. Here’s your quick preview ahead of the La Liga fixture.
Real Madrid finally had a performance worth talking about in their mid-week Champions League clash against Cypriot team APOEL FC. Madrid tallied six unanswered goals over the course of that match, including braces from both halves of the now-maligned strike partnership of Benzema and Ronaldo.
Madrid will be hoping to carry that momentum forward with them as they face off against La Liga bottom dwellers Malaga. Malaga are currently sitting in 18th place in La Liga, and provide Madrid another opportunity to dial in their shooting.
Madrid have been creating lots of chances in La Liga, but have been failing to convert them. Hopefully Real Madrid got some of those nerves settled against Malaga, and can translate their shooting form into the league.
And of course, just as the grass is green and the sky is blue, Zidane is yet to have a full roster of healthy players available to him. Gareth Bale finally completed his first training after a lengthy spell out from two separate injuries. But chances are Zidane will not rush him back, hoping to get him up to full fitness before he is tested out in a match.
Sergio Ramos has been training with a Batman-esque mask on his face after his broken nose from the Madrid derby, but is likely to miss another week or so of game time. Marco Asensio is also dealing with an injury to his right leg, and will miss the match against Malaga.
With these players gone, Malaga would provide Zidane with a chance to give Dani Ceballos and Marcos Llorente some much-needed minutes. Many were disappointed that we didn’t see more of Ceballos during Madrid’s clash with APOEL, so Malaga could provide Zidane the opportunity to remedy that. Zidane also rested Casemiro against APOEL, so the Brazilian may also be expected to slot into the starting XI.
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Malaga just registered their first two wins of the season against Celta Vigo and Deportivo, bookending a loss to Villarreal. They will be hoping that striker Borja Baston and crew can start to demonstrate a bit more offensive potency in front of goal.
It will be interesting to see how the Bernabéu crowd treats their returning heroes. On the one hand, Real Madrid may be welcomed after finally putting on a display of the Champagne Football that has come to define Los Blancos over the years.
On the other hand, the Bernabéu can be a notoriously unforgiving place, and anything less than a decisive victory against APOEL would have been disappointing. The Madridistas at the Bernabéu will be looking for Madrid to instantly impose themselves against the visitors, and if they don’t, things could turn sour at the Bernabéu pretty quickly.
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