As Real Madrid prepare to host Spanish Second Division B side Fuenlabrada, manager Zinedine Zidane will have the luxury of a 2-0 lead heading into the second leg of the Copa Del Rey round of 32 fixture. Meaning, it is the perfect time for him to rotate the squad.
With a squad that featured primarily backups, Real took care of business in the first leg on the road just south of the Spanish capital, defeating the lower league side Fuenlabrada thanks to two goals from the penalty spot, one for Marco Asensio and one for Lucas Vasquez.
Despite not scoring a goal in open play, Los Blancos dominated the match from start to finish as seemingly every forward and midfielder came close to scoring with both Borja Mayoral and Marcos Llorente hitting the post on a shot each.
Here is the squad we saw in the first leg:
📝🏃 #RMCopa
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 26, 2017
This is our starting XI for tonight's match away at @CFuenlabradaSAD! ¡VAMOS!#RMMovistar pic.twitter.com/h60tOPcCow
I would expect to see relatively the same starting XI as this with just a few exceptions. After Zinedine Zidane said in his press conference Monday that Gareth Bale would get some playing time on Tuesday, switch Bale for Vasquez, and maybe Keylor Navas who is looking to get some game time coming off an injury for Kiko Casilla in goal as well.
Not to mention, Mateo Kovacic could make his first appearance since suffering a serious thigh injury back in early September that has kept him out of training until just about two weeks ago. Zizou is hopeful the Croatian can not only play, but go for the full 90 minutes.
“Kovacic has been training with us regularly for some time now and I hope that he’ll be able to play the whole game tomorrow”.
This is a crucial time for Real Madrid to not only rest their regular first-team players because of so many matches in a short span of time, but also because the younger players need to get some valuable minutes in.
As we have discussed, Dani Ceballos hasn’t been receiving the minutes he needs or likely deserves. He has performed well on every occasion he has played, and that was no different when he started and played for the entire match in the first leg of the Copa.
Fans are growing anxious to see the likes of Ceballos and Marcos Llorente get some playing time and this is a match where they can watch the future of the club.
While the result may already be decided with Los Blancos scoring two away goals, it will still be interesting to see which player perform well and possibly earn themselves more minutes with the first-team in meaningful matches after this one.
Zidane remains focused on first and foremost getting his team through to the next round of the Spanish domestic trophy, but he also wants to see what these young guys can do as well.
"“We have to finish the job. The first leg was very good, we scored two goals and played well. What we want and need to do tomorrow is to play well again like we did at Fuenlabrada, finish the job, win and go through to the next round”."
It should be fun to see many academy products and former academy players taking center stage at the Santiago Bernabéu Tuesday night in a competitive match.
Next: Monday’s Real Links: Look who’s back!