Real Madrid host Leganes in the Santiago Bernabéu for the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. Here’s your match preview.
Zidane rolled out a heavily rotated squad in the first leg, leaving the entirety of the BBC on the bench, and nearly got punished for it. A last-minute Marco Asensio goal saved Madrid’s blushes following a drab affair. Real Madrid now carry a 1-0 aggregate lead into the second leg, and should feel pretty comfortable about their path into the semifinals.
But nothing has been routine for Real Madrid this season, especially when hosting. The Santiago Bernabéu has been a particularly unforgiving place for Los Blancos.
Fortunately, Madrid finally had a match to impress the home crowd against Deportivo in La Liga, winning 7-1 at the Bernabéu. Zidane will be hoping to use the match against Leganes to keep that momentum going in the hopes of salvaging Madrid’s season.
The Copa del Rey now looks like Real Madrid’s best chance for silverware this season. That means Zidane will need to take this second leg 100% seriously. But Zidane has also been struggling to find opportunities for players like Marcos Llorente and Mateo Kovacic, and the Cup represents one chance to do that. Striking the balance between taking the competition seriously and giving the squad players a chance will be a tricky task for Zidane against Leganes.
It looks like Madrid will be down a few men for this match though. Dani Ceballos picked up an injury in training. Jesus Vallejo will also be missing for this match, having injured a hamstring in the first leg, an injury that will see him miss two months of action.
Sergio Ramos, on the other hand, has returned to training following his injury. I wouldn’t expect to see Ramos called up just yet, as Zidane will probably go with Varane and Nacho, to allow Ramos some time to get back up to full fitness.
It will be interesting to see whether Zidane picks Ronaldo for this fixture. Ronaldo had to be stitched up following his second goal in Madrid’s thrashing of Deportivo, and I could see Zidane resting Ronaldo in light of his incident.
Next: Dani Ceballos picks up an injury in training
Another key question is whether Zidane will use Isco or not. Isco was left out of Madrid’s big win against Deportivo, as Zidane ditched the 4-4-2 Diamond in favor of a 4-3-3. If Zidane’s tactical experiment continues, Isco could find himself left on the bench.