Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui has his team geared up and ready to go after the international break. 14 days after their last La Liga match, Los Blancos travel to Bilbao to face Athletic Club on Saturday night. Lopetegui is by no means overlooking this match.
"“We have a great match, nice, exciting and demanding in a fantastic stadium against an opponent that has been preparing for 15 days and waiting for us and we have to be ready for what awaits us to be able to come out on top.”"
These were the words used by the Real boss just before his team faces sixth-place Athletic Bilbao. With more players remaining in the Spanish capital than usual over an international break, Real Madrid has had plenty of time to prepare for a tough road test in the San Mamés.
The task of getting those players who traveled for their countries over the last fortnight will be slightly easier this time around as the Spanish players, who make up the majority of the players called up, played in Spain on Tuesday against Croatia.
While this is an important league match for the club, the opening group stage match of the Champions League looms large on the horizon. The Whites will host AS Roma on Wednesday as Sergio Ramos and co. look to make it four straight UCL titles.
Lopetegui is very aware of the quick turnaround for between these two matches in his press conference, saying:
"“The Roma match is coming up, but we’re only thinking about Athletic. You have to go into games full of energy. We take in to account the circumstances that we’re in, but we’re looking for the best way to win a very important game against Athletic.”"
This is jus the beginning of a daunting stretch of matches for Real as they will play a match every three days for the next few weeks. This could lead Julen Lopetegui to dip into his reserves more than usual and lucky for him, he has one of the deepest squads in the world.
“I’ve got 24 guaranteed starters in my squad, anyone could be a starter. We always look for the best options for each game,” he said when asked about the coming schedule.
This could very well mean that players like Mariano Diaz, Vinicius Junior, and others could start to get some quality playing time in the very near future. Expectations are high for both of these players I just mentioned, and Madridistas will be chomping at the bit to see them get some playing time in meaningful matches.
Marco Asensio, Gareth Bale, and Karim Benzema have received all the playing time through the first three matches in La Liga this season, meaning Mariano and Vinicius should star to get rotated in more often.
This season is a marathon, not a sprint. And based off of the performances by FC Barcelona thus far, it will be an incredibly tight race at the top of the table in Spain once again. Lopetegui has his men focused on this match and has done his best to keep them grounded.
It will be very interesting to see how they handle a tough road environment in a very important league match.