La Liga match preview: Sevilla vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Big news coming out of Spain that Isco will be out for atleast a month as he is suffering from acute appendicitis. The only other player that looks unfit for the trip against Sevilla is Dani Carvajal who is still nursing his muscular injury that he suffered in the game against Roma.

Rest of the squad is available for selection.

Playing XI

Expect Julen Lopetegui to keep up with his rotations in the trip to Seville. It could be a case for Keylor Navas to get a game at Sevilla given that Courtois was shaky with his distribution from the back. Those errors could prove fatal against a top-heavy side like Sevilla and as a result, there could be a case against him.

The other rotations could see Gareth Bale and Toni Kroos return to the starting line-up in place of injured Isco and Luka Modric. Odriozola should feature at the right back for injured Dani Carvajal and Marcelo should get a start after he was rested against Espanyol.

Tactics

Real Madrid come into this game on the back of two really grueling games against Roma and Espanyol. Real Madrid visibly look tired in the second half against Espanyol and as a result, Espanyol were all over Los Blancos. Lopetegui and his tactics suck the energy out of the players and it will be interesting to see how he approaches this game.

Real Madrid showed their best and the worst against Espanyol. In the first half and in the few instances in the second half, Real Madrid was brilliant on the ball and without it. With the ball, Julen Lopetegui’s Real Madrid has found its identity in the passing game, with players moving into positions and half spaces, playing efficient passes which is so soothing to watch.

The only thing that lacked against Espanyol was that killer instinct in front of the goal and it could partly be attributed to Gareth Bale’s absence on the pitch. He has been a constant source of attacking outlet for the team and he should make a return to the starting line-up for this game.

Defensively, as we have been witnessing, this team looks to press really high and have shown the desire to force their oppositions into weird positions where they lose the ball. Real Madrid was really efficient with their counter pressing for much of the game against Espanyol.

The reason: energy sapping game against Roma followed by a similar intensity against Espanyol in the first half. This is where Lopetegui’s real test lies ahead with Real Madrid. He will have to find a way to offset this when the team is tiring to negate the opposition. The alternative could very well be to sit deep and let the opposition come at you, look to avoid providing any space through the center.

Real Madrid, though, has started finding their feet with the Lope ball and the players are slowly starting to get the drift of it. One could only wish that Real Madrid keeps getting better as if they can keep playing like this, Real Madrid are on the course of something really beautiful in terms of footballing identity.