Real Madrid is back in the Santiago Bernabeu today and are prepared to take on Deportivo Alaves, who have been going through a great season and find themselves in sixth place with Los Blancos in third going into this game.
Real Madrid will have a little bit of a boost as they step onto the pitch tonight after Barcelona’s 2-2 draw with Valencia last night. Getting all three points today will mean that they could end the weekend being 8 points away from the current league leaders with a little less than half the season still to go. Three points will keep them in third place as they aim to increase the pressure on Atletico Madrid (currently in second) and keep their distance from fourth-placed Sevilla who are only three points behind.
Having said that, it’s also worth noting that February has gotten a lot tougher for Real Madrid (as spoken about here by my colleague Ben Sundock) as they were paired against Barcelona for the Copa del Rey semifinals starting on Wednesday night and already had a hectic month coming up even before that match was announced.
This is the second time that Los Merengues take on Alaves this season and the last time they played, it ended 1-0 to the opponents in a defeat which was followed by two consecutive La Liga losses against Levante and Barcelona. Real Madrid will be playing at home tonight and that in itself should be enough for them to come out victorious tonight.
Predicted Starting Lineup:
With one eye inevitably on the upcoming Copa semifinals against Barcelona, it is likely that Santiago Solari may come out with a few rotations. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to really know what he’s thinking as this match approaches. Will he start with Lucas Vazquez tonight and go with Gareth Bale for the Copa del Rey? What about Vinicius Junior?
Daniel Carvajal was chosen to start in Real Madrid’s last game in the Copa del Rey against Girona, will that mean Alvaro Odriozola will be starting tonight? The only ‘safe’ assumption will probably be that Thibaut Courtois, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema will start tonight with Keylor Navas starting on Wednesday.
It is also worth noting that Raphael Varane will not be playing tonight after his red card against Espanyol while Toni Kroos has been rested for the game. Mariano Diaz makes his comeback to the squad but I don’t expect him to start. Solari will probably give him a few minutes at the end depending on how the match is going.
Predicted XI: Thibaut Courtois, Alvaro Odriozola, Nacho Fernandez, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Reguilon, Marcos Llorente, Luka Modric, Dani Ceballos, Gareth Bale, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema