Real Madrid Predicted XI Against Levante: Vinicius Junior starts
Real Madrid prepare to take on Levante in their last La Liga match before El Clasico with a massive UEFA Champions League game against Manchester City sandwiched in between. Therefore, expect to see some changes from Zinedine Zidane.
Zinedine Zidane is expected to rotate his players around a little bit but he also has to be careful not to underestimate Levante as dropping points on the night could see Real Madrid go into El Clasico on the back foot with Barcelona taking over first place. The last time these two sides met, Real Madrid were able to come out with all three points in a very narrow 3-2 win thanks to goals from Karim Benzema (2) and Carlos Casemiro.
Goalkeeper:
Even with whatever rotations Zidane has in mind, there is absolutely no reason that Thibaut Courtois shouldn’t be the starting goalkeeper on the night. The Belgian will be needed now more than ever and this upcoming week can do a lot for him and the team.
Defenders:
This is where we will probably see Zidane try out some of his rotations. Dani Carvajal is a risk to start due to possible fatigue and more importantly, his injury history. Therefore, it seems like the manager may opt to go for Nacho Fernandez on the right and hope that the Spaniard has a better game than he did the last time out.
In the center, we could possibly see our captain rested while Zidane goes for a central midfield partnership of Raphael Varane and Eder Militao on the night and both players are more than capable of stopping Levante’s attack.
With Marcelo having played last week and failing to impress once again, I think the manager will have to go with Ferland Mendy on the left against Levante as well as the two matches after that. Unfortunately, the French left-back is one yellow card away from suspension and if he gets a caution against Levante then he will be missing El Clasico.
Midfielders:
Another area where we could see some changes, I predict that Zidane won’t take many risks this time around. The main question here would be whether he starts with Luka Modric or Federico Valverde and both players are more than capable of doing the job.
With Carlos Casemiro in defensive midfield and Toni Kroos in front of him, the best choice would be Federico Valverde there as well while Modric can come in a substitute or be fully ready to take on Manchester City on Wednesday.
Forwards:
Not only do I think that we’re going to see unexpected changes with our forward line, I think that the whole front three will be changed from the last match. It’s always risky but Lucas Vazquez may start on the right with Vinicius Junior hopefully getting a deserved start on the left side.
Eden Hazard should play but not as a starter as he’s going to be integral to the two games in the rest of the week. Up front, is it too much to hope that Luka Jovic gets a chance? Zidane isn’t usually happy with benching Karim Benzema but it may end up being the right thing to do.
Full Predicted Lineup:
Thibaut Courtois, Nacho Fernandez, Raphael Varane, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Carlos Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Luka Jovic