Real Madrid won’t have two key players against Espanyol due to suspension.
In the four games since La Liga’s return, Real Madrid have not dropped any points, and they moved into first place last weekend after beating Real Sociedad 2-1 due to Barcelona’s 0-0 draw with tough customers Sevilla.
Real Madrid defeated RCD Mallorca at the Alfredo Di Stefano on Wednesday to avenge their October loss to Takefusa Kubo’s current club, but they did lose starting left back Ferland Mendy and box-to-box midfielder Luka Modric to suspensions when they picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season.
Here are five players who will need to step up on Sunday at Espanyol with Mendy and Modric both out of the match.
LB Marcelo
Even at the age of 32, Marcelo remains one of the most attacking fullbacks in the world. Few players have his creativity, passing range, intelligence, skill, and technical quality at the position, and Marcelo showed his goal-scoring ability against Eibar in the first game of the restart, too.
Zinedine Zidane usually reserves Marcelo for the big games, but with Ferland Mendy out, Marcelo is the only alternative at left back. He should have a tremendous game against Espanyol. Even though his defensive qualities have declined and are significantly worse than Mendy’s, he should be rampant in the attack as he was against Eibar.
A goal or an assist are well within the realm of possibilities for the fan favorite on Sunday.