Real Madrid: 4 things to watch against Levante on Sunday

Real Madrid will face Levante on Sunday afternoon in La Liga’s Matchday 5. Here’s what to watch when Los Blancos take the pitch.

With wins over Real Betis and Real Valladolid and a 0-0 draw at the Anoeta Stadium against Real Sociedad, Real Madrid are undefeated to start the 2020-2021 La Liga season. Their matchups against Betis and Sociedad weren’t easy at all, and Los Blancos will have another road matchup before the international break when they face Levante in Villarreal’s stadium this Sunday.

Real Madrid are the heavy favorites, but they lost to Levante in February 1-0 and even had to hold off a comeback from the Valencia-based club last September.

Here are four things to watch on Sunday afternoon.

Who Real Madrid starts at right back

Real Madrid will be without Dani Carvajal for a couple of months, so Los Blancos will have to juggle a solution at right back. The smart money is on Alvaro Odriozola, an attacking fullback, taking his place as the regular starter. Odriozola looked pretty good against Real Valladolid at mid-week, offering plenty of attacking threat down the right-hand side before being subbed off for Carvajal.

But Real could use Nacho Fernandez. Or even Lucas Vazquez. Or they could try to get Eder Militao in the lineup and experiment with three center backs.

That seems highly unlikely, but if Zinedine Zidane likes experimenting with his midfielders and attackers, why wouldn’t he roll the dice with his defenders to get Militao on the pitch? Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, and Eder Militao are all intelligent defenders and exceptional athletes. It could work.

But it won’t happen in this game with Eder Militao still not at 100 percent. Nacho could start, but, again, I think we’re going to see Odriozola out there again.