Real Madrid Predicted Lineup vs Alcoyano: A Completely ‘New’ Team

Real Madrid will want to start the Copa del Rey campaign with a win while giving their ‘fringe’ players a chance to shine.

Usually, we see a range of changes made during Real Madrid’s first game of the Copa del Rey and this time will be no different especially since Zinedine Zidane has not rotated his players in the past two months. Even though the team will come into Wednesday’s game with a fair amount of rest, that should not take away from Zidane giving players their deserved opportunities to start. It would be quite surprising if any of the starters that we have seen in the previous matches are starting on Wednesday night.

Goalkeeper

It seems as though the time has finally come to see Andriy Lunin given his official Real Madrid debut. The 21-year-old Ukranian goalkeeper has been waiting patiently since his return to the club in the summer and he should be given the opportunity to play for the team when they take on Alcoyano. Thibaut Courtois will be given a rare chance to rest on the day.

Defenders

We are expected to see a completely changed back-four as Zidane should really take this chance to rest players and play others that simply haven’t gotten the chance at all. On the right, Alvaro Odriozola will make only his second appearance of the campaign since his return from Bayern Munich while the center will be covered by Nacho Fernandez and Eder Militao. On the left, we will see the return of Marcelo who has failed to impress so far.

Midfielders:

The trio of Carlos Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos will need to take this opportunity to rest and be fresh for the upcoming matches as Los Blancos enter the business end of the campaign. Federico Valverde is expected to start as the two other midfielders with him will be Martin Odegaard who has not really been given a chance to impress raising some questions from the fans as Zidane wanted the Norwegian to return as well as Isco whose inconsistency has raised fresh doubts of whether he’s good enough to be in the team.

Forwards:

There is no denying that our current forward line have played too much in recent weeks and including them as starters for this match can’t possibly be a good idea. We have players capable of getting the win while resting key names. However, this may be a risky prediction but I have a feeling that we’ll see another player get his full Real Madrid debut on the night and that could be Sergio Arribas who Zidane is a massive fan of. On the other side will be Vinicius Junior who has seen his playing time decrease drastically with the return of Eden Hazard. Up front, Mariano Diaz will start ahead of Karim Benzema after Luka Jovic was sent on a six-month loan to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Full Predicted Lineup:

Andriy Lunin, Alvaro Odriozola, Nacho Fernandez, Eder Militao, Marcelo, Federico Valverde, Martin Odegaard, Isco, Sergio Arribas, Vinicius Junior, Mariano Diaz