Real Madrid will look to keep their perfect start to the La Liga campaign alive when they travel to the RCDE Stadium to take on Espanyol, in what is Los Blancos’ third straight away game to kick off the season. They have managed to navigate through the first two quite well with a 2-1 win over Almeria followed a 4-1 victory over Celta Vigo.
It is safe to say that they will be heavy favourites going into this game as well, as Espanyol are yet to win a game themselves, sitting on one point from the first two games in 16th.
There is some good news for Carlo Ancelotti going into the game as well as he will have Toni Kroos and Rodrygo available to pick his team from. The German midfielder had missed the previous game against Celta Vigo through a flu while the Brazilian winger missed the first two La Liga games of the campaign, after featuring in the UEFA Super Cup.
It goes without saying that this is a massive boost for Los Blancos, who do not have a lot of depth in some areas of the pitch in the first place. Real Madrid tweeted out their squad that will face Espanyol:
📋✅ Our squad for #EspanyolRealMadrid! pic.twitter.com/7Tt1y15rr5
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) August 27, 2022
Real Madrid duo return to squad to take on Espanyol away at RCDE Stadium
It will be very interesting to see how Real Madrid line up on the day and whether Kroos and Rodrygo end up starting or not.
There is no immediate need for Kroos to start in the middle of the park to be honest as Real Madrid are absolutely stacked there with top quality options. Luka Modric, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga delivered a masterclass in the previous game vs Celta Vigo.
Rodrygo’s return might be a bit more required, as Federico Valverde has been forced to play on the right wing in recent games. And while the Uruguayan has done a good job, he is a natural midfielder.