Real Madrid will be aiming to cut down the gap to arch-rivals Barcelona when they take on RCD Espanyol in La Liga in under a couple of hours at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Having registered three back-to-back wins across all competitions, Carlo Ancelotti & co. will go into the game with confidence and momentum on their side.
Ahead of kickoff, the manager has announced the Real Madrid starting lineup that will be taking the field against the newly-promoted team at the Bernabeu.
The biggest of them all sees Vinicius Jr. getting benched in favour of Arda Guler in attack. Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo Goes retain their places in the team.
Meanwhile, captain Luka Modric starts in midfield alongside Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde for Los Blancos.
Modric’s introduction is because Aurelien Tchouameni has been handed a start at centre-back, with Ancelotti opting to rest Antonio Rudiger. Eder Militao returns to the side after starting on the bench in midweek.
Fran Garcia replaces Ferland Mendy at left-back while Dani Carvajal retains his place on the right. Thibaut Courtois, the MVP from the midweek game, continues in goal.
📋✅ ¡Nuestro XI inicial! 🆚 @RCDEspanyol@UnicajaBanco | #RealMadridEspanyol pic.twitter.com/SO3aq47ICT
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) September 21, 2024
Carlo Ancelotti’s men drew two of their opening three La Liga games but have looked ominous in recent weeks, beating Real Betis and Real Sociedad 2-0, before opening the defence of their Champions League crown with a 3-1 defeat of Stuttgart in midweek.
A home game with Espanyol appears a routine assignment but the Catalonian visitors will arrive at the Santiago Bernabéu in good form themselves.
They earned a 0-0 draw at Atletico on their last visit to the capital three weeks ago before home wins against Rayo Vallecano and Alaves.
Real Madrid’s return to domestic action comes just four days after a late-game comeback against Stuttgart in its Champions League opening fixture. Los Blancos collected all three points in a 3–1victory thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappé, Antonio Rüdiger and Endrick.
Now, Real Madrid must turn its attention back to La Liga where Ancelotti’s men already trail Barcelona by four points after five fixtures. Hansi Flick has the Catalans off to a perfect start in his first season in charge while Real Madrid stumbled in early matches against Mallorca and Las Palmas.
The 36-time La Liga champions found victories in all their September matches so far, though, despite an injury crisis that left Federico Valverde forced to play in a double pivot alongside Luka Modric last weekend. The return of Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni against Stuttgart gave Real Madrid a much-needed boost ahead of a busy schedule featuring six matches over the next three weeks.
Before Los Blancos can look ahead to the Madrid derby or their next Champions League match, they must get past Espanyol on Saturday. Manolo Gonzalez’s side produced an impressive scoreless draw with Atletico Madrid and then went on to defeat Rayo Vallecano and Alaves.
Although the hosts still enter the fixture as the heavy favorites, Real Madrid has struggled to score from open play against a low block; four of Los Blancos’ nine La Liga goals this season have come from the spot. Plus, Ancelotti will likely rotate his starting XI to give recently returned players like Bellingham and Tchouaméni a rest to avoid overload. The Frenchman, in particular, was reportedly still dealing with discomfort in his foot during the mid-week UCL fixture.
Luka Modrić and Arda Güler could get the nod as Ancelotti works to keep his squad fit and fresh just one week out from Real Madrid’s clash with Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid's predicted lineup vs Espanyol: Courtois; Carvajal, Militão, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde, Modrić, Güler; Rodrygo, Mbappé, Vinícius
If Ancelotti really wants to rotate his XI, then Endrick, Fran García and Lucas Vázquez could also log significant minutes against Espanyol.
