Real Madrid vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Our Champions league campaign for the 2015/2016 season is within earshot, and it shall begin with us hosting the Miners. What? No, you're not mistaken, this is the team that developed Douglas Costa. And believe it or not, he wasn't the only good player in their ranks, for they're truly stacked with talent:

• Shakhtar have lost just once in 13 matches in all competitions this season.
  
  
• Alex Teixeira, the 17-goal joint-leading marksman in the Ukrainian Premier League last term, has scored nine in seven appearances this campaign.
  

Notable Absentees:
1. James
2. Danilo

Probable Lineup:

Additional Information: Chaaaarge!

We are playing at home and Shaktar bave basically sold their whole team. They barely scraped into the group stages. This game will be nothing more than a chance for Ronaldo to statpad in and Navas continuing to keep clean sheets

I've got a feeling that Kiko will be in goal

Valkyrja wrote:I've got a feeling that Kiko will be in goal

Kiko
Carvajal Varane Ramos Marcelo
Kroos Modric
Isco Bale Ronaldo
Benzema

I think you may be right. I was going to put him between the sticks but then I thought maybe Rafa wants to keep Navas' momentum going. But the more I think about it, the more I become convinced that Casilla will play instead.

@Hala: You never know. The last thing you wanna do is underestimate your opponent. Schalke was two inches shy from knocking us out last year. If it wasn't for Ronaldo, we would've been knocked out.

Well, I know who is gonna be my captain in my UCL fantasy team. Ronaldo, in case one didn't realise.

@Demon the Carthage I think you meant if it wasn't for Marcelo

Of course we shouldn't underestimate them, if we play even half as good as we did this Saturday we should blow them away

I would be really happy if Kiko started not only because I rate him higher than Navas but also because it shows Benitez won't make him rot on the bench

Should be an easy 4-0 win

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CO9jPNtXAAAnZhq.jpg

Nice line up. A little unhappy Kiko isn't starting though. The rest were expected. I would hazard a guess that Benitez is trying to phase out Pepe given his age and length of contract

Kiko is going to play copa games. Navas is clearly number 1 now and Kiko is the assurance and will play copas.

If you noticed Benitez is also rotating the players at the end of the bench. Denis is dressed for the first time and Arbeloa and Lucas are not dressed this game. Yañez is also a scratch and in today´s case both Danilo and James are out, otherwise if no injuries they also will have the likes of Nacho, Jese and possibly one of Casemiro or Kovacic to send to the stands.

In other words the lineup and rotations are already set and only injuries change that.

Rotations are portero as described above.
RB, CBs, MFs and likely James and Isco if none of forwards are injured. Jese will get enough action to make sure Benz doesn´t get worn out like he did under Carlo.

and the rest Nacho, Lucas and Denis are bench players getting occasional subs and the odd start.

Somebody shoot Benzema for me.

Dreadful first half for Real Madrid standards. Lucky goal. We better shape the f up.

Nice nice half. We have toyed with them but I don't like this cuteness from us. Too many attempts at golazos with back heel assists or shots

Everyone have been excellent. Unlucky Bale, just when he started putting in great performances too. He was excellent before he went off and deservedly got applause from the fans

Kovacic love those runs from deep

Meanwhile, Di Maria scores for PSG after only 4 minutes

Brilliant performance. Everyone put a shift in. Great by Navas

Bale for the brief time he played was very good. I sincerely hope his injury isn't that serious. I never thought I would say this in a million years, but he's become one of our best players.

Ramos and Varane have each picked up knocks.

Now we have James, Danilo, Ramos, Varane and Bale all injured.

Benzema is really bad infront of goal don't mind it when we win

RealGunner wrote:Should be an easy 4-0 win

ffs could have put in a tenner

halamadrid2 wrote:Benzema is really bad infront of goal don't mind it when we win

yeah it's unreal how bad he is in front of goal. Like you said, I don't mind it when we've already scored many goals. But when you're desperately slaving away for one goal, and you succeed to create that one golden chance and then Benzema comes along and screws it up, you just want to uproot every single hair on your head.

I had that feeling when he missed that chance from Ronaldo at the beginning.

Everyone played well. The gulf in class was pretty obvious

penaldo got his usual hattrick of tapins, although fair play on beating the offside trap on his last goal.

Benzema missed a couple easy chances but he still put away our first and was as usual involved in the game.

unlucky for bale to be injured. let's hope its just a knock because I think he has really turned a corner in his performances.

Kovacic is a beast. Fast, technical and plays the ball well. Makes great runs from the midfield and we put shakhtar on the backfoot because of this. Also has more physicality and bulk then our other midfielders although he is not an aggressive player, so it remains to be seen. No one played bad today and it was a pretty good result

Normal win really which is always a good thing. Kovacic really is a fine looking footballer. That speed on the ball with great technique and balance. I see why he was so highly rated by Inter fans. Crappy pk to be given but Ronaldo with his usual tap in hattrick

UEFA needs to stop doing last minute shit on their website for their UCL fantasy. Could have easily gotten real points with Ronaldo as my captain.

so how come suarez can miss easy chances and still be the greatest finisher of all time and benz miss a couple is instantly horrible or never good in front of goal? 3 goals in 3 games.

anyway comfy win.

Benzema did alright ffs. Everyone including messi, neymar, cr7 and suarez misses these chances, ALL THE TIME tbh.. At least they weren't detrimental to the result as madrid won comfortably and whats more? benz still scored too. Pls cut the guy some slack, the season has barely started. No need to scapegoat anyone today.

What's more impressive is that kovacic is pushing 80kg and 182cm and he does that. Dude is legit

Yeah Kova was bloody awesome and I love how he celebrates every goal like we've just won the CL

Apparently Bale might be out for a month. Unlucky and it has come at a crap time when James is out injured and we have Atleti round the corner

I suppose we will play Kova on that right side. I love how ALL our midfielders are good under pressure and were finding eachother with ease

Benz is a bad finisher, he has never been good but he is great outside the box which I have accepted