REAL MADRID SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Courtois, Areola and Altube.

Defenders: Carvajal, Militão, Sergio Ramos, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo and Mendy.

Midfielders: Kroos, Casemiro and James.

Forwards: Hazard, Benzema, Lucas Vázquez, Jović, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo.

Injury/Suspension Update:

Modric and Valverde have both arrived from the break with injuries leaving us with 2 center mids. Brahim and Isco are also still out.
Hazard and Rodrygo have recovered BUT Zidane might conserve Hazard for the PSG game or if we are losing/drawing late into the game.
Bale is suspended for this match due to his red card against Villarreal.

442 looks like the best option for this game. Our CM is severely thin right now so it makes sense. We will definitely see GOAT-Quez on the right thats for sure.

Very early game in my time zone. I hope I have the willingness to wake up and watch.

As a Madrid fan, I'm offended that Lucas Vasquez gets to play so much and, most of the time, his playing minutes are justified...  it's adding insult to injury.

I can't think of a single other era where a player like Lucas Vasquez would have a snowball's chance in hell of playing for real madrid.   Our biggest flops ever were more talented than this guy.  Even Flop Faubert had more ability than this guy.

Players like Vasquez ... Callejon.... DI Maria...

these are the type of players who bring cruicial stability to the team, with their sheer hard work and track back....


Sure we can play Rodrygo and Vincius instead.... but that wing is going to be slaughtered....


and you guys are the same fans... who after every loss blame Zidane... yet when he takes precautions by placing hard working players in the team (who aren't skillfull as the others) but still track back and help defensively.... you still blame Zidane..

Either you have Solid Rocks as Fullbacks.... which we clearly dont have... (Arbeloa & Prime Coentrao)....

Or...

when you have FBs who can't defend or who are great going forward instead (Marcelo)... then you need wide players to track back...

that's just how the game works.

On paper a very good line up

Hoping Vinicious shines now that he starts on the left

#Nueve

If Di Maria had Vasquez attitude towards football, he'll still be here starting very much over Vasquez lol.

Also, 1-0 and all is well so far.

2nd for Benz 2-0

some really good football out there

I don't think we'll look anywhere near as comfortable as this against tougher opposition, but this looks positive.

Ok I understand why @rincon wanted James at Jjuve.

Excellent team goal

James had a tough start, but he got a bit more into the game. he is playing well. He can easily compete with Modric and steals that starting spot if he takes advantage of his injury

Wonderful half

The whole team has been amazing. Kroos plays so so much better without Modric. Time to drop Modric now. James and Isco can fight for that final midfield spot

Casemiro best CDM football has seen in years. Absolutely revolutionised that DM spot. Scores like a striker, defends like an octopus. Now sub him out, we can't function without him

Hooe James gets a goal. He's been amazing out there. Want Vinicious to score too. Will do wonders for his confidence, he's played very good

I think Rodrygo and Hazard will have their debut this half

James proving once again there was never any real reason send him out on loan, hasn't been on the team for a couple years and has already have better chemistry with his cf, than the other AM's in the team shocker , hopefully he keeps getting minutes as the main 10.

marcelo and Lucas are just too extra always willing to put themselves ahead of the team, a lucky goal from either of them doesn't mean anything in the long run so why keep ruining good moves.

Militao will come on i think. He can't just start on Tuesday without match practice

I think that stint at Bayern was good for James. He never worked in the midfield 3 for us before. Now he looks good there

No clean sheet today

halamadrid2 wrote:I think that stint at Bayern was good for James. He never worked in the midfield 3 for us before. Now he looks good there

This isn't true his problem was that he clearly lost confidence, cause he was being forced out of the team unjustly for lesser players.

Super inefficient use of VAR..

chad4401 wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:I think that stint at Bayern was good for James. He never worked in the midfield 3 for us before. Now he looks good there

This isn't true his problem was that he clearly lost confidence, cause he was being forced out of the team unjustly for lesser players.

James

Apparently a smooth match isn't what Madrid is about.

good game, i don't like that we allowed levante get back into it, but a valued 3 points is all i care about....@neganisco, callejon (in his time with madrid) and lucas don't belong in the same sentence with di maria. di maria was a star player, not a utility guy

Shaky second half. Understandable given the fact we played with Kroos at DM and have the worst GK in the world between the post. We had so many opportunities with counters but we couldn't make any of them count.

We should definitely continue with the first half XI. Hazard in for Vinicious, Isco/James and Bale/Lucas fighting for the RW spot

Let's talk about the elephant in the room.........Jovic. He doesnt bring any confidence to the team. Everytime he comes on we are 10x worse offensively. Mariano is much more useful