Real Madrid’s second home game of the season sees them welcome
Athletic Bilbao in a very early game that I will not be waking up early
to catch live, as it kicks off at 6 a.m. ET the morning after my birthday and I suspect I’ll need to sleep in and catch the replay later.
Florentino Perez will not get his wish of seeing Bale play in this
early kick-off to expose him to the huge Asian TV audience. At the time
of writing, the Welshman still hasn’t signed for Real Madrid, so the
stadium staff will probably have to rip off the big stage they erected
in front of the directors’ box, ostensibly the stage from which Bale was
to be presented.
Athletic Bilbao couldn’t care less about the Bale saga. The Basques
have made a good start to the season, winning both their opening
fixtures, as a result of which they are sitting pretty above us in the
league table going into Sunday because of their superior goal
difference. They will come into the Bernabeu high on confidence and
motivation, and will come at us hard.
New manager Ernesto Valverde seems to have taken off where Marcelo Bielsa left off, with the team playing attractive attacking football fused with their trademark aggression and passion.
REAL MADRID
There are many talking points with our team. We have managed to get six points from the first two games, but the performances have only been good in small patches. The team is still trying to find its identity as many players retain the explosive counter-attacking instinct drilled into them by Mourinho, while others are more content to play the horizontal passing, waiting game. Our defensive play has also looked very suspect. Ramos and Pepe have both looked shaky while the large gap between the defensive and midfield lines hasn’t helped their case.
The goalkeeper situation is of course a big talking point. Lopez has started in both our games so far, and I expect him to start this one as well. Expect chants of “Iker, Iker” at some point as well as both cheers and whistles aimed at our goalkeepers, an unpleasant occurrence the team could really do without.
In defence, I expect Arbeloa to retain his place at right-back following on from the Granada game, and the rest of the defence picks itself really given Varane’s injured condition and Coentrao’s desire to leave, which means Marcelo will continue to start at left-back unless and until the Portuguese ends up staying at Real Madrid.
In midfield, Carletto went with Isco and Modric in the centre of the park against Granada, but I expect him to start either Casemiro or Khedira against the more credible threat of Athletic Bilbao’s midfield. Khedira has returned to full training and will battle it out with Casemiro for a midfield spot alongside Modric. The Croatian will start once again due to the continued absences of our Basque duo Alonso and Illaramendi. Interestingly, Modric is now the player who has started the most consecutive competitive games for Real Madrid, with 21 consecutive starts in official games going into Sunday’s clash. That’s more than the likes of Ronaldo, Ramos and of course Casillas.
In attack, Di Maria was the shining light for Real Madrid in what was a game badly lacking in quality. It seems the El Fideo is especially motivated to prove himself given the impending arrival of Gareth Bale. However if he is to start, that is likely to mean a place on the bench for Ozil, and I’m not sure how well he will take that seeing his frustrated reaction upon being subbed in Granada. Something tells me Carletto will start Di Maria over Ozil. I could be wrong here, but time will tell I suppose. Isco has been brighter than Ozil in the opening two games, so he is slightly higher in the pecking order in that respect even though, of course, these are early days in the context of the season.
Ronaldo hasn’t scored in our first two games and while that’s not a big deal for most players, it is for him. The longer CR7 fails to score, the more frustrated he will become and the more individualistic his play becomes, so let’s hope he nets the opener against Athletic Bilbao. He has scored 10 goals against them in 8 games, so don’t bet against it. Meanwhile, Benzema will hope to make it 3 goals in a row. The Frenchman’s performances in the first two games have been quite frustrating, but he has done what strikers are supposed to do, which is score goals. However we all know that isn’t enough for the Bernabeu, who roundly booed Benz when he was subbed off in the first game, even though he had scored.
Expected Lineup: Diego Lopez; Marcelo, Ramos, Pepe, Arbeloa; Casemiro/Khedira, Modric; Isco, Di Maria; Ronaldo, Benzema
ATHLETIC BILBAO
Bilbao have experienced some significant transfer activity this off-season. They finally lost star centre-forward Fernando Llorente to Juventus, one of the teams Real Madrid will be facing in the Champions League group stage. They replaced him with Kike Sola, formerly of Osasuna. Sola started in Bilbao’s first game and the older Aritz Aduriz (signed from Valencia before last season) started the second. Both have a physical presence up front and whoever starts, Ramos and Pepe will need to be very focused.
The most eye-catching name in the center of the park is Benat Etxebarria. Former Real Betis midfielder Benat has returned to Athletic Bilbao, the team whose youth system he grew up in, even making one senior appearance before being shipped out. Nicknamed the “Spanish Scholes” by some, the box-to-box midfielder drew interest from EPL heavyweights Manchester United, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Tottenham but ended up signing a 5-year deal with Athletic Bilbao.
New manager Ernesto Valverde seems to have taken off where Marcelo Bielsa left off, with the team playing attractive attacking football fused with their trademark aggression and passion.
REAL MADRID
There are many talking points with our team. We have managed to get six points from the first two games, but the performances have only been good in small patches. The team is still trying to find its identity as many players retain the explosive counter-attacking instinct drilled into them by Mourinho, while others are more content to play the horizontal passing, waiting game. Our defensive play has also looked very suspect. Ramos and Pepe have both looked shaky while the large gap between the defensive and midfield lines hasn’t helped their case.
The goalkeeper situation is of course a big talking point. Lopez has started in both our games so far, and I expect him to start this one as well. Expect chants of “Iker, Iker” at some point as well as both cheers and whistles aimed at our goalkeepers, an unpleasant occurrence the team could really do without.
In defence, I expect Arbeloa to retain his place at right-back following on from the Granada game, and the rest of the defence picks itself really given Varane’s injured condition and Coentrao’s desire to leave, which means Marcelo will continue to start at left-back unless and until the Portuguese ends up staying at Real Madrid.
In midfield, Carletto went with Isco and Modric in the centre of the park against Granada, but I expect him to start either Casemiro or Khedira against the more credible threat of Athletic Bilbao’s midfield. Khedira has returned to full training and will battle it out with Casemiro for a midfield spot alongside Modric. The Croatian will start once again due to the continued absences of our Basque duo Alonso and Illaramendi. Interestingly, Modric is now the player who has started the most consecutive competitive games for Real Madrid, with 21 consecutive starts in official games going into Sunday’s clash. That’s more than the likes of Ronaldo, Ramos and of course Casillas.
In attack, Di Maria was the shining light for Real Madrid in what was a game badly lacking in quality. It seems the El Fideo is especially motivated to prove himself given the impending arrival of Gareth Bale. However if he is to start, that is likely to mean a place on the bench for Ozil, and I’m not sure how well he will take that seeing his frustrated reaction upon being subbed in Granada. Something tells me Carletto will start Di Maria over Ozil. I could be wrong here, but time will tell I suppose. Isco has been brighter than Ozil in the opening two games, so he is slightly higher in the pecking order in that respect even though, of course, these are early days in the context of the season.
Ronaldo hasn’t scored in our first two games and while that’s not a big deal for most players, it is for him. The longer CR7 fails to score, the more frustrated he will become and the more individualistic his play becomes, so let’s hope he nets the opener against Athletic Bilbao. He has scored 10 goals against them in 8 games, so don’t bet against it. Meanwhile, Benzema will hope to make it 3 goals in a row. The Frenchman’s performances in the first two games have been quite frustrating, but he has done what strikers are supposed to do, which is score goals. However we all know that isn’t enough for the Bernabeu, who roundly booed Benz when he was subbed off in the first game, even though he had scored.
Expected Lineup: Diego Lopez; Marcelo, Ramos, Pepe, Arbeloa; Casemiro/Khedira, Modric; Isco, Di Maria; Ronaldo, Benzema
ATHLETIC BILBAO
Bilbao have experienced some significant transfer activity this off-season. They finally lost star centre-forward Fernando Llorente to Juventus, one of the teams Real Madrid will be facing in the Champions League group stage. They replaced him with Kike Sola, formerly of Osasuna. Sola started in Bilbao’s first game and the older Aritz Aduriz (signed from Valencia before last season) started the second. Both have a physical presence up front and whoever starts, Ramos and Pepe will need to be very focused.
The most eye-catching name in the center of the park is Benat Etxebarria. Former Real Betis midfielder Benat has returned to Athletic Bilbao, the team whose youth system he grew up in, even making one senior appearance before being shipped out. Nicknamed the “Spanish Scholes” by some, the box-to-box midfielder drew interest from EPL heavyweights Manchester United, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Tottenham but ended up signing a 5-year deal with Athletic Bilbao.
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