Real Madrid will have a glaring opportunity to revive their faded title hopes as they host league leaders FC Barcelona at the Bernabeu this weekend.
Los Blancos have performed terribly in the league this season, already trailing Barcelona by a whopping 11 points, prior to this encounter. The lack of form of key players, as well as their inability to score goals, have mainly been the reason for Madrid’s demise this season.
However, Zinedine Zidane’s men will be hopeful for a turnaround this weekend. Even though leaders Barcelona have remained unbeaten so far this season, their last defeat came against Real Madrid, in the Spanish Supercup, before the start of the season.
A victory against their arch-rivals will give Madrid, some significant boost in terms of their title hopes this season, with the European champs having one more game in hand. Therefore, it will be the perfect pre-Christmas bonanza, as we brace ourselves for the first El Clasico of the season after the Spanish Supercup final before the start of this La Liga season.
Here’s the predicted 4-3-3 Real Madrid lineup to feature against Barcelona this weekend.
Defence
Keylor Navas will be the man between for the sticks for Los Blancos. There have been plenty of rumours regarding the Costa Rican potentially being sold off to PSG in recent months, it will be the perfect opportunity for him to silence those critics this weekend.
Sergio Ramos was shown a red card during Real’s 0:0 draw with Athletic Bilbao and he thus missed their next against Sevilla. Therefore, he will be available to play. The Real Madrid captain will start alongside Raphael Varane, who recently made his comeback from an injury, in central defence.
Danny Carvajal and Marcelo will be deployed as fullbacks, as usual.
Midfield
Casemiro will be deployed as the central defensive midfielder. The Brazilian midfielder will be partnered by Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, both of whom will start in a slightly advanced position in midfield.
Casemiro’s influence in these type of matches, often become the telling factor in the outcome of the match. Therefore, the midfield enforcer of Real Madrid will be fully focused to give his 100 percent this weekend.
Attack
Welsh attacker Gareth Bale returned from his long injury absence and is available for selection. However, Zidane might go in with Isco to start the proceedings. Talismanic Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo was in doubt to feature in this mega-match, missing out on training sessions but has been cleared to start the match. French ace Karim Benzema will lead the Real Madrid attack in the number nine position.
Therefore, the Madrid fans might have to wait a little bit longer to see the highly revered attacking trio ‘BBC’ in action.
