Barcelona are just one win away from winning the La Liga Santander this season. The Catalonian giants have been excellent throughout the campaign and remain unbeaten. They have blown away other team and left defending champions Real Madrid with little hope of retaining the league trophy.
Madrid have dug their own grave as well with the Galacticos getting off to a lazy start to their domestic campaign this season. Having won all the major domestic, European and World club trophies last season, Madrid were slow off mark and complacent in their approach.
The team from Bernabeu lost several points in the early stages and never really recovered. Despite scoring a healthy number of goals, they were defensively frail and it led to them settling for odd and unexpected draws against smaller teams they should have been beating comfortably.
This saw Zinedine Zidane’s men lose focus on their approach and they are now way behind to make a comeback for the trophy. Madrid are however in with a chance at salvation owing to their advancements in UEFA Champions League. The Galacticos have been nothing short of splendid in Europe this season and have blown away every major team. They were shaky in the group stages but have been nothing short of perfect in the knockout rounds.
They humiliated Paris Saint Germain 5-1 in the round of 16 before beating Juventus 4-3 in the quarterfinals and now hold a 2-1 lead against German giants Bayern Munich in the semi-finals with a home leg left to play.
This means that they are very much on course for a chance to win it again and hence Zidane will not want to risk his stars for the weekend league match against Leganes with the return leg against Bayern coming up next week.
This is how he will be expected to line up his team for the match.
Predicted Formation: 4-3-3
Defence:
Keylor Navas will continue in goal while Theo Hernandez might get a start at left back. Achraf Hakimi might get to play at right back with Nacho and Jesus Vallejo playing as the centre-backs.
Midfield:
Dani Ceballos, Mateo Kovacic and Marcos Llorente might get to start as Zidane will look to change things around in the middle of the park.
Attack:
Karim Benzema up front with Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez on either flank will be the likely line up for Real’s forward men. Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a forgettable night in Munich, might not be risked in this rather inconsequential match by Zidane.
