La Liga 2015, Córdoba vs Real Madrid: Match preview

After being proclaimed the best team in La Liga's first half, still with a game in hand, Los Blancos want to keep the same pace in the second half to become champions. It will be a tough road, as they will have to play against their hardest rivals (FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla FC) at their homes, but this team is ready to face such a challenge. To do so, it will be important to start off on the right foot by beating Córdoba in the Nuevo Arcángel tomorrow, at 16:00 CET.

Carlo Ancelotti announced today that Isco will be left out of the squad list as he is feeling a bit sore, and so Illarramendi or Khedira will take his spot on the starting lineup. Pepe and Modric, still recovering from their injuries, will be left out as well, so the only reasonable doubt is whether Coentrao or Marcelo will be the starting leftback.

Córdoba, currently 14th in La Liga table, have been doing a good job lately, as they have managed to remain unbeaten since they lost at the Camp Nou on December 20th. Although Ghilas, Fede Cartabia and Florin Andone, all of which are very talented offensive-minded players, will likely feature in tomorrow's game, Djukic has stated that they will adopt a very compact stance in order to make it hard for Los Blancos to score. The game between the lines of players like James, Benzema or Gareth Bale will be crucial for Real Madrid to break their defence and get the points out of Córdoba.

This will be a good chance to determine whether Ronaldo has totally forgotten the minor discomfort he was suffering and see if he is in shape again. Although he was very important in last week's victory against Getafe, in which he scored a brace, it seemed evident that he was having a really hard time on the field that day. If we are to conquer La Liga or the Champions League this season, we will need Cristiano at his best.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="es"><p>Preparing for the next match against Córdoba. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/realmadrid?src=hash">#realmadrid</a> <a href="http://t.co/t0eeLPJJuu">http://t.co/t0eeLPJJuu</a> <a href="http://t.co/21LF7a9A5M">pic.twitter.com/21LF7a9A5M</a></p>&mdash; Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cristiano/status/557931268516896769">enero 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>