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Real Madrid will try to cut Barcelona's lead in the table by two points with a win against Valencia. Last year, Los Blancos' winning streak was stopped precisely in this match so Ronaldo and Co. will need to be very careful with Valencia's intensity and firepower off set pieces.
Ramos and Varane are back and they should be the two starting center-backs unless Pepe somehow sneaks into the lineup. Other than that, Benítez is not expected to make rotations, so the core of Kroos-Modric-James-Bale-Ronaldo-Benzema will almost surely start.
Valencia could sit back and wait for counterattacking chances as they probably don't have the quality in the midfield to control the tempo of the game against Real Madrid. Still, they will be a dangerous team off set pieces and it will not be easy to break their defensive wall to score.
Benítez and his men will need to stay focused if they want to take advantage of Barcelona's draw.
Match Information:
Time: 20:30 CET, 14:30 EST.
Venue: Mestalla, Valencia, España.
Projected Real Madrid XI: Navas, Danilo, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, James, Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema.
TV Information: BeIN Sports USA, Sky Sports 3 (UK), Others.
Stream Information: Others.