Match Preview

Real Madrid will take on Melilla in their second match in this season’s Copa del Rey on Thursday. Real traveled to the North African coast about a month ago in their first match under Santiago Solari as manager.

Real handily defeated the Segunda División B side 4-0, which puts Real in a very comfortable spot ahead of the second leg. This should be a task simple enough for Real Madrid to handle ahead of Sunday’s bout with Huesca in Aragon.

This should be a good chance for Solari to try some of his players that haven’t seen the pitch in a while. Especially since there are still a few injuries to the squad.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid remain without Casemiro and Nacho. Toni Kroos also did not feature against Valencia last weekend, and still has not been in full practice since. With Real up 4-0 already, they really don’t have to worry about starting him and they can surely afford resting him. Bale exited against Valencia with some discomfort, but nothing seems to have come by way of any nagging injury.

Melilla do not have any injuries currently to their squad.

There are no suspensions for either side in Thursday’s match.

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Navas; Odriozola, Sánchez, Ramos, Reguilón; Ceballos, Llorente, Isco; Asensio, Vinicius, Mariano

Being up 4-0 and not really having to worry about gaining a lead, this would be an ideal match for Solari to give some minutes to the minute-less. You don’t want to risk injuries to the starters, so most of the backups should start.

Whether this lineup is wishful thinking or not, I would at least expect we see Isco, Asensio, and Vinicius. Mariano has not played in quite a while either and Benzema certainly deserves a match off. Bale shouldn’t start either, and now that Vazquez is a starter currently he should rest too. There’s a strong case in the midfield for Valverde to get a start too, perhaps he will over Ceballos or even Llorente.

Melilla

Barrio; Chakla, Mahanan, Segura, Juanmi; Castillo, Martínez, Otegui, Fernández, Ruano; Qasmi

Prediction

3-0 Real Madrid-Melilla

It would take an absolute catastrophe for Real Madrid to drop a 4-0 lead, of course not counting goals that could be scored in the second leg, to a Segunda División B side. Even if Solari goes with a lineup consisting of non-starters this should be a no-brainer of who is moving on.

Obviously it’s not right to already write this off as a win for Real, but there is a point where a team like Real Madrid clearly outclasses a much lower side. The Primera División is clearly a lot more skilled than Segunda División B.

This should be a match where we get to see action from some of the much younger players, including even Isco who has yet to start under Solari. This will likely give a good rest to the starters ahead of Sunday’s LaLiga fixture and it should be where Real Madrid moves on to the next round of this tournament.