Open Thread: October 21, 2020.

Hola Madridistas!

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack or Oscnar.

No Ramos for Los Blancos against Shakhtar

It is official. After not training with the team yesterday, Ramos was not included in the official squad list for the game against Shakhtar today at 18:55 CEST (local time):

Goalkeepers: Courtois, Lunin and Altube.

Defenders: E. Militão, R. Varane, Nacho, Marcelo and F. Mendy.

Midfielders: Kroos, Modrić, Casemiro, Valverde and Isco.

Attackers: Benzema, Asensio, Lucas V., Jović, Vini Jr. and Rodrygo.

It will be interesting to see what changes Zidane will make after the bad performance over Cadiz. AS reported previously that Mendy, Casemiro and Valverde will be starters. We will see if they got this one right, especially considering that Los Blancos also have a very important game against Barcelona on Saturday.

When will Hazard be back?

Marca reported that Eden Hazard is not expected to be back from his injury before November’s international break, which ends 18th November. What at first seemed to be a minor discomfort has developed into an injury that has not allowed Hazard to feature so far in the 2020/21 season with Real Madrid.

Could a European Premier League be a reality?

Sky News has learned that financiers are assembling a $6 billion (£4.6 billion) funding package to assist the creation of what could become known as the European Premier League. More than a dozen teams from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said to be in negotiations. Sources said that FIFA, football’s world governing body, had been involved in developing the new format, which is expected to comprise up to 18 teams, and involve fixtures played during the regular European season. As expected this proposal has already been criticized on Tuesday by La Liga and supporter groups. Uefa chiefs have also dismissed the threat of a European breakaway league being championed by the Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez.

Michel hits out at France Football: They forgot Gento.

France Football’s Balon d’Or dream team selection has had to face more criticism, this time from former Real Madrid and Spain midfielder Michel. The latest list of nominees for the forward position left out Real Madrid great Francisco ‘Paco’ Gento. “For those who follow football and give credibility to these France Football nominations about the best players in history, tell them that they’ve forgotten the player who represents the European Cup best with six titles,” Michel was quoted as saying. Gento won 12 la ligas and 6 Europeans Cups as part of the great Real Madrid side of the 50’s and 60’s.