Open Thread: December 30, 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, YoSnail or Oscnar.

It’s match day!

Los Blancos face Elche away from home today. As reported previously and confirmed by Zidane in the press-conference, we can expect to see Hazard in action for at least a couple of minutes.

The squad list for the game is:

Marca’s predicted line-up for the game is: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Asensio, Lucas Vazquez and Benzema.

No signings for Real Madrid in January.

As reported by Marca and AS, Real Madrid won’t make new signings in January. Further, the club is also not contemplating any exits, even from players that are getting few minutes, like Marcelo, Isco and Jovic. Marca also stated that no one is leaving, as Zidane has closed the door. Kubo’s return in the next month has also been ruled out. Cadera Ser reported that “Emery pushes Kubo closer to Getafe whose manager Bordalás insists on his signing and the situation in Villarreal is unsustainable. Since Emery sentenced the Japanese to the bench, numbers are bad: 8 points out of 21”.

AS reported that Isco has chosen to join Sevilla, but since Zidane won’t allow any departure in January, the move will take place in the summer. Isco’s value would be €15-20 million.

Covid Concerns For The Premier League. Could La Liga be affected?

The Telegraph reported the Premier League will discuss plans for a two-week circuit breaker with infection rates soaring across England. However, Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called for the competition to continue. “I’m not sure if stopping playing football will make a difference,” said Solskjaer, whose side are mounting an unexpected title challenge after a slow start to the season. Manchester City’s trip to Everton on Monday was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in Pep Guardiola’s squad.

It will be interesting to see if La Liga follows suit if the EPL does it fact have a 2 week halt. This could lead to a flurry of games later or an extended season like the last one. It is also unclear what will happen in the Champions League where teams from across the continent meet each other.

Solari returns to coaching.

Santiago Solari, former Real Madrid player and coach, has signed a contract to be the head coach of Club America, which is the most successful club in Mexican soccer - according to AS. His first official game will be on January 9th.

ICYMI: Managing Madrid Podcast: The Future Of Real Madrid.

In this podcast Jose Perez, Siddharth Ramsundar, and Om Arvind discuss what’s in store for the club and cover a range of topics from ‘How Zidane turned things around from the brink of disaster’ to ‘Final projections for Real Madrid in the next decade’.