Open Thread: December 7, 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.

Preparations begin for the big week ahead.

This is a season defining week for Los Blancos as they take on Borussia Monchengladbach midweek in a must win game followed by Atletico Madrid on the weekend. The big news is that Ramos is back training with the squad and is aiming to start in the final group stage game of the Champions League. According to AS, Vini is pressuring Zidane as he aims to start against Gladbach, after putting in a good performance against Sevilla.

Björn Kuipers will referee Real Madrid-Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Björn Kuipers will referee the Champions League matchday six encounter between Real Madrid and Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Alfredo Dí Stéfano Stadium (Wednesday, 9pm CET). The Dutchman will oversee a match involving Zidane’s team in this competition for the seventh time. The most memorable of those games is La Decima in which Real Madrid beat Atletico 4-1.

Carvajal and Valverde worked individually out on the pitch.

Great to see the duo back even if its individual training. Per AS Fede’s current goal is to be 100% ready for the start of next year, but it’s not ruled out that he’ll feature for Real Madrid in December. Hazard and Mariano meanwhile trained exclusively indoors.

ICYMI: Three takeaways from Castilla’s 2-2 draw vs Internacional Madrid.

Kristofer McCormack reviewed Castilla’s latest game in which the team conceded another late goal that cost them three points against mid-table rivals, Internacional Madrid, at the Alfredo Di Stefano on Sunday. This is their third consecutive draw and Raul’s team currently stand 5th in their group.