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Real Madrid visit Espanyol a day after Barcelona’s away draw against Celta, meaning that Los Blancos will be able to build a two-point lead in La Liga if they earn the three points tonight.
Zinedine Zidane and his coaching staff will be without Mendy and Modric, who saw their fifth yellow card last Wednesday against Mallorca. That means that Marcelo and Fede Valverde should feature in the starting XI.
Other than that, this one could be a tough game, no matter how mediocre Espanyol have been this season. They’re still fighting to avoid relegation and will play with intensity trying to at least score a point here.
Real Madrid predicted XI: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde, Isco, Hazard, Benzema.
Espanyol predicted XI: Lopez, Lopez, Espinosa, Cabrera, Vila, Melendo, Lopez, Roca, Embarba, Lei, De Tomas.
All things considered, Zidane could decide to go with a 4-4-2 lineup featuring Isco in the midfield. Vinicius has been a bright spot for Madrid recently but it’s not easy for him to play when Hazard is in the lineup unless Zidane deploys a more offensive-minded 4-2-3-1 formation which could leave Madrid’s midfield vulnerable.
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA
Date: 06/28/2020
Time: 22:00 CET (local time), 04:00pm EST.
Venue: Estadio Cornella-El Prat, Barcelona, Spain.
Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Movistar La Liga (Spain)
Available Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect (USA), Fubo.TV (USA).
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