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Hola Madridistas!
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It’s Matchday!
Matchday 18 is finally here and it’s Real Madrid vs. Osasuna. Real Madrid have six wins and one draw in their last seven games. Osasuna drew 1-1 against Real Sociedad last week. The forecast is for snow this Saturday in Pamplona; time will tell if the match will in fact take place.
Find Los Blancos’ announced squad here.
A Minor Fiasco on the Runway for Los Blancos.
Marca reports that after Real Madrid’s request to postpone Saturday’s match in Pamplona due to the snowstorm was refused, the team was forced to deal with a four-hour wait on the runway while it was being thawed and cleared. They landed in the northern capital city a full night ahead of their match with Osasuna in order to attempt to avoid the full brunt of the storm.
We’ve arrived in Pamplona! @PalladiumHG | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/UB52AwDw07
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) January 8, 2021
Ultra_Suristic has startling footage of the conditions at the runway:
Conditions at Madrid airport. pic.twitter.com/QscadCdVO0
— M•A•J (@Ultra_Suristic) January 8, 2021
Real Madrid did train on Friday in spite of the conditions.
They had a full squad apart from the suspended Dani Carvajal and Rodrygo. Eden Hazard in particular seems to be in good spirits, as we see:
❄ S̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶c̶k̶e̶d̶!̶
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) January 8, 2021
̶❄ I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶n̶o̶w̶-̶t̶i̶m̶e̶!̶
❄ T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶C̶i̶u̶d̶a̶d̶ ̶R̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶M̶a̶d̶r̶i̶d̶!̶
Training in the snow at #RMCity!#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/hvK7qjmxtn
Zidane’s interview with the media prior to departing for Pamplona.
️ LIVE: Listen to Zidane speak to the media ahead of @CAOsasuna! #RMCity | #HalaMadrid https://t.co/MduMdB9BUN
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) January 8, 2021
Your PCR result
“In the end it was negative and I’m ok. We were prepared in case something happened, but the important thing is that the team is okay. In the end I can be with the team and travel, and we’re going to focus on everything regarding the game tomorrow”.
Could Hazard be in the starting eleven?
”He’ll be with us and he’s training consistently. I don’t if he’s ready to play 90 minutes, we’ll see how we can use him tomorrow and the games coming up. Little by little. This doesn’t change much. The weather is what it is and the players are used to playing. Eden is the same,he was playing in London. That’s not the criteria for me. We’ll see how we play tomorrow, but as always I’m not going to tell you, you’ll see tomorrow”.
Casemiro, Kroos and Modric
“They’re all ok. They’re experienced players who’ve been playing together for a long time for Real Madrid. They know what it means to play for Real Madrid, just like those who haven’t been here as long. They’re all ready to compete and play. That can only be good for us”.