Real Madrid vs Liverpool - 6th/14th April - KO 8pm

[Rory Fitzgerald]

A quick look at Real Madrid's form, their team, main players this season and recent formations. 

Form: In good form recently, been a while since their last defeat !

• 2nd in La Liga, 3 pts behind Atletico. Won 9 of last 11 with 2 draws. Last defeat was 30th Jan at home to Levante

Goals: Heavy reliance on Benzema with no obvious fall back option if he is not scoring

• Joint 2nd in La Liga with 51 goals in 29 games. Benzema has 18 but then its Casemiro with 5, Asensio 4, Valverde 3, Modric 3, Junior 3, Hazard 2,  Vazquez 2, Varane 2, Ramos 2

Defence: Decent record but been shifting formations recently and Ramos is out along with Carvajal who is more defensive than Vazquez

• 3rd in La Liga with 23 conceded in 29 games

Most Minutes: To given an idea of who have been the main players picked all season (some due to injury) but gives an insight into who Zidane trusts over the course of this season.

• Courtois (2,610), Varane (2,430), Casemiro (2,205), Benzema (2,204), Modric (2,151), Mendy (2,117), Kroos (1,960), Vazquez (1,808), Asensio (1,441), Vinicius Junior (1,401), Nacho Fernandes (1,393), Ramos (1,277), Valverde (940) Carvajal (855), Marcelo (696), Isco (614), Rodrygo (566) Hazard, (396)

Injuries: 

• Ramos will miss both games
• Carvajal likely to miss both legs, could be a bench option 2nd leg
• Hazard likely to miss both legs, could be a bench option for 2nd leg 
• Valverde likely to miss 1st leg, could be an option for the 2nd leg

Formation: Mostly a 4-3-3 team, but hard to 2nd guess what way they will go over the 2 games. Zidane could have 2 formations and 2 game plans for both legs. 

• 4-3-3 for 19 games but only once in the last 4 games
• Last 4 games have seen them go with 3 at the back and a mix of either 2 upfront or attacking midfielders behind 1 attacker
• Some games have had 2 upfront with Vinicius Junior joining Benzema

I have set out 3 teams/formations from the last 5 games. Atletico was 7th March, Atalanta 16th March and Eibar was the last game on 3rd March.

My guess is that their team is based on;

• They have played 3 at the back more recently, though didnt at Atletico, even without Ramos
• Marcelo and Mendy can left and double up on Salah but gives them Marcelo as an attacking option.
• Can play front 2
• Allows them to try tuck in with a back 3 when needed to bring Marcelo back
• Gives them a solid base to frustrate Liverpool for the away goal given our struggled to break teams down

Equally, that logic cold apply for an away game to play 2 full backs in a 3-5-2 and instead go with 4-3-3 in the home game. Hard to predict. But I am guessing that Marcelo's experience and 2 attackers and Vazquez is naturally more attacking that they may not see 3-5-2 as defensive given the wingbacks are attacking in nature.

 

Courtois

Varane Fernandez Mendy

Vazquez Modric Casemiro Kroos Marcelo

Benzema V.Junior

 

 

V

 

[Rory Fitzgerald]

Apologies for early post - laptop on verge of shutting down for updates and no idea how long it would take 

[Tommok]

Shame Ramos won't play, I was looking forward to Nat booting him into row Z 

[Cobs]

COME ON REDMEN, DEES ARE s***E

[stressederic]

Let’s f*** these fascist f***ers

[psl]

0-1 Yossi

[psl]

Could do without Hazard being fit. He's been s*** for them but always shows up against us.

[McBain]

Zidane suggesting Hazard should be fit 

Bench id assume

[Gethin]

2 hours ago, McBain said:

Zidane suggesting Hazard should be fit 

Bench id assume

Hazard not in the squad

[Rory Fitzgerald]

No Hazard in the squad for tomorrow but Valverde could be on the bench.

[Gethin]

Just now, Rory Fitzgerald said:

No Hazard in the squad for tomorrow but Valverde could be on the bench.

Hah - just realiseed that it was your tweet I saw that on. Sorry for stealing your thunder

[Ed the Wool]

I’m really relaxed about this. Too relaxed maybe.  
 

Rumours they might go three at the back just adding to the belief we’ll do these. 

[McBain]

4 hours ago, Ed the Wool said:

I’m really relaxed about this. Too relaxed maybe.  
 

Rumours they might go three at the back just adding to the belief we’ll do these. 

They went back three in their last cl home game V Atalanta and again back three at the weekend V Eibar. I'd assume same V us but I disagree about it being the wrong choice I think it's the most sensible option for any team facing us 

[PaulMcC186]

I think our record against teams that play a back 3 or 5 is good.

[mofus77]

55 minutes ago, PaulMcC186 said:

I think our record against teams that play a back 3 or 5 is good.

Think before this season it was basically suicide to play 3 at the back against us but we've really struggled with it this year.

[Jarg Armani]

Real are the biggest spawniest cheats in the whole world. I’m expecting some dirt from them over the two legs. Hope we can leave them filled with bile bitterness and hard luck stories instead of the other way round.

[Swipe]

Have a feeling Bobby will start over Jota.

[McBain]

8 minutes ago, Swipe said:

Have a feeling Bobby will start over Jota.

Agree. Jota again the impact sub

[usualsuspect]

1 hour ago, PaulMcC186 said:

I think our record against teams that play a back 3 or 5 is good.

Is it not the case our record against 2/3/5 has been great up until Dec when we fell apart.
Key question for me is if Robbo finds form to give us the balanced threat we thrive off. 

[Sion]

You'd have to think they won't sit back. Especially at home. Which could play into our hands. Pretty much every game we've struggled with this season has been teams sitting back and waiting for us to f*** up. 

[Cam]

Mignolet

Manquillo Skrtel Touré Moreno

Can Lucas Allen

Markovic Borini Lallana

[D.Boon]

Only just realised this is on tonight. Phew. I'll try to up my game.

[Boca]

Just read that this is being played at their reserve team's ground? 

Makes a strange competition even stranger.

[Ripley]

Felix Brych is ref. He's usually good.

[Billy Talbot]

1 hour ago, Swipe said:

Have a feeling Bobby will start over Jota.

I agree, but I don't see it as him starting over Jota. I think Jota will come on with a tweak in formation that we won't start with. Much like Arsenal.