Real Madrid will take to the field
surprisingly since Cristiano Ronaldo's punishment secured an eleventh European
Cup while going up against individual mainland goliaths Paris Saint-Germain in
Ohio on Wednesday. Triumph over Atletico Madrid gave a fantasy peak to the
season for Zinedine Zidane under six months after the previous Los Blancos
midfield awesome assumed responsibility.
He will require no reminding,
however, that the happy night in Milan will be immediately overlooked is
comparative achievement does not proceed. Zidane, all things considered, was
associate to Carlo Ancelotti, who was chopped out in 2015, only a year in the
wake of winning the Champions League.
What's more, the players seem to get
the message that everything now begins over again as arrangements for the new
season get in progress.“We won the last European Cup, but we have to forget
that,” left-back Marcelo said while in Montreal for a week of training before
heading to Ohio.
“We're making our preparations in Canada with
our minds focused on working hard. It's no good to keep thinking about the fact
we're champions. The only thing in our minds is working to win more titles.”So
far, however, little has changed in terms of the makeup of Zidane’s squad. In
contrast to how Real Madrid usually goes about its business in the transfer
market, the club has been quiet thus far.
Only Alvaro Morata has arrived after the club
activated its clause to re-sign him from Juventus.And the Spain international
is one of the players with most to prove on a three-game tour of the United
States, which also sees Real Madrid take on Chelsea and Bayern Munich. It was
initially widely believed that Morata was only being signed so that he could be
then sold on at a profit.
But Zidane appears keen to keep him
around, although with the famed forward trio of Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim
Benzema well established, Morata will know that he is up against it to earn a
starting role.He is set to be given an early chance to impress on Wednesday.
Both Bale and Ronaldo have yet to rejoin the squad after their exploits at Euro
2016, meaning Zidane could start with Benzema and Morata up front against
PSG.Another player with plenty of reason to want to put in strong showings in
the U.S. is James Rodriguez. It appeared likely that the Colombian playmaker
would already have been moved on after a season in which he found himself out
of favor, first with Rafael Benitez and then with Zidane.
But after showing flashes at this
summer’s Copa America Centenario of the quality that persuaded Real Madrid to
spend big on him two years ago, he may have earned a second chance.James even
revealed last week that a bid had come in for his services.
And, while he didn’t name the club in
question, it may well have been from Real Madrid’s first opponents of
preseason, with PSG known to be admirers of the 25-year-old.Even without James’
arrival, there has been significant change at PSG this summer.
Both the club’s
talisman and coach departed, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic leaving at the end of his
contract to join Manchester United and Laurent Blanc being replaced by Unai
Emery.While Blanc dominated domestically, he failed to give the club’s owners
the success they craved in Europe, losing in the Champions League quarterfinals
for three successive seasons.
And it will be in the Champions
League where his successor is judged. Having won the Europa League an
unprecedented three seasons in a row, it is not hard to see why Emery was
chosen.The Spaniard has already made his mark, bringing with him from Sevilla
defensive midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak. The Poland international didn’t
feature as PSG beat Inter Milan 3-1 in its opening game in the U.S. on Sunday.
But along with, Thiago Motta, David
Luiz and Marco Verratti, who also didn’t travel to Oregon to take on Inter,
could feature on Wednesday at the 105,000 capacity Ohio Stadium.
Real Madrid
Squad For PSG-Match-Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas, Kike Casilla, Ruben Yanex, Alex
Craninx, Luca Zidane
Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Danilo, Dabi
Carvajal, Marcelo, Nacho, Philipp Lienhart, Alvaro Tejero, Achraf
Hakimi
Midfielders: Casemiro, Luka Modric, Isco, Mateo Kovacic, Marco Asensio,
Martin Odegaard, Enzo Zidane, Diego Llorente, Aleix Febas
Forwards: Karim
Benzema, Alvaro Morata, Jese Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez, Mariano, Sergio Diaz
PSG
Squad-Goalkeepers: Kevin Trapp, Alphonse Areola, Remy Deschamps
Defenders: Serge
Aurier, Alec Georgen David Luiz, Presnel Kimpembe, Layvin Kurzawa, Maxwell,
Thomas Meunier, Thiago Silva
Midfielders: Lorenzo Callegari, Angel di Maria,
Grzrgorz Krychowiak, Jonathan Ikone, Christopher Nkunku, Javer Pastore, Adrien
Rabiot, Benjamin Stambouli, Thiago Motta, Marco Verratti
Forwards: Hatem Ben Arfa, Edinson
Cavani, Odsonne Edouard, Lucas Moura
No comments:
Post a Comment