Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Espanyol | La Liga | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Stuttgart in the UEFA Champions League marked the perfect start to their title defence. Back in action in La Liga, however, they take to the field once more at Santiago Bernabeu hosting special opposition from Catalonia.

Newly promoted Espanyol are Los Blancos’ guests for Saturday evening and will have an upper hand over the hosts in terms of rest. After all, Manolo Gonzalez’s men last played a week ago and are raring to go.

So far this season, Espanyol have two losses, a draw and two wins to their name. They are currently unbeaten in three games and even took points off Atletico Madrid last month, making it clear that they are no pushaways.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Espanyol.

A change in formation

The start of the new season saw Carlo Ancelotti tweak his formation to accommodate the newly arrived stars and put forward an XI with unbelievable strength on paper.

As a result, Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League winning 4-4-2 setup was modified into a 4-3-3 with one midfielder dropped to accommodate an extra forward.

The new man introduced in attack was Kylian Mbappe, while Jude Bellingham dropped from his role as an attacking midfielder to an interior, joining Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde in the middle of the park.

Five games into La Liga, however, it is clear that Los Blancos are not playing at the same level as they were last season. The observation only goes to show that football is not won on paper and the manager appears to concur with the inference.

As revealed earlier this week, Ancelotti is thus open to reverting the formation back to a 4-4-2 with an extra man in midfield. Tomorrow’s game thus could see a forward dropped and Bellingham reinstated as the mediapunta with an extra body in midfield.

The primary objective of changing the formation, contrary to popular belief, is not to amp up the team’s attacking forays. Instead, the team will benefit from an added midfielder in terms of pressure off the ball, thus helping with defensive transitions.

With the manager already keenly considering the possibility, tomorrow may be the night he experiments with his new idea on the field.

Rotations are needed

Will Endrick start against Espanyol? (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

With a game scheduled virtually every three days, Real Madrid are under pressure of the highest order as is every elite team in Europe.

Success this season, thus, will largely depend on man-management, rotations and keeping the squad healthy through the campaign and Carlo Ancelotti must look to make those changes starting tomorrow.

The team could thus feature changes right from goal where Andriy Lunin would merit a start after his recent renewal. Fran Garcia and Lucas Vazquez can come in as the full-backs while Eder Militao joins Antonio Rudiger in defence.

Bellingham and Tchouameni, both recently back from injury, are likely to start against Espanyol but the manager could opt for Luka Modric in Valverde’s place to give the Uruguayan a day off.

The biggest story, however, will be the final third where young Endrick is poised to make his first start for the club.

With two goals in two games already, the Brazilian has announced himself as a force to be reckoned with and tomorrow could be his special night.

It remains to be seen if he replaces Vinicius Jr or Rodrygo Goes in the lineup, for the former is untouchable in the team while the latter is in a better vein of form.

The chance to close in

While the Merengues got off to the perfect start in the UEFA Champions League midweek, local rivals Barcelona did not enjoy as much luck as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Monaco.

The Catalans’ undoing on the night was primarily linked to an error from the goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen that saw Eric Garcia red-carded, leaving them with ten men for 80 minutes.

Barcelona’s defeat, thus, is not as surprising when the factors are accounted for. However, it is still a huge blow to Hansi Flick’s side who were flying in La Liga and they could continue on a downward spiral this weekend.

The Blaugrana are drawn up against the mighty Villarreal later this week and the game will be tricky, to say the least. Fresh off a loss, there is a chance they drop points on the night and give Real Madrid a foot back in the race.

It is thus vital that Los Blancos take all three points tomorrow before Barcelona’s game and the management will have an eye on that aspect as well.