Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Espanyol | La Liga MD5 | OneFootball

Real Madrid have barely had any rest since they took to the field against Marseille in the UEFA Champions League and they now already stare their next league fixture in the eye.

Given the short gap between the two games, it is only fair that Real Madrid do not make a trip away from the Spanish capital. Tomorrow’s game against Espanyol will thus take place at the Santiago Bernabeu and will be a gruelling matchup.

The Catalan side have been in fine form this season and currently sit in third place only behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. They have won three of their four games this season and are yet to taste defeat.

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

The red card factor

Real Madrid’s game against Real Sociedad after the international break had one major black spot on it from Los Blancos’ perspective – the red card to Dean Huijsen.

The young defender was sent off on the night for a supposed ‘last man’ tackle – one that he was not even technically the last man for given that Eder Militao was just metres away from him.

Huijsen’s red card, however, stood on the night as VAR did not call the referee for a closer look, but it came to light after the game that the foul did not deserve a red card in any capacity.

Since then, there has been an official communication that there was an error on the referee’s part, but the red card continues to stand and the star new signing will thus be unavailable tomorrow.

The big question for Xabi Alonso, thus, is who replaces Huijsen in the starting lineup alongside Eder Militao.

Antonio Rudiger’s injury rules out the German international as a candidate, leaving Raul Asencio and David Alaba as the two real options.

The former, however, had a disastrous campaign in the FIFA Club World Cup and is far from his confident self while the latter is not match-fit and has not played as a regular starter for a while now. Who will Alonso pick?

A game for Vinicius to prove his quality

Time to step up. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

If the shock of Vinicius Jr. being dropped against Real Oviedo was not starting enough, Alonso dropped a second bomb earlier this week when he dropped the Brazilian once more, this time in the UEFA Champions League.

Indeed, Vinicius was on the bench in Real Madrid’s recent game against Marseille and came on only for 27 minutes on the night – thus receiving a clear signal from the manager that he must do more in order to be a regular starter.

While it will perhaps never be known if Alonso’s decision had to do with Vinicius’ poor form or regular rotations, tomorrow’s game will likely see the player start once again and this time face serious pressure to deliver.

Having been thrown down the pecking order of a position that was once unequivocally his, Vinicius must utilise his opportunity tomorrow to prove to his manager that he can be worth far more than he has shown in recent times.

Injured players to return

Jude Bellingham and Eduardo Camavinga returned to Real Madrid’s squad for the team’s UEFA Champions League clash against Marseille but did not feature on the night given how tight the game was and how they had just returned to fitness.

Tomorrow, however, the players are expected to feature for Real Madrid at least in some capacity on the night, likely as substitutes off the bench.

The Englishman has been out of action since the end of the Club World Cup after undergoing shoulder surgery and returned earlier than anticipated from his setback.

Bellingham will likely start on the bench with Arda Guler starting as the attacking midfielder in charge against Espanyol but it is likely that he comes on in the second half to replace the Turkish star and claim back his position.

Camavinga, meanwhile, has still not played a single game under Xabi Alonso and tomorrow will perhaps be his audition of sorts to the new manager to help him identify a niche on the field or a part in his project.

He too will only come on for fringe minutes, especially with the Madrid derby just around the corner and the manager’s obvious wish to have all key players match-fit for the night.