On Wednesday night, Real Madrid, who are now in first place in Group F, will host Celtic in the final game of the group in the UEFA Champions League.
In their defeats to RB Leipzig last Tuesday and Girona over the weekend in La Liga, Los Blancos suffered their first competitive defeat since April. Meanwhile, their Scottish opponents triumphed easily at Livingston after learning of their Champions League fate in the middle of the week.
Carlo Ancelotti was quite agitated after the final whistle on Sunday as his Real Madrid team drew a tense 1-1 match with Girona to drop points for just the second time this La Liga season.
After 70 minutes, Vinicius Junior headed in a Federico Valverde cross to give the defending champions the lead. However, just 10 minutes later, a contentious penalty allowed Cristhian Stuani to tie the score for the newly promoted team. A difficult evening for Los Blancos was then made worse when Toni Kroos was given his first career red card for kicking the ball out of Paulo Gazzaniga’s hands in the waning seconds of the game.
Just five days after Leipzig ended their 20-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, the outcome now puts Real Madrid one point ahead of Barcelona in the standings.
Expect a polished effort from the hosts as they welcome the 52-time Scottish champions to the Spanish city since they still need to win the group and have the motivation to recover from a little wobble.
Ange Postecoglou’s team is still looking dominant in the league as they made it 10 wins in 11 in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday. While Celtic’s Champions League campaign is theoretically over after a 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk sealed their place at the bottom of Group F last Tuesday, they continue to look dominant in the league.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored his ninth goal in 10 league appearances as the Hoops easily defeated Livingston 3-0 to maintain their four-point lead over Rangers at the top of the standings.
WHERE & WHEN?
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu.
Date: Wednesday, November 2.
Time: 20:00 GMT.
TEAM NEWS
Despite reports Karim Benzema didn’t train on Tuesday night, the forward is in the squad to face the Celtic champions. He missed the weekend stalemate against Girona.
Eden Hazard has picked up an injury while Aurelien Tchouameni has also been ruled out.
Callum McGregor, who suffered a knee injury against Leipzig, will remain out of action for Celtic, although Jota, who made a successful comeback last weekend, might have another role to play off the bench.
In addition, Swedish centre defender Carl Starfelt, who missed the team against Livingston due to a knee injury sustained in September, might sit on the bench here.
PREDICTED STARTING LINEUPS
Real Madrid lineup vs Celtic: Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Kroos, Camavinga; Asensio, Rodrygo, Vinicius.
Celtic lineup vs Real Madrid: Hart; Taylor, Jenz, Carter-Vickers, Ralston; Hatate, O’Riley, Mooy; Abada, Furuhashi, Forrest.
