Expected Lineup: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Ramos, Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Vinicius, Benzema, Bale
We have a chance to overtake Barca this week ( I believe they played Atletico? ) so I’d go into this game with our strongest line up possible. I’d actually go with the same 4-3-1-2 formation we used against PSG. Carvajal Militao Ramos Mendy Valverde Casimero Kroos ..............Isco( Luka) ,.....Jovic ........Rodrygo
Like that , Luka for Isco, and I can’t see at any point if Benz is fit him not starting, as much as I’d love to see Jovic get a start
Now is not the time to play Jovic. He has only scored one goal but I'd definitely look to have him come in later on depending on the score
Benzema is one of the few who didn't have an injury so far but him and Casemiro are playing too much. I get the thought process but I'm afraid they'll get injured when it matters the most (hard stretch of games that we'll have soon). Zidane needs to show some confidence in players like Mendy, Militao, Isco, Jovic, Vinicius or they'll simply lack match fitness and we'll drop points.
As much as I want to see Jovic getting more minutes, this is not the right match to start him. Barca plays Atleti and we must win to put pressure on them. We need to start Benz now because he is our best player now. And if Jovic fails it would be really bad for his confidence and he played only 10 minutes in the last 5 matches. By the way, I think Jovic-Benz combination doesn’t work so I don’t see them playing together tbh. Well, we never know with ZZ. 4-4-2 with Isco is a possibility.
I'd start Benz with Hazard out. Don't wanna play without our two best attacking players in an away game. Rest Benz against Brugge and maybe Espanyol home game.
Anything else other than 3 points will be a colosal failure.Our 2 bigget rivals are playing each other we have to take advantage if we want to compete for the title. Us losing points here and Barca winning tomorow + a potencial Barca win in the Clasico will pretty much kill our title hopes . I expect a very difficult game,Militao has barely played i wouldnt be surprised if he suck today ....Zidane should have played him more but.. Valverde MUST START !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the attack will be Benzema and Bale with Isco behind them imo 1-2
Yea normally I wouldn’t put my hopes on Atleti in this fixture at all but this time around, with Barca’s terrible away form factored in, they might just pull an upset. I’m probably being naive though lol.