Sky’s Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has warned Real Madrid will be “a completely different team” when they take on Spurs at Wembley tonight following their dreadful La Liga showing over the weekend
Zinedine Zidane’s men suffered a shock defeat at the weekend as La Liga newcomers Girona came from behind to claimed an historic 2-1 victory.
Real have handed the initiative to Barca in the La Liga title race, and the article says that Real will hope to have more success as they continue the defence of their Champions League crown.
Madrid head to Wembley for the very first time on Wednesday, and Balague believes Real’s performance will be in on complete contrast to that seen in Girona.
“You will see a different Real Madrid,” the Sky Sports Spanish football expert said. “The same guys that played so poorly at Girona will raise their game.
Balagué added “Real Madrid have never played at Wembley and the game is being billed as one of the games of the week after Spurs’ impressive display at the Bernabeu.
“Spurs were a little unlucky at Manchester United, the game could’ve gone either way, especially if Dele Alli had scored.
“It will be a serious encounter, it cannot be any other way.”
The article adds that Balagué expects to see a better focused Real Madrid in north London, however he admitted there have been “obvious problems” at the Bernabeu.
“The defeat at Girona was on the back of four wins in the league, so they were doing OK, but there have been obvious problems,”
He added:”Cristiano Ronaldo has only scored one goal in six games and the players coming off the bench don’t have the same impact as James Rodriguez, Alvaro Morata, Danilo or Pepe, so mistakes have been made in replacing those players.
Balagué continued:”Real scored first through Isco but then their attitude was dreadful; they didn’t want to play, the players didn’t work hard enough to get the ball back and they were thinking, ‘This is Girona’.
“The small stadium and passionate atmosphere probably made them think it was a cup game but they were surprised by a Girona side in a 5-2-2-1 formation with very mobile players.
Zidane is not an expert on tactics, he is good at managing egos and changing – he did not know to change things against Girona and it was too late by the time he tried.”
So beware the wounded animal. Despite their obvious dodgy form and well publicised injury list Mauricio Pochettino’s men will have to be alert for 90 minutes. It would be a sensational victory if the lads can pull it off but their is always that danger that Madrid might come out fighting and destroy us. How do you reckon it’ll go. Is it a cautious approach or do we go for the jugular from the off. Let us know your thoughts.
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