REAL MADRID
V
DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA
Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
October 04 2010, 12.30 AM IST
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Real Madrid hosts Deportivo La Coruna on week six of La Liga action at the Bernabeu. The Whites haven’t exactly been taking the football world by a storm, but have managed to take important points whenever necessary. Depor, on the other hand, have had an absolutely rocky start to the league failing to win even a single game and laying a lowly 19th in the table. A trip to the Bernabeu couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Cynicism has started surrounding Real Madrid’s ability to score goals. Never have they struggled so badly to find the back of the net consistently. It was well confirmed last weekend against minnows Levante how pathetic form Real Madrid’s strikers are currentlyin. They also struggled against Auxerre in midweek. The score had stayed 0-0 until the 80th minute when Di Maria came off the bench and gave Real Madrid a much needed goal and the full three points. But shadows are still cast as to how Real Madrid will break their hoodoo in front of goal. This weekend, when they host Deportivo at the Bernabeu, Mourinho must find a way to break that, failing which, they may hit new lows in terms of self-confidence in front of the goal.
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After losing plenty of important players in the transfer window, Depor were expected to struggle, but were not expected to succumb to this level. Out of the five rounds, they have drawn three and lost two. And it looks more and more likely that Depor will continue struggling this way if they don’t sock up and start performing. However, they may be excused if they don’t pick up points this week at the Santiago Bernabeu. Even against a Real Madrid side that are struggling to score goals, Andres Guardado has pressed the point of how good Crisitiano Ronaldo and co are and hence Depor should be extremely focused if they have any chance of coming away with a point(s).
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TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid: After the media made a clatter about Jose Mourinho’s exclusion of Pedro Leon for the midweek game against Auxerre, he decided not to hold his usual press conference and hence little do the media know about who will be playing against Deportivo. But the usual suspects Garay, Albiol, Gago, Kaka, and Canales will all be missing due to their respective injuries. It’ll be interesting to see if Pedro Leon will be back in the squad or not.
Probable Starting Lineup: Casillas; Ramos-Pepe-Carvalho-Marcelo; Alonso-Khedira; Ronaldo-Ozil-Di Maria; Benzema
Deportivo La Coruna: Pablo Alvarez is still recovering from his hamstring problem. Meanwhile, Manuel Pablo should be available for Miguel Angel Portugal. Diego Colotto will be suspended after receiving a red card in their defeat against Almeria last week.
Probable Starting Lineup: Aranzubia; Pablo-Ze Castro-Lopo-Morel; Urreta-Villamuela-Tomas; Adrian-Guardado; Herrerro
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TheHardTackle’s PLAYER TO WATCH OUT FOR
Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid)
Di Maria came off the bench against Auxerre and injected some much needed freshness and pace to a drab looking Real Madrid attack, also scoring the winner in the process.
He’ll be fresher than his teammates and will look to continue his good form and hope for a great performance in front of the home fans. Expect Di Maria to do the tricks and dazzle the Bernabeu crowd along with giving an effective performance in attack.
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TheHardTackle’s PREDICTION
Real Madrid 2-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Although Real Madrid has been struggling to rattle the back of the net, they’ll be confident to dismantle the Depor defence plenty of times during the course of the match, hoping to finish at least a couple of them. It looks highly unlikely that Deportivo will come away with anything from this game.
TheHardTackle’s BLAST FROM THE PAST
