Real Madrid – Granada

Days after another dissapointing performance in the Champions League, Real Madrid hosts Granada at the Santiago Bernabeu in a match from the 8th round of La Liga.

Real Madrid are leaders in La Liga at the moment, but they continue to suffer in the Champions League. Two weeks after losing against PSG in Paris, Los Blancos made a dissapointing 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu against Club Brugge. At halftime the Belgian side had a clear lead of two goals, but after the break Madrid successfully equalised after goals from Sergio Ramos and Casemiro.

At halftime the manager Zinedine Zidane replaced his goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with the summer signing Alphonse Areola, so it’d be curious to see if Courtois is going to play against Granada on Saturday.

Based on the way Real Madrid performed on Tuesday, maybe Zidane will make some changes in his line-up. Players like Vinicius, Luka Jovic, Federico Valverde and Isco were benched against Club Brugge, but they might feature against Granada. The young Brazilian star Rodrygo is also an option for Zidane. Meanwhile Ferland Mendy and Marco Asensio remain injured at the moment.

Granada are doing surprisingly good since the beginning of the season. They are currently second in the standings with 14 points, being only behind the leader Real Madrid. In seven games played so far, Granada have four wins, two draws and one loss. In their last five games they are just spectacular – four wins and one draw. The manager Diego Martinez is doing a very good job.

Last week hosted Leganes at home and celebrated a 1-0 win. It was Antonio Puertas who scored the winning goal after an assist from the veteran Roberto Soldado.

Usually we would say that Real Madrid won’t have problems against team like Granada, but now the visitors are looking very strong. During the week Los Blancos dissapointed against Club Brugge, so they must really dig deep on Saturday in order to win against Granada.