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Would Zidane dare drop Bale for the PSG first leg?


One of the real positives for Real Madrid of late has been the return of the famed BBC attacking trio of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, yet after resting the Welshman on Saturday it's worth wondering if Zinedine Zidane will drop Bale for the clash against Paris Saint-Germain.


Following the 5-2 victory over Real Sociedad, Zidane confirmed that he knew his team selection for the Champions League clash, although it wasn't clear just which system he will end up utilising.

A 4-4-2 formation was the order of the day at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, with Ronaldo and Benzema up front, while Bale was left out as Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez were given the opportunity to start on either flank.

Common sense would suggest that after so many injury layoffs, the decision to rest Bale was merely a measure to keep him available and fresh for Wednesday.

It depends on how the former Juventus midfielder want to approach the match.

If Los Blancos are positive and wish to put PSG on the back foot then Bale simply has to play in a 4-3-3 system.

There is credence given to the theory that this is how Zidane will set up, simply due to how poor the team have been defensively this season.

When you look at the performances given by the club's defenders at times this term, you wouldn't want them coming up against Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani too often.

Sitting back and soaking up pressure against a team as talented as PSG is a dangerous ploy and one which, if it backfires, could lead to spectacular scenes of dissent in the Spanish capital.

The Basque club still managed to score two goals on Saturday, even though they were barely in the match, so there are real problems with Los Blancos' defensive structure.

Dani Carvajal's absence on Wednesday is even more reason to try to be positive, as Achraf Hakimi or Nacho Fernandez will start at right-back and be entrusted with the task of shackling the world's most expensive footballer.

Since returning to action Bale hasn't actually played a full match and he has been well protected by the French coach.

But with Los Blancos having so little to play for other than the Champions League, it seems as though the Welshman not starting against the Parisians would be a risky decision.

jamescross:
we have star defenders playing horrible football i won't be surprise neymar draws cards and silly fouls from them.
psg's defence is good but the way zidane chooses to attack on wednesday would determine how confident that defense would be.
we need to score first and make life that day difficult for them.

our defence like giving teams confidence of getting back into the games we need to start on the front and hit in lots of goals like yesterday. that's true psg has poor away forn in cl. let's see if it plays to our favor

Every time I see Ramos going for a tackle, I always place my hands on my head course I know the outcome won't be good(70% of the time tho) varane on the other hand takes threat softly and ends up causing trouble for navas.
Many things need to be fixed, especially that of defense. If not for ronaldo's strikes yesterday, this match would have been a draw

.

This guy doesn't score easy goals. Maestro

jamescross:
most likely why he rest some of them, a diamond 4 is probably why he said he already has his first eleven for that day

ya. Watched his pre match conference. Hope to see the best eleven unleashed.

KinzyeWriter:
Hopefully, he will, I need him to bang some goals, Benzema to score to regain the respect, and Bale at the top of his Game,

The midfield wonders to show some class, lb flank to prove to them why he is the best at the position, Ramos to be a good Ramos and not a bad one, Varane to cover up enough and be serious, Casimiro should be solid, Nacho should compete with carvajal for that position by showing a world class performance, and finally Navas with a clean sheet...

My dream.

keeping a clean sheet is the most important, even if we don't succeed at that, we should'nt concede first to psg. It will be really dangerous

KinzyeWriter:
Real Madrid defense is my concern, at least they should be able to hold them up

The attacks on that day is going to be joyful

psg's defense looks more terrible than ours. We are going to ball them

KinzyeWriter:
Cr7 giving me that hope again?

The guy is special

true. Hope he keeps the momentum high on Wednesday. We need to bring back memories to psg, based on their last visit to Spain.

jamescross:
let their defense be bad on that day, let it be so bad that benzema scores - seeing that he performs better in ucl than la liga.

i want zidane to go for that 4-4-2 and limit psg's wing play.

4-4-2 looks cool. Zidane should also take a look at that Bayern vs psg second leg into consideration,
Bayern bossed that midfield to the extent neymar and mbappe have to fall back to help.

With kroos, modric, casemiro and asensio or kovacic in the midfield, we are gonna reap psg a.k.a rich farmers apart.

Psg should be scared, be very scared

jamescross:
the only people i trust in the team now for that defensive responsibility is varane and to an extent casemiro.

if benzema does not sell the match on that day, and modric and ronaldo bring their a game, and other 5 other field players atleast do their best. our return to paris would just be a formality of our victory.

this game will define zidane staying or leaving, a morale boost that we could go all the way to win this year's cl. am not betting on it but hopeful for it.

we aren't losing to psg. I just love the way people keep their hopes high for psg to win us, because we haven't been in good form.hope to see doubters lick their a*s on Wednesday. Zidane is a better tactician than Emery. The only place we need to work on is our defense. Same with psg, their defense is also bad.

LordAdam16:
Nobody here has unrealistic expectations.

If the Real Madrid we expect turns up, PSG will have their a$$ handed to them.

If the shabby Real Madrid turns up, as has often happened this season, then it is a toss up. And I guarantee you no one here would be surprised.

So go pray to whatever you worship that the real Los Blancos doesn't show up!

We're out of form, do not have an efficient No. 9, have a leaky defense, and an adamant manager; yet you guys are still so jittery.Seriously, what are you guys so scared of?

-Lord

don't quote that sh*t hole. His just a neymar a*s licker with no bright future.

Real Madrid scored the opener before Real Sociedad had touched the ball
8 minutes ago / autty
Lucas Vazquez put Real Madrid in front after just 48 seconds of their Saturday evening encounter with Real Sociedad, scoring before Los Blancos' guests had even touched the ball.


Real Madrid took the opening kick-off and marched straight down the field, with the winger finishing a 13-pass move in which all of Zinedine Zidane's players except Marco Asensio touched the ball.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the one who then put the perfect cross into the box for Lucas Vazquez to finish.

engrMikemd:
And that exactly he did


halaMadrid

hope we keep the spirit high on Wednesday.

Halamadrid

LordAdam16:
If Vazquez and Asensio had played 90 minutes, I doubt Sociedad would have had as many chances as they did.

More important than their forward play was their defending. Asking Isco and Bale to put in the same amount of work is wishful thinking.

That's the stuff PSG would exploit. And that shabby play is one of the primal reasons we've been drawing and losing games.

-Lord

true. Isco on the other hand was busy dribbling.
Hope to see asensio start ahead of Benz on Wednesday.

Glad to see bale looking sharp, he needs to be at his best. Next week.

confistified:
Benzema is just a huge waste.... What an opportunity wasted... He should be sold abeg

benzema wasn't in that match. Guess he was on vacation

Madrid will always concede

LordAdam16:
I do like Asensio and Vazquez covering for Marcelo and Carvajal respectively.

Who's going to do that for them in the PSG game?

-Lord

I noticed that too. I don't think asensio and vaz will start against psg.

Ronaldo should just get the hattrick already.

LordAdam16:
Asensio is phenomenal at his best.

-Lord

true.

BTW, no love story better than that of Marcelo and ronaldo

LordAdam16:
If only CR7 did more of that this season.

-Lord

I'm suprised to. First 10 mins has been good. Anyways there are more time. Another goal from Real, might decide this match.

Lol. Zidane is a joke, you bench casemiro and you start vasque ahead of kovacic. I think kovacic should just leave. His better off, Ramos will eat another card today.

Anyways here is the Real Madrid XI: Keylor Navas; Carvajal, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Lucas Vázquez, Asensio; Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

monerozi5590:
He is damn good.

He is the kind of player that is not afraid to receive the ball from deep and spread it across the pitch.


Madrid need that kind of player.

In our team only Modric and to some extent Isco can do that.

I watched him play today. Saw his stats, his passing was up to 94% accurate. But that doesn't mean anything. His good in few, but disapears in most matches

monerozi5590:
Please are you guys watching Mousa Dembele?


Madrid should go for him.

no jokes please

Villarreal miss chance to put pressure on Real Madrid. Real Madrid shouldn't take sociedad lightly

Omooba77:
Arsenal will will pull through

you wrote 'will' twice. Seems you are not even sure arsenal will win

A no brainer. In as much as I want auba and co to win. I doubt arsenal will win.

Luizkid:
If am not watching Chelsea Fc just know I've seen result on livescore before coming

lol. So you are addicted to Chelsea

Just for fun.

Me:I love watching Liverpool's matches, but I'm not a fan

that means the hazard asensio swap is on, it would be better if asensio must go for 120m we should sane from man city instead.

is low the best option to manage us in place of zidane? has he managed any club before? i don't want a german van gaal in our team

I would rather take pochettino than Low. Why? Poche has club experience, but Low doesn't. I'm not saying he won't succeed as club coach, but moving directly from coaching a country to coaching a team like Madrid isn't cool to me. He should prove his worth with other clubs then we know his actual worth.

Asensio for hazard? That's a bad biz if you ask me. The only person that needs to leave is Benz. His becoming a joke to defenders.

Sane to Madrid? Bad joke bro

MoR2:
getting a new coach is that the best thing?
zidane's pay off after just signing a new contract would be expensive.

apart from enrique, there is not a trophy winning attack minded FC manager that is readily available. i don't fancy low what is his experience managing at club level, day in day out?

i don't want isco especially asensio to leave, if one must leave then i pray it's isco not asensio even for 120M, i believe that asensio has great potential and i read enrique wants him in chelsea. if we must fire zidane let's hire enrique.

that low, to me na risk.

just saw a a pre match conference before the sociedad match. Zidane said he wants isco to retire in Madrid. They didn't ask him about asensio tho.

Like I said in on of my posts, zidane won't get a sack letter, he would rather re-sign.

Real Madrid make Germany boss Joachim Low 'main bet' to replace Zinedine Zidane as Florentino Perez looks ahead to the 2018-19 season

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has reportedly identified Germany boss Joachim Low as the man he wants to replace head coach Zinedine Zidane.


Real's season is fast becoming a write-off, with the club out of the Copa del Rey, 19 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and tipped to lose to PSG in the Champions League round of 16.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Perez is already looking forward to the 2018-19 campaign and has made Low his 'main bet' as he seeks to recruit a new man to lead the first team.



Low is under contract until 2020 so the German FA would be due significant compensation from Real if he was to take Zidane's job.

Meanwhile, Zidane — who has led Real to back-to-back Champions League crowns as well as winning last season's Spanish title — would have to be paid off handsomely because his lucrative contract also has just over two years left on it.

Although Low, 58, is said to be Perez's first pick, Mundo Deportivo also name Massimiliano Allegri, Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klopp, Maurizio Sarri and Guti as possible candidates to take over from Zidane at the Bernabeu.

Zidane has been at the helm since January 2016, taking charge of 125 matches and winning more than 70 per cent of them.

The 45-year-old's managerial achievements at Real have further enhanced his reputation as a club legend, which he earned during six seasons in Madrid as a player.

He helped Real win La Liga in 2003 after scoring a stunning winning goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final.

Low has been in charge of the German national side since 2006.

The former Stuttgart, Fenerbahce and Austria Wien boss led Germany to third place at the 2010 World Cup, before winning the tournament in 2014.

His Germany team came second at Euro 2008 and bowed out in the semi-finals in 2012 and 2016.