Madrid (AFP)
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, who chose to do without Toni Kroos in the 2-1 defeat against Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League, has decided to secure him for the classic return of Liga against FC Barcelona this Sunday (9 p.m., 8 p.m. GMT) at the Santiago-Bernabeu, according to the team composition revealed.
The 30-year-old German will start this clasico counting for the 26th day of Liga in the midfield, alongside Federico Valverde and Casemiro, behind an attack trio composed of Isco, the young Brazilian Vinicius (19 years old) and French center-forward Karim Benzema, who will play his 500th official match at Real Madrid.
FC Barcelona, for its part, recover Jordi Alba: the left side has recovered in time from his injury to the right adductor and will be aligned immediately, alongside Nelson Semedo and the Frenchman Samuel Umtiti, preferred to his compatriot Clément Lenglet (on the bench) to accompany Gerard Piqué (who also recovered from his sprained left ankle) within the Catalan hinge.
On the other hand, no Martin Braithwaite nor Ansu Fati in the titular eleven: Quique Setién decided to start the Danish recruit arrived ten days ago and the young nugget (17 years old) on the bench, and will start with Lionel Messi and French world champion Antoine Griezmann in attack, with Arturo Vidal in support.
The teams:
Real Madrid: Courtois - Carvajal, Ramos (cap.), Varane, Marcelo - Casemiro, Valverde, Kroos - Isco, Benzema, Vinicius
FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Jordi Alba - De Jong, Busquets, Arthur - Vidal, Messi (cap.), Griezmann
© 2020 AFP