Young stars Isco, Jesé, Juanpi and Pablo take centre stage
Jesé replaces the injured Benzema while Nacho will start in place of Varane. Carvajal and Sergio Ramos are a booking away from missing next week’s Madrid derby.
Madrid hit the sack last night ten points behind the league-leaders. To see if the title race stays alive, we’ll need to see what breaks first: Barcelona’s physical condition – they wobbled in Las Palmas and have played 12 games more than Zidane’s side this season – or Madrid’s self-belief and enthusiasm. Today’s match-up with Malaga is effectively a ‘match ball’ and Madrid will have to make do without the injured Benzema. The Frenchman has been prolific under Zidane, with seven goals in seven games. The BBC will have to be the JJC, with James and Jesé lining up alongside Cristiano.
James took a beating in Rome but will start. Jesé, who featured sporadically for Benitez – “we didn’t understand each other” – has played in six of Zidane’s seven games, scoring twice and on average once every 67 minutes. Today he’ll have his chance to be more than just the twelfth player. And Isco will start on his return to his hometown. Yesterday Zidane challenged him to score more goals; he’s scored just 3 so far this term compared to 11 and 6 at the same stage of his first and second seasons, respectively. Facing his former club in a full stadium, the scene is set for him to shine.
A capacity crowd is expected at La Rosaleda this afternoon but the ‘Sold Out’ signs are yet to go up, with 500 of the ground’s 30,044 seats still to be snapped up. Prices range from €70 to €150 (compared with between €60 and €140 last season).
Madrid have played to sold out crowds just three times this season, all away from home. The first was the derby in the Vicente Calderón against Atleti; the second in Eibar where they played in front of a capacity 6,267 crowd; and the third against Villarreal at El Madrigal.