REAL MADRID
Real Madrid and Juventus - a possible rematch in Washington
Real Madrid's preseason plans will depend on whether they win the Champions League but a spot in the International Champions Cup is a possiblity.
Real Madrid and Juventus will play each other in the semi-final of the Champions League this season. They could be set to meet in Washington during the summer too. The head of the competition, Charlie Stillitano, was in Madrid last week to meet Florentino Perez and Jose Angel Sanchez to discuss the possibility and he also used the chance to catch los Blancos as they beat Girona 6-3, where he watched from the director's box.
The game would take place in FedEx Field, the home of the Washington Redskins in the NGL, and Juventus have already confirmed that they would be on the East Coast at the start of August. They will play the MLS All Stars on the first of the month. Perez, however, wants to apply a rotating system to Real Madrid's pre-season travels with Asia visited every two years. The last time Real Madrid landed on Asian soil, they suffered and as Modric put it, "we were not well physically and we flew more than we trained". The squad flew 44,426 kilometres during the trip.
Zidane enjoyed the first year as manager when his squad had nine days in Montreal for the first batch of physical work in a mild climate and to adapt to the time change. The final preparations will have to take into account how Real Madrid do in the Champions League and whether or not they are in Kiev in May for the final. If they manage to win it, they will have a European Super Cup clash on August 15th in Tallinn.
