New Real Madrid first team coach Julen Lopetegui will start his first 2018/19 pre-season work with twelve players on July 17th.
Kike Casilla, Luca Zidane, Vallejo, Theo, Ceballos, Marcos Llorente, Gareth Bale, Benzema, Mayoral and Raul De Tomás will be joined by new recruits Vinicius and goalkeeper Lunin at the club's Valdebebas training complex to kick-start the new campaign on July 17 with doubts still existing about Valverde, Coentrao or Odegaard joining the squad. The other players involved in the 2018 World Cup will join the group on July 27 with Croatia's Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic and French defender Varane joining the group at a later date to be confirmed.
The UEFA Super Cup against city rivals Atletico Madrid will be the Basque coach's first competitive game and this years European curtain raiser takes place in the Lilleküla Stadium in Tallinn, Estonia, on 15 August.
Ahead of the Super Cup, Real Madrid will play three pre-season friendly games in the US as part of the now annual International Champions Cup competition. The intended friendly against Mexican side Puebla on July 28 was cancelled last week so Madrid now face Manchester United in Miami on August 1. Los Blancos then travel to Maryland to face Juventus at the Fedexfield close to Washington DC on August 5, in a match that could see the Spanish side face Cristiano Ronaldo should the move for the Portuguese striker to the Serie A side proceed. Madrid wind up their final date on the US tour in New Jersey on the 8th of August where they face AS Roma.
