REAL MADRID
Real Madrid's signings haven't made an impact so far
Julen Lopetegui left Thibaut Courtois on the bench, left Odriozola and Lunin out of his squad to face Girona and Vinicius is playing with Castilla.
On Sunday night against Girona, Julen Lopetegui made just one change to the side that started against Getafe in the league the previous weekend. Casemiro replaces Dani Ceballos and the team lined out like this: Keylor, Carvajal, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro, Kroos, Isco, Asensio; Bale, Benzema. Real Madrid have signed reinforcements in the summer but none of them have made even the slightest of impacts with three official games played in the season so far.
He left the star signing of the summer, Thibaut Courtois, on the bench. The Belgian goalkeeper, who hasn't payed a single minute since joining Real Madrid, might be left wondering what has to happen to play after another strong performance from Keylor Navas at the weekend. Andriy Lunin, another summer recruit was left out of the squad entirely. The Real Madrid manager has five keeper to call upon with Navas, Courtois and Lunin joined by Luca Zidane and Kiko Casilla. Two of those keepers won't be involved though as Navas and Courtois do battle for the number one jersey.
Lopetegui also left out Odriozola, who arrived this summer from Real Sociedad. The right-back was recovering from a groin injury, which saw him miss out on the European Super Cup and the opening game against Getafe.
The one case that is causing more debate than the rest, however, is Vinicius. He debuted for Real Madrid Castilla on Sunday afternoon with a win over Las Palmas Atletico. He was left on the bench in Tallinn against Atletico in the Super Cup and he suffered the same against Getafe. on Sunday, his situation changed again as he was demoted to Real Madrid's reserve side.
Some of Real Madrid's other arrivals this summer including Raul de Tomas, who returned from Rayo Vallecano on loan before being loaned out again, and Fede Valverde, who returned from Depor on loan but was left out of the squad are also after thoughts for Lopetegui for now. Fabio Coentrao returned to training recently but is also looking for a club to call his own in the coming days.