Real Madrid will lock horns with Real Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamarín on Saturday night hoping to secure their first victory of this La Liga campaign.
Los Blancos could only manage to grind out a scoreless draw versus Real Sociedad earlier this month, so they will be well-motivated to go all out for the three points this weekend.
Zinedine Zidane will probably opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation and might bring Casemiro back to his midfield in place of Toni Kroos, whose performance was underwhelming in the season opener away at Basque Country.
Defence:
Thibaut Courtois should continue in goal for the Madrid outfit after he secured a clean sheet in his last outing. Sergio Ramos will once again partner Raphael Varane at the centre of Zidane’s defence as they try to restrict the Betis attackers from finding too much joy inside their penalty area.
Ferland Mendy could get the nod to start at left-back while Dani Carvajal gets another chance to impress on the other side as the right-back. Both of them will be expected to get forward quite often as they look to provide some natural width by making a few overlapping runs out on the wide areas.
Nacho and Marcelo will serve as the backups for the full-back positions and could be named on the bench.
Midfield:
Zidane might make a change to his midfield with Casemiro coming into the side to replace Toni Kroos. The Br azilian will play along with Luka Modric at the centre of the park as they try to shield the backline and create some decent openings with their ball-distribution from midfield.
The young trio of Vinicius Junior, Martin Odegaard and Rodrygo will operate just ahead of them as part of the Real Madrid attack. Both Junior and Odegaard showed some promising signs against Sociedad despite failing to find the back of the net. However, Rodrygo needs to up his game or else risk losing his first-team privileges in the coming weeks.
Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde will have to be content with a spot on the bench as they await their chance to come on and impact the game in the second half if needed.
Attack:
Karim Benzema will once again lead the charge for Los Blancos up top. The French striker failed to register a goal in his last outing. Hence, the 35-year-old will be eager to open his goal-scoring account for the season when he laces up to face the Real Betis defenders on Saturday night.
Luka Jovic and Borja Mayoral will make up the numbers on the Madrid bench but could influence the game as the impact substitutes if Zidane decides to call upon their services.