By OkayGoal
Real Madrid travel away for their opening La Liga game on Saturday, visiting Espanyol for the first league match of the season.
The champions enter the competitive calendar in strong friendly form, finishing pre-season with three straight wins. Los Blancos showed their attacking quality in a convincing 3-0 victory over Schalke 04, following tighter 1-0 and 2-1 wins against Deportivo de A Coruña and Ferencváros. Even with those encouraging results, José Mourinho inherits a squad still smarting from last season’s late exit from the Champions League.
Real Madrid team news
Mourinho starts his official reign with a significantly weakened group for the trip to the RCDE Stadium.
Six players are entirely unavailable, meaning significant changes are required across the team. Long-term absentees are Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Raul Asencio, and Ferland Mendy, all sidelined with muscle, knee, thigh, and hip problems respectively.
Additionally, Endrick and Aurélien Tchouaméni have been left out of the travelling party to continue their summer recovery.
Midfield star Jude Bellingham is included in the squad but is short on pre-season minutes and will probably begin on the bench.
Despite these difficulties, Mourinho can rely on his new summer signings. Ibrahima Konaté, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella, and Bernardo Silva are available to make their competitive debuts, and a fully fit Kylian Mbappé is ready to lead the attack.
Real Madrid predicted lineup
Possible Real Madrid starting XI: Courtois; Dumfries, Huijsen, Konate, Cucurella; Valverde, Bernardo; Diaz, Guler, Vinicius; Mbappe
When will the match kick off?
The match will kick off at 8:30pm BST on Saturday, 22nd August.
How to watch Espanyol vs Real Madrid?
In the United Kingdom, the Espanyol vs Real Madrid fixture will be shown live exclusively on Disney+.
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