Real Madrid brace themselves for La Liga action, following a brief international break, as they travel to San Sebastian to take on Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena.
The first three games in the league were clearly not up to the mark, but the match against Real Betis showed a glimpse of what this star-studded Madrid side is capable of.
Although Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouaméni returned to training on the eve of this fixture, Carlo Ancelotti will not risk the duo at all since Los Blancos are competing for every title possible this season.
However, Éder Militão is expected to start against Sociedad as the Brazilian had a rather swift recovery to the injury he suffered just before the international fixtures began.
Ancelotti will be thin on midfield options though, with only Fede Valverde, Luka Modric, Arda Güler and 19-year-old Chema Andrés – from Castilla – being called up.
Kylian Mbappe would be delighted as he finally got off the mark in La Liga and would be eager to continue his goalscoring form. The Frenchman does happen to be familiar with Sociedad as he scored three goals against them in the Champions League last season with PSG, out of which two were at the Reale Arena.
Speaking of attacking players, Carlo Ancelotti mentioned in the pre-match presser that Vinicius, Rodrygo and Endrick have not had enough time to prepare for tomorrow’s fixture as they returned from international duty just yesterday.
Although they are not injured, the trio played with Brazil just 3 days ago and there are good chances that they would be fatigued, hence they are expected to play fewer minutes in this match.
The home team, on the other hand, are off to a poor start to the season with only a solitary win in 4 league games, including 2 losses – both at home – and a draw. However, this form does not mean that Sociedad can be underestimated as the Los Txuri-urdin boast a quality side capable of upsetting the strongest of teams on their day.
On the whole, it is expected to be a cracking fixture with Sociedad looking to return to winning ways at home, and the Merengues eager to continue from where they left off.
