The third matchday of the UEFA Champions League 2020-21 is set to take centre-stage this week. All eyes shall be on the Group B fixture between Real Madrid and Inter Milan at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
Surprisingly, the Los Blancos languish at the bottom of the table, following a shocking defeat at home against Shakhtar Donetsk and a draw with Borussia Monchengladbach last week.
Inter Milan, on the other hand, are placed one place above Real Madrid, with two draws in the competition thus far.
Madrid is coming off a thumping win 4-1 win over Huesca in the La Liga weekend. Eden Hazard, on his return, has looked sharp and got the zeal back to score.
With no Eder Militao, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Marcelo and Alvaro Odrizola available for the game, it will be interesting to see who is slotted in the right-back position.
Lucas Vasquez is likely to get the nod for the position by Zinedine Zidane. He is expected to pair up with captain Sergio Ramos, Ferland Mendy, and Raphael Varane to form a relatively pale defensive line.
The midfield will constitute of the class of Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde and Casemiro. Meanwhile, Hazard will be linking with Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio for the attacking role.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan will miss the services of Romelo Lukaku as a striker in a key clash. The Belgian number nine is suffering from a thigh injury and hasn’t trained since last week.
Nevertheless, Antonio Conte will be delighted to have Achraf Hakimi back in the defence line. It is likely that he will have to work in tandem with Danilo D’Ambrosio, Stefan de Vrij and Aleksandar Kolarov, in the absence of Milan Skriniar.
Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal made bold claims about making Barcelona fans happy by defeating their arch-rivals. The former Barca player will team up with Marcelo Brozovic and Nicolo Barella in the midfield.
Here are the predicted lineups for the two sides:
Real Madrid’s starting XI:
Courtois, Ferland Mendy, Lucas Vazquez, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Marco Asensio, Eden Hazard, Karim Benzema
Inter Milan’s starting XI:
Handanovic, Achraf Hakimi, Stefan De Vrij, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Aleksandar Kolarov, Arturo Vidal, Marcelo Brozovic, Nicolo Barella, Ashley Young, Lautaro Martinez, Ivan Perisic.
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