After the important victory against Barcelona that allowed them to recover the leadership of the Santander League, Real Madrid will visit Elche on the weekday. He will do so after his star Karim Benzema bathed in gold on Monday in Paris.
The game at the Martínez Valero has a trick. The team from Elche is bottom of the domestic championship, but with Jorge Almirón on the bench, it transmits better sensations.
Elche - Real Madrid is played this Wednesday, October 19 at 9:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on DAZN, a platform also available on Movistar. The La Vanguardia website will offer live what happens during the ninety minutes of the meeting.
The game will be marked by the absence once again of Thibaut Courtois, although the sciatica he suffers improves. Carlo Ancelotti confirmed at a press conference that the Belgian goalkeeper's return will take place next Saturday on matchday eleven against Sevilla.
Against Madrid, the Elche supporters' clubs will show their indignation with the latest arbitrations that the local team has received with the display of red banners during the match. The protest of the Elche fans will take place in the twelfth minute of the game in which red cards will be shown in allusion to the cards used by the referees, with the slogans "Respect for Elche" and "Basta ya".
Madrid is shooting this start of the season. He has twelve wins and two draws (eight wins and a single point against Osasuna in the League). With the winning dynamics of the past year, everything is good news in the white club.
The streak of results, the difference shown against the great rival in the classic, Benzema's Ballon d'Or, the recognition of Courtois... a Real Madrid that cannot relax breathes happiness, with the warning from 'Carletto' to its players : "We play three points that are worth the same as we won in the classic".
For this reason, given the physical and mental wear and tear, Ancelotti is thinking of rotations to keep his team physically fresh in a crazy schedule. And in the same way that he decides not to force Courtois, already reintegrated into the team dynamics but reserved until Saturday's duel against Sevilla, he will target several demarcations to bring in fresh players.
Lucas Vázquez, Antonio Rüdiger or Nacho Fernández can enter defense and Rodrygo will return to the trident after cutting his streak of seven consecutive starts in the classic. That would cause the substitution of a player at the best moment of his career, Fede Valverde, or his return to midfield to the detriment of Luka Modric or Toni Kroos.
Elche, bottom of the First Division and the only team that has not yet won in the championship, wants to confirm the good feelings noted in Mestalla in the debut of its new coach, the Argentine Jorge Almirón, against Real Madrid, the undefeated leader of the competition.
The Elche team, which has only been able to add three draws, has boosted its self-esteem and confidence after the good image last day and hopes to surprise the leader again, who arrives launched after his triumph in the classic, which he was already able to to scratch a tie in each of the last two seasons.
