Official: Real Madrid starting lineup against Espanyol – Vinicius benched | OneFootball

Real Madrid will be aiming to cut down the gap to arch-rivals Barcelona when they take on RCD Espanyol in La Liga in under a couple of hours at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Having registered three back-to-back wins across all competitions, Carlo Ancelotti & co. will go into the game with confidence and momentum on their side.

Ahead of kickoff, the manager has announced the Real Madrid starting lineup that will be taking the field against the newly-promoted team at the Bernabeu.

Ancelotti has made some big changes to the team that took the field against VfB Stuttgart in the midweek UCL fixture.

The biggest of them all sees Vinicius Jr. getting benched in favour of Arda Guler in attack. Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo Goes retain their places in the team.

Meanwhile, captain Luka Modric starts in midfield alongside Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde for Los Blancos.

Modric’s introduction is because Aurelien Tchouameni has been handed a start at centre-back, with Ancelotti opting to rest Antonio Rudiger. Eder Militao returns to the side after starting on the bench in midweek.

Fran Garcia replaces Ferland Mendy at left-back while Dani Carvajal retains his place on the right. Thibaut Courtois, the MVP from the midweek game, continues in goal.