Real Madrid suffered a rather sloppy start to their campaign, in which alarm bells were ringing. This shows the truly short term nature of the football world. After a few average results there was even a sense that Carlo Ancelotti’s job could be on the line.
A fortnight or so, and some fine results later, and everything is looking rosy once more. Of course, with some fundamental changes to the team (Alonso, Di Maria out and Kroos, Rodriguez in) it was always going to take a little time to get the team firing again. You might even say that Real Madrid are ahead of schedule in this respect.
Apart from the results the other really encouraging element of Madrid is that there is already a very settled look about the team. If serious injuries can be avoided then you can easily imagine this very team lining up in the Champions League final come may.
Hernandez, Llaramendi and Cristiano are all nursing slight knocks and Ronaldo is obviously the biggest concern. If he isn’t 100% then Ancelotti may decide that they can do without him on this occasion. But Ronnie has such a love of the game that we think he will make the starting line up.
Athletic are a plucky side who finished in The Champions League places last year. But they are having a bit of a shocker in the early weeks of this season, having won just one league game in 6. It’s safe to say that this is a home banker.
So here’s our strongest XI, providing Ronaldo is fit. The only other question is whether Pepe returns to the side after injury or Varane keeps his place. Real Madrid fans: is this now the best Madrid side?
