Real Madrid are set to have all their players available as they aim to advance to the Quarter Finals over PSG in the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid go into the away leg with a 3-1 advantage accrued towards them in the first leg of the Round of 16 UEFA Champions League tie. And Zinedine Zidane will have almost all his players available, something that will provide a timely boost to Real Madrid and their hopes of making it to the Quarter-Finals of the competition.
Keylor Navas should be the man entrusted with goalkeeping duties for the tie. Dani Carvajal has returned after serving his suspension and is likely to start on the right, with Marcelo, who also recovered from his injury to appear over the weekend, set to be his partner-in-crime on the other flank.
Zidane is likely to persist with his primary pairing of Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos in central defence.
As far as midfield is concerned, Real Madrid have been provided with a major boost, with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric both returning to training in time to be called up for the match. The duo should start, with the fixture a very important one. Although, Zidane might opt to start one of them and bring the other one on during the match.
Gareth Bale could be in danger of losing out his place in attack to Marco Asensio, who provides more guile upfront compared to the injury-stricken Welshman.
While Zidane did not talk about any of his players in the lead up to the tie, his pre-match conference saw him talk about Neymar’s absence for PSG, which would be a huge body blow to the home side, while also airing his thoughts on Angel Di Maria, a familiar face within the Real Madrid dugout.
“It doesn’t change anything whilst at the same time it changes everything. He [Neymar] is an exceptional player, but for us it doesn’t make any difference because another player will come in and he’ll be really up for it and will want to put in a great performance. In terms of motivation it doesn’t alter a thing because we’ll still be up against very competitive opposition with some great players.”
“He [Di Maria] is a tremendous player who has made history with Real Madrid. He’s capable of playing anywhere across the midfield. He’s quick, moves well and has a good shot on him. We’ll try and put a side out that’ll see us play our own game and prevent them from making life difficult for us.”
Real Madrid won their maiden European championship at Parc des Princes and as they return to their old hunting ground, they will be looking to book their place in the top eight of the UEFA Champions League.
