(Football news) Having won the La Liga, Champions League and Spanish Super Cup last season; Real Madrid started this season really well. They won their first 9 games in all competitions and were later unbeaten for 16 games. However in the period before the World Cup break, Los Blancos’ level dropped down. It looked like the players were putting significantly less effort. Real Madrid ended up losing against Rayo Vallecano and RB Leipzig which are their only losses so far this season. Real Madrid are currently 2 points behind FC Barcelona in the table and they will be looking to go on top at least for the time being as they take on Real Valladolid.

Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni played the World Cup final while Luka Modric played the 3rd place match. The trio have trained with the team only once since returning and they are unlikely to play this game. According to reports Carlo Ancelotti is unlikely to use players who played significant minutes at the World Cup which means Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Eder Militao may start on the bench. Eden Hazard may start the game as Ancelotti is reportedly impressed with him in training after the World Cup. Karim Benzema is fully fit and ready to start after a disappointing season so far.

Real Madrid have a very busy period coming up with La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup and Club World Cup fixtures all coming up hard and fast. Carlo Ancelotti has already made it clear multiple times that they will not sign any players in January. Real Madrid squad players like Nacho and Dani Ceballos will be very crucial in this period. Starting with a win away against 13th place Real Valladolid is a first step and it will be very important.

Also read: Atletico Madrid jump to 3rd with a 2-0 win over Elche