La Liga: Benitez seeks first Madrid win on Bernabeu bow

Karim Benzema expected to return from injury for Betis clash


Afp August 28, 2015
A good start was seen as key to Madrid’s bid to win just a second La Liga title in eight years with Barca and Atletico facing a much harder start to the campaign. PHOTO: AFP

MADRID: Real Madrid will be looking to put a disappointing start to Rafael Benitez’s reign in charge behind them when Real Betis visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

Benitez’s men could only manage a 0-0 draw away to newly promoted Sporting Gijon to start their league campaign last weekend, which already leaves them trailing Barcelona and Atletico Madrid by two points.

A good start was seen as key to Madrid’s bid to win just a second La Liga title in eight years with Barca and Atletico facing on paper a much harder start to the campaign.

However, Real defender Nacho insists Los Blancos can’t let panic set in just one game into the season.

“We need to be calm. At Real Madrid every game is a final,” he told the club’s website. “If we had won against Sporting, we would still need to beat Betis.”

Madrid should be boosted by the return of Karim Benzema up front from a thigh injury after he returned to training on Tuesday.

Gareth Bale is also expected to be fit despite suffering a foot injury in Gijon and James Rodriguez is likely to come into the starting line-up after he was surprisingly left on the bench last time out in favour of Isco.

Barcelona made a perfect start to the defence of their title despite being under-manned as they gained revenge over Athletic Bilbao for their defeat in the Spanish Super Cup with a 1-0 win at the new San Mames.

Luis Suarez grabbed the only goal of the game to ensure Lionel Messi wasn’t made to pay for his first-half penalty miss and the South American duo could be reunited with Neymar for the first time this season when Malaga visit the Camp Nou on Saturday.

The Brazilian has missed Barca’s four competitive games to date due to a bout of the mumps, but has trained all week and will boost a Barca squad still without a number of key players.

Gerard Pique serves the second of a four-game suspension, whilst Dani Alves has been ruled out for a month with an abductor injury. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ