Next Monday, 25th of August 2014, the current European champions, Real Madrid, will play host to the newcomers Córdoba at Santiago Bernabéu for the opening round of Liga BBVA.

Real Madrid spent big this Summer and, although they won the European Super Cup quite easily, they failed to impose all their power against Atlético Madrid last Tuesday. Carlo Ancelotti opted for a slightly more conservative 4-3-3 approach, with Xabi Alonso acting as some sort of defensive midfielder, instead of the usual 4-2-3-1 offensive style, which he used against Sevilla on the European Super Cup.

The Italian manager’s option proved to be fairly ineffective against a well structured Atlético Madrid, who in fact controlled large periods of the match.

On the match against Córdoba next Monday, Ancelotti will certainly opt for a fairly more offensive game style, with James Rodríguez running free behind the centre forward in order to offer the team more effective ball possession and extra creativity on their attacking movements.

For next Monday’s clash, the experienced Italian head coach is not yet certain if he will be able to count on the contribution of Cristiano Ronaldo, since the Portuguese player has apparently injured his back on the match against Los Colchoneros.

As for Córdoba, the match at Santiago Bernabéu will mark their return to the Spanish football top tier for the first time in 42 years and they couldn’t have asked for a worst way to start their campaign at La Liga. Los Califas granted their place at Liga BBVA this season by defeating Las Palmas on the Liga Adelante’s play-off final last campaign. Their manager, Albert Ferrer, who was a successful Barcelona’s footballer back in his days, will have a herculean task at hand if he wants to try and avoid immediate relegation this season and, to that extent, he is trying to bring some quality players.

Córdoba’s performances during the pre-season matches were far from impressive and they only won two of the six clashes they took part in.

The last time both sides measured forces at Santiago Bérnabeu during the 1971-72 campaign and Real Madrid hammered the visitors by 4-1. The Merengues are firm favourites for next Monday’s match, as they want supporters to quickly forget the pale image they left against their neighbours and long time rivals, Atlético Madrid, last Tuesday.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - DLWLL

Córdoba

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - DLLWD

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1) - Casillas - Carvajal - Pepe - Sergio Ramos - Coentão - Modric - Kroos - James Rodríguez - Di Maria - Bale - Benzema

Córdoba (4-5-1) - Mikel Saizar - Pantic - Bouzon - Bravo - Crespo - Abel - Carlos Caballero - Cartabia - López Silva - Ryder Matos - Xisco

Prediction

Real Madrid 3 Córdoba 0