A football celebration is set for today in Cartagena, Murcia province, as the mighty Real Madrid visits in the Round of 32 of the Copa del Rey. Fourth-division side Deportivo Minera will aim to put up a valiant fight against the European champions. Carlo Ancelotti is expected to field a mixed lineup, primarily featuring reserve players. Among the regulars, forward Rodrygo, along with Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modrić—who have mostly been substitutes during the first part of the season—might start in midfield. From the first whistle, the highly talented Brazilian youngster Endrick, a summer signing from Palmeiras with limited playing time due to the presence of compatriots Vinícius Jr. and Rodrygo, will also feature in the starting XI, alongside Brahim Díaz. Talented Turkish player Arda Güler is also expected to start the match. And since those ‘reserves‘ will surely win against a fourth-tier football club, the more pressing issues in Madrid is the playing time for Real.🚨 Carlo Ancelotti’s initial plan was to start Gonzalo García in attack with Endrick, but due to Vallejo’s absence, Diego Aguado will take the final spot. Rules are that only 3 academy players can start and they’ll be Lorenzo Aguado, Diego Aguado, and Raúl Asencio. @marca pic.twitter.com/Qubv8ls7Uu— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) January 5, 2025 This is another issue between La Liga and the famous club. Not only Real is doing everything to revive the Super League (while La Liga is against that), but their president Florentino Perez and liga‘s president Javier Tebas are not in good relationship, to say at least. Real also accused La Liga of doing nothing to prevent racism on the pitch (referring to Vinicius Jr.) and the Royal club is not happy with the latest situation regarding La Liga fixtures. Real‘s players are constantly tired and in lack of sleep due to late night games. They are not officially protesting (yet), but there is an unofficial unhappiness with the way the league is treating the current champion. For example, after a game with Valencia, the players arrived in Madrid around three in the morning and, with barely time to catch a nap, were summoned to train in Valdebebas for the cup debut today. What is worse, the game which was postponed due to the floods was originally scheduled for 20h( 22h Nairobi time), but when the rescheduled date appeared, the time changed also – 21h.Trent’s ‘Real Madrid or nothing’ message to LiverpoolBut that‘s just one drop in the ocean of late fixtures which annoy Real Madrid. The club is not happy to see that almost all their away games (except for Legranes) are played in the last slot, that is, from 21.00, or even 21:30 (like in the cases of Mallorca and Las Palmas). There are also two more interesting things which La Liga did. The first was when Real played in Girona (late fixture again), and then the players had to wait for almost two hours on the bus until the an anti-doping control took place, and came back to Madrid at four a clock in the morning. The second issue was a trip to Bilbao. La Liga executive surely know by now that the Bilbao airport works only until 23h (01h Nairobi time) and yet they didn‘t move the game to 19h but left the 21h schedule, forcing Real to travel to Vitoria after the game (one hour by bus) and take a plane to Madrid from there. As for their home games, the situation is completely different – the league gives them early slots, at 16h or 19h. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8609297##
