Real Madrid travel to France to play Paris Saint-Germain in their first match of the 2019-20 Champions League, following a narrow 3-2 win over Levante over the weekend. Manager Zinedine Zidane has numerous selection headaches ahead of the trip to Paris as several key players have been ruled out due to injury and suspension.
The Spanish giants have a decent record against PSG away from home, having won one and drawn the other in the two games in Paris. The last time these two sides met, Madrid won the tie 2-1 in the 2017-18 season.
PREDICTED REAL MADRID LINEUP vs PSG (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois will start for the Spanish side against PSG between the sticks on Wednesday.
Defence
Captain Sergio Ramos and Nacho are ruled out of the game due to suspension. Raphaël Varane will most likely start alongside Éder Militão in the heart of the defence.
Veteran left-back Marcelo will also miss the trip to France due to injury, which means that Ferland Mendy will start at left-back in the Real Madrid lineup. Over on the other side, Dani Carvajal will start at right-back.
Midfield
Zidane has more injuries to contend with at the center of the park. Isco, Federico Valverde, and Luka Modric will all miss the match against Paris Saint-Germain.
This means that Zidane will have a midfield three of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez – the same three midfielders that played against Levante. Casemiro scored a goal in Madrid’s 3-2 win over Levante over the weekend and will be high on confidence.
Zidane will hope and pray that no other midfielder gets injured as he does not have a quality replacement on the bench at the moment.
Attack
In attack, Karim Benzema will lead the line for Madrid on Wednesday, and is in good form, having scored a first-half brace against Levante, and has four goals to his name so far this season.
Eden Hazard made his debut when he came off the bench for Madrid against Levante, but Zidane has revealed he will be careful with Hazard’s integration into the first team.
Gareth Bale will most likely start on the right for Madrid, while Vinícius Júnior could play from the left against PSG in the Real Madrid lineup.
