Real Madrid v Real Betis: Matchday 5 Preview

By: Steve | September 26th, 2007

Real Madrid Hala Madrid! On Thursday night, Los Merengues are taking on Real Betis, the other team from Sevilla, in their first midweek match of La Liga. Fans will be pleased to know that broadcast rights have been settled and they’ll be playing on Sky Sports 1 at 9pm GMT (4pm EDT). If you’re lucky enough to be in Madrid, tickets are still available!

Real Madrid remain undefeated, though Sunday’s draw against Valladolid (liveblog and recap) ended their 100% start to the season. Their lead atop the Liga table has been reduced to a single point, over Villarreal and Valencia, with Barcelona just a further point behind. All 3 teams could temporarily vault ahead of Madrid with wins tonight. Villarreal are away to Racing Santander, Barcelona host Zaragoza at the soon-to-be-ruined Camp Nou, and Valencia take on Getafe at the Mestalla.

Though Madrid still have a Liga-leading +8 goal differential, we’ve all seen Real struggle to assert the dominance and panache of play as they exhibited in their 5-0 dismantling of Villarreal 3 weeks ago. The break for international qualifiers and friendlies seems to have affected Madrid, as they laboured to a win against Werder Bremen in the Champions League group stage opener last week and worse still, could not put away promoted side Valladolid.

They’ll need to sharpen up for tomorrow’s match, which is quickly followed by Sunday’s match away at Getafe, and then the second Champions League group stage match away at Lazio next Wednesday. That’s 3 matches in 7 days, so coach Schuster will have his hands full keeping players fit and ready.

Real Madrid practice Centrebacks Pepe and Metzelder are still not fully fit, having trained separately from the rest of the team yesterday, and Ruud van Nistelrooy spent the day in the gym with third-string keeper Codina. None of these players should be necessary against Betis, who again hover around the relegation zone after finishing just two spots above the drop last year.

Sergio Ramos will likely partner Cannavaro again in central defence, and hopefully this time around, Schuster will make the call to Miguel Torres to fill in at rightback over Salgado. Marcelo or Drenthe will likely start at leftback, as Betis still don’t seem to have anyone capable of filling Joaquin’s boots in terrorizing the opposing left flank.

I’d like to see Gago start with Sneijder in central midfield, to see if we can get the slick passing we need without Guti, since he’s so maddeningly inconsistent. Robben and Robinho on the flanks, and hopefully Roberto Soldado will get some PT with Higuain, as I think Raul deserves a break. Julio Baptista should get some PT soon too.

Betis come into the season without much fanfare, aside from their acquisition of Liverpool midfielder Mark Gonzalez. Los Merengues have a habit of not taking these matches seriously though, so watch for Betis to put up a fight, but ultimately succumb to a Real Madrid squad that have shown they still have the late-game steel instilled by Don Capello. The call here is a rare clean sheet, 2-0, for Los Blancos, with Sneijder and Ramos finding the goal.

Tune in tomorrow night for the liveblog!