Sunday saw Real Madrid slip up, a 2-2 draw to Valencia has meant that they have made their hopes of being La Liga champions that bit harder, Los Blancos will be trying their best to resurrect the mistake though at Valladolid this Wednesday. Real Valladolid themselves have something to fight for too though as they fight to stay in La Liga next season, a loss tomorrow would surely seal their fate as one of the three relegated sides this campaign.
Zakara Bergdich and Alvaro Rubio are out for Valladolid, both players played against in the last tie where Madrid won 4-0 with Welshman Gareth Bale scoring his first hat-trick in Spain with Benzema the other man on the score sheet. However Bale will not be playing tomorrow as Ancelotti has ruled him out due to 'a knock', Cristiano Ronaldo has been declared fit but only took part in a small section of training due to tiredness and Dani Carvajal the right back has been left out as he's 'struggling'. Sami Khedira may well be on the bench and there are doubts over Luka Modric's fitness after he missed Madrid's last game. Valladolid have their own concerns too with striker Manucho picking up a knee injury against Espanyol last Saturday. Italian midfielder Fausto Rossi will also miss the game due to receiving his tenth yellow card of the campaign.
The most shocking change to the starting XI for Real Madrid though is that Iker Casillas is set to start his first game in La Liga this season, this comes after Ancelotti said 'Casillas needs to play, it didn't seem fair to have him not play for a month whist preparing for the final'. The remaining three league games will be split between him and Madrid's usual league shot stopper, Diego Lopez. The last time Casillas played in La Liga was Janurary 2013.
Real Valladolid are unbeaten in their last ten home games in La Liga but have won just two out of their last six games overall, they are sitting in 19th place and a win on Wednesday would be huge for them. They are a hard team to beat at home as Barcelona would surely testify after losing 1-0 at the formidable Nuevo Jose Zorilla back in March, manager Juan Ignacio Martinez will be pulling out all the stops to make sure the visitors leave with zero points. Martinez said 'I am hoping for the Zorilla to be a cauldron, just as it was for the Barcelona game' and that 'All im thinking about is the game against Real Madrid. We need to avoid conceding spaces, be strong and make the most of the few opportunities our opponents will give us'.
Madrid have won four of their last six games overall but just six out of their last ten away games (Three draws, one loss) and they can't settle with anything less than three points so Ancelotti will have to set out accordingly here's a possible starting XI for Los Blancos.
And Real Valladolid's starting XI could look something like this.
Join us on VAVEL tommorow night for live coverage of Real Valladoid - Real Madrid in match week 37 of La Liga.