After a 7-1 thrashing in the first leg, Real Madrid return home for the Copa del Rey. With many players just coming back from injury, will Zidane use this as an opportunity to give them some warm up time before El Clasico?


On Wednesday, Real Madrid face off against Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa in the second leg of the Round of 32 of the Copa del Rey. Madrid came away from the first leg with a massive lead, drubbing Cultural Leonesa 1-7 in León. Despite being a one-sided affair, the first leg was memorable, as Toni Kroos nearly came to blows with Iván Garrido González, and Nacho scored off an over-head scissor kick that might end up as Real Madrid’s goal of the season

Cultural Leonesa, founded in 1923, resides in the city of León, in the northwest of Spain. Before the first leg, the last time the two sides faced off was in the season of 59-60 in what was then known as the Copa de España, where Real Madrid won the two legs 4-0 and 5-0.

Cultural Leonesa currently reside in the Segunda División B, the third tier of Spanish league football, where they are the league leaders. Besides their loss in the first leg to Real Madrid, Cultural Leonesa have not lost a single match all season, leading Diario AS to describe them as “casi invencible” (almost invincible).

Given the massive lead Real established in the first leg, be expecting Zinedine Zidane to rest the majority of the starting lineup ahead of the crucial match in El Clásico. Now would be a great time for the likes of Marco Asensio and Mariano Díaz to get a run-out. The one exception to this likely rotation policy should be Casemiro, who is in need of match fitness following a two-month break through injury. If Casemiro is going to start against Barca, expect Zidane to play him for the majority of the match on Wednesday.

Predicted Line Up

It’s hard to say whether Zidane will wanna risk putting his best players on the field on Wednesday. Expect him to field players who haven’t gotten game time. There’s also the possibility of Zidane playing Casemiro, who desperately needs a warm up match if he hopes to play vs Barcelona.

Predicted Starting XI: Casilla, Coentrao, Nacho, Pepe, Danilo, James Rodriguez, Casemiro, Kovacic, Asensio, Mariano, Vasquez


Prediction: over 3.5
Real madrid Win