Martin Odegaard set for rare Real Madrid appearance alongside Zinedine Zidane's son Enzo as they face Cultural Leonesa in Copa d
Martin Odegaard will make another one of his rare first team appearances tonight and Zinedine Zidane’s son Enzo will join him in the the first team as Real Madrid play the second leg of their Spanish Cup first round proper match with Cultural Leonesa.
Martin Odegaard will make another one of his rare first team appearances tonight and Zinedine Zidane’s son Enzo will join him in the the first team as Real Madrid play the second leg of their Spanish Cup first round proper match with Cultural Leonesa.
Zidane’s team are defending a 7-1 away leg lead at the Santiago Bernabeu against third division side so if the door to the starting XI is not finally opened to Odegaard here he’ll be knocking on his manager's door on Thursday.
Zidane would not confirm ahead of Wednesday’s game that both players would play but with the Clasico looming large on the horizon and Odegaard desperately short of the first team outings he would have wanted when he signed for the club his inclusion seems almost guaranteed.
He continues to toil away in Real Madrid Castilla – the club’s B team that plays its football in a different regional third division to tonight’s opponents. He should join the boss’s son Enzo Zidane in a midfield that will also include the fit-again Casemiro and Marco Asensio.
James Rodriguez will play in his favoured No 10 role behind young B-team forward Mariano Diaz who like Odegaard will have one eye on a January move if he can impress.
The 23-year-old centre-forward and the 17-year-old Norwegian midfielder are hoping for a January loan move and despite the club’s transfer ban they would be allowed to go out on loan if the right offer came in.
The Dominican Republic international, Mariano, top scored for Real Madrid’s B-team last year and impressed playing for the first team on the club’s tour of the US and Canada, scoring against Chelsea.
He also came on for 13 minutes against Celta Vigo earlier this season. But like Odegaard his path to the first team is blocked – even allowing for Real Madrid’s transfer ban lasting until January 2018.
Opponents Cultural lead their Group 1 table in the Spanish third tier with 13 wins from 16 games. They are only one of two sides in the Spanish league ladder – Real Madrid being the other – who are yet to be beaten. And with 43 goals so far this season they are outscoring all their rivals.
They will need at least seven to reach the next round. An impossible task that has not stopped 1,000 fans making the trip to see thema.
One man who will not join the action is Fabio Coentrao. The Portuguese international is struggling for form and fitness after his appearance in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon last week.
Coentrao has played only seven per cent of possible minutes this season and only 31 per cent of possible minutes since he arrived for 30million euros five years ago.