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Spanish giants Real Madrid face off against Italian stallions AS Roma at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tonight in the first fixture of the third annual International Champions Cup. Join us on The Roar from 7.00pm AEST to follow all of the action as Rafael Benitez takes the helm of Real Madrid for the first time.
Off the back of a disappointing season by Real Madrid standards, in which they didn’t make the Champions League final and were unable to win La Liga, the Spanish team will be masterminded by former Napoli coach Rafael Benitez for the first time as they look to start their season off with the trophy they were the first team to win back in 2013.
Madrid have been relatively quiet in the off-season, with the high profile departure of long time goalkeeper Iker Casillas and possible departure of captain Sergio Ramos dominating headlines. They have travelled to Australia with a full strength squad and training drills suggest the trademark trio of Benzema, Ronaldo and Bale will lead their attack against Roma.
Rafael Benitez arrived at the Los Blancos after stints at Liverpool, Chelsea and just recently Napoli. He will be looking to improve upon two poor season with Napoli in which he only managed to accrue one trophy, the Coppa Italia.
On a brighter note, the incoming coach knows his first opponents quite well with Roma having defeated his Napoli side in April. Prior to this, he had strung together three consecutive victories over Roma suggesting a decent familiarity with his inaugural opponent in charge of Real Madrid.
AS Roma, much like Real Madrid, have arrived in Australia with the bulk of their stars as they look to continue on from finishing second in Serie A last season behind a dominate Juventus outfit. As runners up Roma confirmed their place back in the Champions League, a tournament they were unlucky to exit from in the group stages after drawing both Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
The line-up Roma takes against Real Madrid will be an interesting one with Australian and former Perth Glory player Daniele De Rossi hoping to make a memorable debut for his new side. Also in the mix is Gervinho, a player who was set to leave the club only for sensational demands including a desire for his own helicopter, derailing the move.
Real Madrid and Roma haven’t played each other since 2008 which saw Roma defeat Madrid 2-1 across both ties of a Champions League encounter. Overall, Real Madrid have the upper hand with four wins, three losses and a draw making up the pairs history of matches.
On paper both sides are very strong, well rounded outfits with creativity in midfield and quality finishers up front. Real Madrid however, just announced as the world’s most valuable team across all sports, will have to go in as favourites.
If as expected, their attack is spearheaded by Benzema, Bale and Ronaldo it’s hard to see Roma stopping them. That said it is the first game back after a month off so perhaps some cobwebs may well cause a few surprises.
Join us on The Roar from 7.00pm AEST to follow all of the action as Melbourne plays host to football royalty with Real Madrid taking on AS Roma.
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