Real Madrid travel to Norway on Sunday to take on Valerenga in the latest part of the club’s pre-season campaign that has already visited Australia, China and Germany.

Those stops have seen Los Blancos register three victories, two draws and just one loss across six meetings with AS Roma, Manchester City, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich.

It’s been an intriguing pre-season thus far for Real, the team still adjusting to new manager Rafa Benitez who is implementing a re-worked system for the 2014 European champions. Sunday’s clash will give the team another opportunity to grow accustomed to the Spaniard’s methods.

However, the major focus in this friendly meeting with Valerenga will be Martin Odegaard‘s return to his native Norway, with Marca reporting all 28,000 seats at the Ullevaal Stadion have been sold, as Oslo anticipates the Norwegian prodigy’s return. Benitez, one senses, will award the 16-year-old a start in what is expected to be a second-string lineup.

For the hosts, while Sunday’s clash is a rare opportunity to see one of Europe’s heavyweights up close, the match might be viewed as a hinderance by manager Kjetil Rekdal.

Indeed, the Norwegian top-flight competition, the Tippeligaen, runs an April-to-November schedule to avoid the bitter cold of the northern winter. As such, whereas Madrid are currently in pre-season, Valerenga will be playing this friendly in the middle of their competitive season.

Currently, the side sits second in the table behind Rosenborg and will have little preparation for this game after a 1-0 victory over Tromso on Friday.

 

Match Details

Date: Sunday, August 9

Time: 2 p.m. BST / 9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local

Venue: Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway

TV Info: TV 2 (Norway), Cuatro (Spain), Real Madrid TV (International)

Live Stream: No live stream broadcasting information was available at the time of publishing. We will update this page if and when the information becomes available.

 

Team News

Real Madrid announced their 23-man squad on Saturday, with forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema still missing from the group after also sitting out the trip to Munich for the Audi Cup. The Portuguese is still suffering from pain in his lower back, while the Frenchman is still recovering from a thigh injury that has put him in doubt for Real’s season opener against Sporting Gijon.

Also absent from Benitez’s squad are central defenders Sergio Ramos and Pepe. The former suffered a hard knock against Bayern Munich, per Marca, while the latter strained a muscle in his right leg during the same game. 

Real Madrid’s squad for this match is as follows:

Keylor Navas, Kiko Casilla, Ruben Yanez, Raphael Varane, Nacho, Marcelo, Daniel Carvajal, Alvaro Arbeloa, Danilo, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Denis Cheryshev, Isco, Asier Illarramendi, Marco Asensio, Marcos Llorente, Martin Odegaard, Jese, Lucas Vazquez and Borja Mayoral.

 

Form Lines

 

Predicted Lineups

 

Players to Watch

With Benzema in doubt for the beginning of Real Madrid’s season in La Liga, homegrown forward Jese could start the campaign leading the attack for Benitez.

After a frustrating season in 2014-15 in which he was a backup wide option to the ever-present Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, the Spaniard looks as though he’ll effectively become Javier Hernandez’s replacement this term, supporting Benzema in the No. 9 role.

But with the Frenchman missing, this is an opportunity for Jese to continue to build on a promising pre-season campaign that has seen some lively performances and a very neat goal against Inter Milan. More goals here might earn him a start against Sporting Gijon on August 23.

The other players to watch in this meeting will be defensive duo Raphael Varane and Nacho.

With Ramos and Pepe absent for this game, the two young centre-backs will start for Benitez and will be eager to erase any memories of their last start together as a pairing, when they were battered into submission by Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann in a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Atletico Madrid in February.

For Varane, this clash is probably more important than it is for Nacho. Right now, Benitez will be trying to establish whom he trusts most to hold together his defence, and strong displays from the Frenchman between now and Pepe’s return from injury might see Varane permanently lock down a starting spot for the first time in his Real Madrid career.

 

Odds (via OddsChecker)

Valerenga: 10-1

Draw: 6-1

Real Madrid: 1-6

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