Real Madrid will get their 2016 International Champions Cup campaign started on Wednesday when they take on Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain at the Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

PSG have already featured in one ICC match, easily beating Inter Milan, and Les Parisiens answered a handful of questions in their second friendly of the summer, after beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in their first pre-season game.

Real have yet to play their first friendly of the summer, and the late start to pre-season means manager Zinedine Zidane and his troops have a lot of work to do ahead of the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on August 9.

 

Date: Wednesday, July 27

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET/12:30 a.m. BST (Thursday)

Venue: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

TV Info: ESPN 2 (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (UK)

Live Stream: WatchESPN, Sky Go

 

Preview

PSG‘s pre-season form seemed just fine in their 3-1 win over Inter, a match in which full-backs Serge Aurier and Layvin Kurzawa stole the show, with the former scoring twice and the latter adding a goal of his own.

New PSG manager Unai Emery had plenty of reasons to be excited, particularly given the strong attacking display of his side. While the forwards didn’t contribute any goals, several youngsters put in strong performances, and the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic may not hurt all that much this season.

Their best young prospect, Jean-Kevin Augustin, didn’t even take part, as he was busy leading France to the UEFA European Under-19 title. He made quite the impression on former professional player Ned Zelic:

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Johnson hopes the 19-year-old will have a chance to prove himself under Emery:

Los Blancos won’t have to worry about the youngster, though, and will instead focus on their own team. A handful of players are in need of a huge summer after failing to impress under Zidane in the second half of the season, including star midfielder James Rodriguez.

The Colombia international came crashing down to Earth after a wonderful first season in the Spanish capital, and per Marca, he’s determined to get back to his 2014-15 form:

Isco is also in need of a big season, or he could become a high-profile target during the next two transfer windows, while the returning Alvaro Morata will be keen to impress after a strong spell with Juventus.

The Spaniard will battle Karim Benzema for minutes and will need a strong pre-season to even be in the discussion for a spot as a starter, but, according to Carlos Forjanes of AS, he will have the chance to impress.

He wrote:

Zinedine Zidane is already well aware of the fact that Cristiano (Ronaldo) won’t be fit for the European Super Cup final and that Gareth Bale will be a close call. That’s probably why he’s started looking at alternative line-ups, including a two-man strike force.

In this afternoon’s training session in Montreal, the Frenchman decided to take a quick look at how Benzema and Morata play together. They both looked in good nick as they lined up against a back four of Marcelo, Lienhart, Tejero and Carvajal.

PSG enter the contest as favourites due to the simple fact they have some match rhythm, but the results of these pre-season friendlies are relatively meaningless.

It will be far more important to see how the likes of Rodriguez and Morata fit in for Real, while Emery will find out more about the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa and star youngsters like Lorenzo Callegari.

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