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Marco Asensio is growing game after game. The playmaker was again included in Zidane’s starting eleven for the first game of the season. He didn’t disappoint anyone and the young midfielder played a great game and scored a beautiful goal with a chip over Gerónimo Rulli after a great assist from Raphael Varane.

The Spaniard was again included in the line up after playing from the beginning in the European Supercup, where he scored another great goal from outside the box. He’s answering with good football and goal to Zidane’s confidence. Asensio has definitely take over James Rodríguez and Isco in the fight for a position in the team.

Marco Asensio spoke after the game and accepted his position in the team: “I wasn’t surprised for being in the line up. I work for that in the training sessions. I do my best to be in the starting eleven. I knew I was going to play in Zidane’s speech before the game”, the midfielder said to the press.

This was the second time Asensio played from the beginning in the season and both times the midfielder scored great goals. He was asked about this, but Asensio is not thinking right now about the goals: “I don’t put any goal to myself. I try to work and do the right things and the results will arrive”.

Asensio was a key player to start winning in San Sebastián. The team played a great game and Bale was the leader of the team: “It was very important to start winning. We did a great game and we are very happy”.

There are some voices saying that Marco Asensio can make his debut with the Spanish national team in the next fixtures in September. The national coach, Julen Lopetegui, is following closely the Real Madrid midfielder, who is stunning everybody with his performance.

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Real Madrid started the season in La Liga with a brilliant victory (0-3) over Real Sociedad. Gareth Bale stunning header opened the result and Marco Asensio’s great chip put the second goal. Bale, in the extra time, closed the result.

Zinedine Zidane has reasons to be happy after the first game. Álvaro Morata played really well, Marco Asensio is still brilliant and Gareth Bale was the leader in the pitch with the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo. “It’s important to start well, and especially in Anoeta, a difficult ground. Scoring three goals and receiving none is the best way to start la Liga”, the French manager said.

Again, Marco Asensio was one of the best players in the pitch and scored a wonderful goal. Zidane was very positive: “I’m very happy for everything he’s done and his goal. But it’s the team, more than Marco. Everybody did a good game”, Zidane said. The French coach was asked about Asensio as a new star: “The most important thing Asensio is doing is to work, because we know he has quality. The goal is stunning, we’re happy”.

Making the line up it’s not easy for Zidane despite there are several players still injured. This time, Isco and James Rodríguez stayed in the bench: “I try to show that everybody is important. If we want to achieve the goal, the group is the most important thing. When I do the lineup, I have headaches because all the players have great quality. We’re doing great things defensively more than in attack. We’re fighting every play and we ended up with a clean sheet. For a coach, this is top”.

The French manager also spoke about James Rodríguez, who might leave the club and wasn’t included again in the lineup: “He’s fine and happy. Working and helping the team to win the three points”.

The star of the game was Gareth Bale, who scored two goals in the opening game of the season: “I’m happy for him because physically is a bit behind the others, although no one has realized. It’s easier with the early goal he scored. He said this is a very important year for him and he has shown it with these two goals”, Zidane said.

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Real Madrid played a really great match against Real Sociedad and won 0-3 thanks to Bale and Asension.Before the game started everybody thought that it was going to be quite difficult because the Basque team is very strong playing in San Sebastian. Real Madrid travelled without 4 of it´s most important players like Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Modric and Pepe.

In the first minute Gareth Bale appeared and scored with a superb header after a perfect cross by Carvajal. The game started to be comfortable for Real Madrid and they started to play very easy. Morata did´t scored any goal but he played very good and helped his partners “fighting” against the Real Sociedad defenders.

Casemiro, Kovacic and Kroos began to dominate the midfield and Real Madrid didn´t received any danger from the Basque squad. Only Illarramendi had the chance to score a goal to Kiko Casilla who was another viewer of the match.

Before the first half finished, Asensio did a control from a long pass of Rafael Varane and scored a beautiful goal. The young player from Mallorca performed a very complete match until he was substituted in the minute 65 for Lucas Vazquez.

In the second half Real Madrid decided to play a bit slower and let the time pass. Real Sociedad tried to change the match introducing William Jose and playing with two strikers. This change didn´t worried Real Madrid and they continued playing as well as all the match. Zidane decided to put Isco in the minute 72 and James in the 77 to control the rest of the match. In the lasts minutes Gareth Bale scored his second goal dribbling Rulli and finishing the match.

Real Madrid have a very good squad and Zidane can count with many players while Real Sociedad should do some changes for the next match if they don´t want to fall again.

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Casemiro
Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro - CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images

This summer Real Madrid didn’t sign any player in the midfield. There were many rumors of signing a player for this position but right now Casino is the only “stopper” at Real Madrid.

Every player of the midfield in the squad is offensive except the Brazilian. Toni Kroos played in that position two years ago, but during the season the defensive balance was a major problem for Real Madrid.

Casemiro was on loan in Oporto where he started to be known. Julen Lopetegui, who was the Portuguese squad manager, believed in him. He played almost 30 matches in the regular league and he was a key man in the midfield.

Because of this reason,Real Madrid wanted the return of the Brazilian player to the squad. Kroos, Modric, Isco, Kovacic and James have not defensive skills so Casemiro was a good idea for the midfield.

Casemiro has proved himself as a great midfielder. He is very young and he can improve easily his performance. He can pass, shoot, make many tackles and the most important thing is that he knows perfectly what´s his job: defend and try to balance his team with his corpulence.

This summer there were rumours about signing N´Golo Kanté from Leicester City. The great French midfielder did a wonderful season winning the Premier League with a team that wasn´t favourite and Kanté went to the Euro and played in the starting 11 at the beginning of the tournament. Finally Antonio Conte convinced him to join Chelsea and stay in the Premier.

There are doubts about Casemiro. Can he be ready to play the same minutes as the stars of Real Madrid? He played at a very good level the last two years and he deserved it. The only thing we know is that Zinedine Zidane believes in him and this season could be the year of the Brazilian youngster.

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Maybe these are the last days of James Rodriguez in the capital of Spain. Everybody thought that all the rumours about James Rodriguez’s future had finished but Chelsea have presented an offer that it´s difficult to say no.

The British team wants a new signing for this season and Antonio Conte is interested in the young Colombian star of Real Madrid. According to AS, Chelsea have presented an offer of €70M that is a huge quantity if we are talking of a player that last year didn´t have too many minutes.

James came to Real Madrid two years ago from Monaco. He did a great World Cup with Colombia, being the captain and the star of his team. When the World Cup finished Florentino Perez decided to sign him for an amount of €80M.

The first year of James in Real Madrid was incredible. He scored 13 goals in La Liga, 2 in the Spanish Copa del Rey and one in Champions League. Real Madrid supports were excited with the new incorporation of James.

At the beginning of last year, Rafa Benitez didn’t give many opportunities to James, who had a secondary role in Real Madrid. He started many times on the bench and the young Colombian midfielder was upset with his situation. When Rafa Benitez was sacked on January, the Real Madrid fans hoped that James would recover the best feeling he had the first year he came. Zinedine Zidane was the new manager and he decided that Casemiro, Kroos and Modric should be the midfielders to compete in the last part of the year.

Real Madrid have not made any signing in that position, but new Spanish youngsters are pushing and maybe James has even less minutes than last year. We agree James is a great player but having him on the bench – remember that Real Madrid paid €70M- it´s decision that must be thought twice.

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Alvaro Morata

In the past few years, the squad of Real Madrid was formed of international players who signed for a very big amount of money. All started with the so called “Galácticos”. This year it seems that Zidane believes in the players grown in Real Madrid. Now, we can count 7 young players in the first squad. Other years, perhaps Real Madrid would have given them on loan or sold them: Morata, Carvajal, Casemiro, Lucas Vázquez, Marco Asensio, Mariano and Nacho.

Last year two of the most important players, especially at the end, were Casemiro and Lucas Vazquez. Casemiro is the only “stopper” Real Madrid has and many people thought that it was a good idea to sign another player in the same position for this season, but Zidane believes in him. Lucas Vazquez last year didn´t have so many minutes, but at the final part of the season Zidane started giving him minutes because of the several injures and bad physical condition of some players. He played very well and now he is an important player for this project.

This year is the opportunity for Asensio. He played many minutes in the preseason and scored a great goal in the European Super Cup. Maybe this weekend we can see him in the starting as well as Morata. With the injury of Benzema he will be the striker for Anoeta.

Carvajal and Nacho spent several years in Madrid. Last year Danilo signed for Real Madrid and we thought Carvajal will be the substitute, but finally he was the perfect right back for Real Madrid. Nacho doesn´t have too many minutes but he is an example everytime he has to play.

Today we received a piece of news from Zidane saying that Mariano is going to stay in the first team and he won´t go on loan. It´s a surprise because many teams of the first division wanted to sign Mariano but it seems that Zidane trusts him.

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Zinedine Zidane spoke before the match that Real Madrid will face against Real Sociedad tomorrow in Anoeta, the return of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and about his expectations with Asensio and Morata.

He recalled that the league is very important for the future of the year. “This league is very important. The Spanish cup and the Champions League are important but the league is the regular competition.” Zidane explained.

Answering the questions of the journalists about the first match against a difficult team like Real Sociedad, the French coach said that “Real Sociedad is a great team and even tougher if they play in San Sebastian“, Zidane answered.

One of the candidates to play in the starting 11 is the young Spanish player Marco Asensio. He made a great preseason and with the injuries of Benzema and Cristiano he could have the chance to play the first match of the season. ”He is a very important player, I´m happy with him. The last match against Sevilla he played and he scored a beautiful goal. Will see tomorrow who will play”.

Last week there were rumors about Mariano, who might leave the team on loan. Many teams of the league were interested in him because he had many minutes in the preseason and he played really good. “He is coming with us to Anoeta, he knows that there are other players that are going to play more than him. He is going to stay here and he must fight for minutes.” Zidane said about the doubt if Mariano will stay or leave.

The big concern is that the team of the French manager will start the regular season without Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. Both are injured and everybody want to know when are they going to appear. ”There´s no date of recovery but Cristiano wants to play, he is training already with us. For Karim is different. He trained with us but without ball. I talked with him and we should wait until he is in good conditions”, Zidane explained about the return of Benzema and Cristiano.

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Real Madrid regular season starts tomorrow at 19.15 (Uk time) against a difficult squad like Real Sociedad. Los Blancos don´t want to repeat again the start of the last season only getting a draw against a team newly promoted, Sporting de Gijon. The squad managed by Zinedine Zidane has the achievement of winning this trophy because since the season 2011-2012 they have not won it.

Real Sociedad haven’t changed a lot the squad this summer. Juanmi Jimenez is the only change we can find in the attacking line. The young Spaniard striker didn´t have a good experience in the Premier League scoring 0 goals in the regular season and now he has the chance to return where he grew up as a player. Eusebio Sacristan wants to recover the best version of Carlos Vela. The Mexican striker did´t play a good season last year because everybody, including him, thought that his stage in Real Sociedad was over. The basque team wants to improve the results of last year and finish this season qualifying for European competitions.

Real Madrid will start this season with three very important injures. Karim Benzema has a pain in the hip that prevented him play the European Supercup. Pepe, who was in a great physical condition but couldn´t finish the European Cup in France, could appear against Celta the next 27th of August. While Cristiano Ronaldo can´t arrive to this match because he is still injured of his ankle and it´s expected to play again after the international matches.

Now is the opportunity for the players that don´t play often. Morata will be the reference in the attack despite his pain in the foot. Asensio will replace Cristiano. Real Madrid fans are excited with the young Spanish player because he did a great preseason. In the defense Varane will replace Pepe.

Los Blancos are favorites for the game but Real Sociedad is a very difficult team and last year the basque team played a great game and the lost only by a goal of Gareth Bale.

Real Sociedad possible XI: Rully; Zaldua, Iñigo Martinez, Aritz Elustondo, Yuri, Illarramendi, Markel Bergara, Vela, Zurutuza, Oyarzabal, Juanmi.

Real Madrid possible XI: Casila; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Kroos, Kovacic, Asensio, Bale, Morata.

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Los Blancos had several offers from Mariano this summer. Especially, when the team came back after the pre-season tour around the United States, the club had a lot of proposals from different team in La Liga for the Spanish forward.

Even this week, after the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy, everybody thought that Mariano will end up in Leganés. The team was just promoted to La Liga for the first time in their history and the proximity with Madrid made Leganés the perfect exit for Mariano. Besides, Real Madrid wanted to include a clause for Mariano to come back in January to Bernabéu. However, things have changed a lot in the last hours.

According to the Spanish newspaper Marca, Real Madrid are still thinking on keeping Mariano. Karim Benzema is still injured and the French will miss the start of the season in San Sebastián. The club is worried for his physical condition as he hasn’t played any game during the pre-season and Benzema only appeared some minutes in the European Supercup, where he didn’t play well and was very slow.

Álvaro Morata is the perfect replacement for Benzema. The former Juventus striker was bought to cover this position and he has similar skills than Benzema. However, Real Madrid cannot have only three strikers -Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale- for three positions the whole season.

For this reason, Mariano is still one option for Zinedine Zidane. The coach was very happy for his performance and Mariano even scored a wonderful goal in the last friendly game against Stade Reims. Last year, he scored 27 goals in Castilla, a really good number for a young player.

Sevilla, Villarreal or Leganés are clubs interested in getting on loan the Dominican-Spanish striker. Now, Real Madrid have to decide whether to keep him the whole season or give him on loan to a La Liga team and see his evolution.

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Luka Modric received the fifth yellow card in Riazor against Deportivo de la Coruña in the last game of La Liga this season and he’ll miss the start of the campaign in Anoeta. This is a major problem for Zinedine Zidane because the Croatian is a key player in his plans.

Casemiro and Toni Kroos are fixed players in the starting eleven for the French coach. The German came back later from his holidays and he missed the European Supercup but Kroos is expected to start in Anoeta.

With Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo ruled out for the game, there are only two positions left in the team, taking in consideration that Álvaro Morata and Gareth Bale will also start on Sunday. Who will be playing in these two positions left?

Lucas Vázquez has gained himself a place in the starting eleven. If Benzema and Cristiano aren’t ready for the game, the Galician player is the perfect replacement in the attacking line. He played last year in San Sebastian and did a great job with Gareth Bale, so Zidane might choose him again.

The other position in the midfield is the tricky one. Mateo Kovacic would be the perfect replacement if Zidane doesn’t want to touch the tactics. The Croatian was linked to several clubs in Italy this summer but could start playing in the starting eleven in the first game of the season.

The others three options are James Rodríguez, Isco or Asensio. The Colombian played last year in Anoeta but Zidane has shown during the pre-season that James will have little options to play in his team. The former Monaco player will have more reason to leave Real Madrid in the next few days if he is still not playing in the team.

The Spanish options look more likely. Isco and Asensio have played a lot of minutes during the summer and both are fit. The Spaniards played in the European Supercup and did a good job in the midfield. Now it’s time for Zidane to choose among all these players. The good news is that even with some important players missing the game, Zidane has a lot of options.

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