Pre-season friendly preview and odds: Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain

International Champions Cup

Football
Published: 25/07/2016

Pre-season friendly preview and odds: Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain

July 28, 2016 00:30am - Mapfre Stadium

International Champions Cup

The reigning champions of Europe will kick off their pre-season campaign on Thursday when they face French league champions PSG at the Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday night.

Emery and Zidane go head-to-head in the USA

A Frenchman in charge of a Spanish team will face a Spaniard in charge of a French Team as Zinedine Zidane`s Real Madrid play their first pre-season game of the summer against Unai Emery`s PSG in the US section of the International Champions Cup of Thursday.

Since arriving in the States, Emery`s men have already notched up a 3-1 victory against Inter of Italy and they will be looking to build on that win against a Real Madrid team that have yet to take to the field. Young Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier scored twice in that win, while fellow rear guardsman Kayvin Kurzawa grabbed the third.

Meanwhile, Madrid will have to cope without Cristiano Ronaldo for the next few weeks so Zidane may decide to partner Alvaro Morata up front with Karim Benzema for this pre-season opener. Keylor Navas is also struggling with an injury so Kiko Casilla may return between the sticks. Defender Raphael Varane has returned to training following a spell out injured - however, the Frenchman is still expected to sit out this clash.

The Spanish team come into this match on the back of an 11-game unbeaten run stretching back to the 2-0 Champions League defeat against Wolfsburg back in April. Likewise, the Parisians have not been beaten since their 1-0 Champions League defeat to Manchester City in April - a run that extends back 10 games.

Team news

With many top clubs resting players after the Euro 2016 tournament in France predicting accurate line ups for these pre-season games can be difficult. Add a few injuries into the mix and things get even trickier.

The Madrid team will come from the following selection of players: Keylor Navas, Casilla, Rubén Yáñez, Álex Craninx, Luca Varane, Danilo, Carvajal, Marcelo, Nacho, Lienhart, Tejero, Achraf Casemiro, Isco, Kovacic, Llorente, Asensio, Ĝdegaard, Enzo, Febas Benzema, Jesé, Mayoral and Mariano.

Meanwhile, PSG will make their selection from the following group: Areola, Aurier, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe, Maxwell, Callegari, Stambouli, Rabiot, Ikoné, Ben Arfa, Lucas, Trapp, Meunier, Kurzawa, Georgen,, Cavani, Pastore, Di Maria, Edouard and Nkunku.

Recent form (All competitions)

Real Madrid: WWWWW

Paris Saint German: WWWWL

Betting odds and tips

Paris Saint-Germain made Inter looked ordinary in the opening ICC game in Oregon and will be buoyed by that result. Meanwhile, Real Madrid may play an experimental formation on Thursday as several key players are set to miss out.

This should be an intriguing clash between two of Europe`s biggest teams but the French side already have a game under their belt and may just have the edge in this one.

You can back PSG to win at 8/5 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Go To bet365
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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (25/07/2016) but are subject to change.

25/07/2016     © Frixo 2024

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