Expected XIs Real Madrid-Villarreal: Carlo Ancelotti to make changes ahead of Chelsea clash | OneFootball

Real Madrid will hope to continue their resurgence on Saturday evening when they host Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have an outside chance of retaining their La Liga crown, although they hope require a monumental slip-up from Barcelona.

With that in mind, Carlo Ancelotti looks set to rest some of his key players, with Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Chelsea in mind.

Sport believe that five changes will be made from the side that demolished Barcelona on Wednesday evening, with Lucas Vazquez, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho Fernandez, Aurelien Tchouameni and Marco Asensio all starting. Interestingly, they do not expect Ancelotti to return to the 4-2-3-1 system that had so much success against Real Valladolid last Sunday.

MD believe that there will be just three changes, with Vazquez, Nacho and Dani Ceballos to start. There are many options available to Ancelotti, with just Ferland Mendy unavailable for selection.

Villarreal come into Saturday’s match on the back of two successive victories, and will harbour hopes of continuing their run of just one defeat in their last seven games in all competitions. Alex Baena, Samuel Chukwueze and Raul Albiol are all doubts for the trip to Madrid, but just the latter is expected to miss out.

It is sure to be a keenly contested affair on Saturday, and Villarreal will be no pushovers as they look to continue their push towards European football. However, if Real Madrid continue their dominance from the last week, they will be hard to stop.

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