Valencia vs Real Madrid LIVE
LaLiga 2018-19
Venue: Mestalla Stadium
Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Kick-off: 8:30pm GMT, tonight
Real Madrid will continue to wind down a rather unusual 2018-19 campaign when they travel to face Valencia at the Mestalla tonight.
Despite winning both of his first two matches back at the helm, head coach Zinedine Zidane admitted that it was difficult to motivate his players with no trophies to compete for and their season already effectively over.
Following a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo, Real - eliminated from the Champions League by Ajax in March and dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Barcelona - were pushed hard by bottom-of-the-table Huesca in front of a lowly crowd at the Bernabeu on Sunday and only had their blushes spared by a fine late strike from Karim Benzema.
That result saw them remain third in La Liga - 12 points off the top and still two adrift of cross-city rivals Atletico.
Fancying their chances of an upset will be sixth-place Valencia, who have turned their season around and are hunting Champions League qualification after extending their impressive unbeaten run across all competitions to 16 matches with a 1-0 win at Sevilla last time out.
Follow Valencia vs Real Madrid LIVE with Standard Sport's Ben Robson at Mestalla Stadium!
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Real Madrid team news
Zidane raised a fair few eyebrows with his team selection against Huesca, with son Luca a surprise choice in goal and Brahim Diaz appearing for the first time since January.
We can potentially expect more experimentation from the Frenchman ahead of a defining summer for Real, but the match will come too soon in the respective recoveries of Dani Carvajal (thigh) and Vinicius Junior (knee).
Thibaut Courtois had yet to resume training on Monday following an injury sustained on international duty, though the likes of Keylor Navas, Raphael Varane, Luka Modric, Marco Asensio and Toni Kroos could all return for what promises to be a tough fixture.
Real Madrid XI: Navas, Odriozola, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Bale, Isco, Asensio, Benzema
Score prediction: Valencia 2-2 Real Madrid
Real flattered to deceive massively against Huesca and a repeat of such a sluggish defensive display with low motivation will surely be punished by a higher-calibre opponent here.
Valencia seem to have forgotten what it is to lose and need to sustain that momentum if they are to keep up their chase for a Champions League place. An exciting draw could be forthcoming, though it may still be difficult to back against Los Blancos if they are back to (near) full strength.
TV channel and live stream online coverage
Eleven Sports and Premier Sports will both be offering live coverage of the match.
You can also follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE blog.
