Real Madrid and Valencia meet for the second time in a month in the semi-finals of the Supercopa de Espana tonight.
This year the tournament has switched from a two to a four-team format and is also taking place thousands of miles away in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Barcelona's status as 2018/19 LaLiga champions and Copa del Rey runners-up means that Real qualify by virtue of their third-place domestic finish last term, while Valencia were the team that bested Ernesto Valverde's men in the cup final courtesy of goals from Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo.
Level on points with Barca at the LaLiga summit, Los Blancos needed a dramatic last-gap equaliser from Karim Benzema to cancel out Carlos Soler's opener when these two sides last met at the Mestalla on December 15.
Either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid will await the victor of this contest in Sunday's final.
Date: Wednesday, January 8th, 2020.
Venue: King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Kick-off time: 7pm GMT.
How to follow
The match is not available to watch live in the United Kingdom.
However, you can follow the action on Standard Sport's LIVE blog with Ben Hayward.
Lineups
Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Mendy, Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Valverde, Jovic, Isco
Subs: Areola, Militao, Marcelo, James, Mariano, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo
Valencia XI: Domenech, Paulista, Kondogbia, Soler, Gameiro, Parejo, Gaya, Coquelin, Wass, Ferran, Garay
Subs to follow.
Team news
Real Madrid are crucially without top scorer Karim Benzema, who was left out of their 23-man squad for the competition as the result of a hamstring issue.
Gareth Bale has also not travelled after being diagnosed with an infection in the upper respiratory tract.
Eden Hazard remains sidelined with an ankle injury, though Marcelo, James Rodriguez and Lucas Vazquez were all selected after recovering from injury and training fully since LaLiga's winter break.
Valencia are also missing a key forward in Rodrigo, who suffered a knee sprain in the 1-0 win over Eibar last weekend.
Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen has travelled, but Goncalo Guedes remains sidelined along with Manu Vallejo, Kangin Lee and Cristiano Piccini.
Betting tips | via Betfair Exchange | Only available to UK users
- Valencia to win: 3/1
- Real Madrid to win: Evens
- Draw: 3/1
Odds correct as of 7th January.
Prediction: Valencia 1-2 Real Madrid
Real will rue the absence of Benzema, but still should have enough to claim a narrow victory.
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