Real Madrid will be bidding to make it eight straight wins in all competitions at the start of the season when they continue their Champions League campaign against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
Los Blancos, who are the holders of the European Cup, opened their Group F season with a 3-0 victory at Celtic last week, while Leipzig started with a surprise 4-1 home defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Match preview
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Real Madrid could have been forgiven for slightly dropping their level in the early stages of this season, having claimed a La Liga and Champions League double last term, but it has been a brilliant start to the campaign for Carlo Ancelotti's side, winning all seven of their games across three competitions.
Los Blancos lifted the UEFA Super Cup with a 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on August 10, while they have won each of their five La Liga games this term against Almeria, Celta Vigo, Espanyol, Real Betis and Mallorca.
Ancelotti's team were actually behind against Mallorca on Sunday but went on to score four times without reply to record a 4-1 victory, and they are two points clear of second-placed Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
Real Madrid also made the perfect start to their Group F campaign in the Champions League last week, recording a 3-0 victory over Celtic in Glasgow, with Vinicius Junior, Luka Modric and Eden Hazard all scoring in the second half of the contest at Celtic Park.
Los Blancos, who have incredibly now lifted the European Cup on 14 occasions, will take on Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby this weekend, but Ancelotti's full focus will be on this game, as the capital outfit look to put six points on the board in Group F.
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Two disastrous results - a 4-0 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt followed by a 4-1 defeat by Shakhtar - led to Domenico Tedesco losing his job as Leipzig head coach earlier this month.
Marco Rose was quickly appointed as Tedesco's replacement, and the 46-year-old, who was sacked by Borussia Dortmund in May, made the perfect start to his reign, steering the team to a 3-0 victory over Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The Red Bulls are still down in 10th position in the Bundesliga table, though, and they have work to do in the Champions League following their shock 4-1 home reverse to Shakhtar last week.
Lepzig were knocked out in the group stage of last season's Champions League, which saw them drop down to the Europa League, and they went all the way to the semi-finals of the competition before losing to Rangers.
The German outfit did manage to make the knockout round of the European Cup in 2020-21, losing 4-0 on aggregate to Liverpool in the round of 16, while they famously reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 2019-20, ultimately losing 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain.
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Team News
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Real Madrid will again definitely be missing Karim Benzema and Eder Militao for this match through injury, but the pair have a chance of being available for the Madrid derby this weekend.
Lucas Vazquez is also out with the thigh problem that he picked up against Mallorca last time out, while Alvaro Odriozola will need to be assessed due to a recent muscular issue, despite being named in the squad.
Hazard started at centre-forward against Mallorca in Benzema's absence but found it difficult to impress, so Rodrygo could be deployed through the middle here.
Federico Valverde is likely to be moved from central midfield to the right of the front three, while Dani Carvajal, Aurelien Tchouameni and Modric should all return to the starting side.
As for Leipzig, Lukas Klostermann and Dani Olmo will miss the contest through injury, but the visitors are otherwise in strong shape heading into the match.
Due to the manner of the performance and indeed result against Dortmund on Saturday, it would not be a surprise to see the same starting side take to the field here.
Timo Werner is again set to lead the attack with support from Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai in the wide areas, while Emil Forsberg is likely to continue in the number 10 position for the visitors.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Rodrygo, Vinicius
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Diallo, Raum; Laimer, Schlager; Nkunku, Forsberg, Szoboszlai; Werner
We say: Real Madrid 2-1 RB Leipzig
Leipzig's impressive victory over Dortmund at the weekend would certainly have boosted confidence in the camp, but it is so difficult to back against Real Madrid at the moment. This could end up being a tricky affair for the European champions, but we are still expecting them to navigate their way to another three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
