How can Real Madrid go through as a 'Top 8' team? Full preview: Brest – Real Madrid
Real Madrid will face Brest today in the last round of the ‘League Phase’ in UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid have secured qualification to the RO32 already, but there is still a chance to secure ‘Top 8’, even though the chances are really minimal and it is not in Real Madrid’s hands – as there are many results that should go Real Madrid’s way.
Real Madrid currently sits in the 16th place of UEFA Champions League standings with 12 points – even though the difference to 8th place Bayer Leverkusen is only 1 point. Brest on the other hands is one of the teams with more points than Real Madrid as they sit on 13 points after going through a historic run in the League Phase. And, of course – being higher than Real Madrid on the table, makes the match even more important than it first was.
Real Madrid will be without Vini Jr. in this match, as he was suspended in the match vs Salzburg – and therefore will be free of cards when the next phase of the competition starts.
How can Real Madrid go through?
As we said, Real Madrid must win tonight to hope for a place in the ‘Top 8’, but even that will not be enough if results don’t go how they should elsewhere. Being only 1 point behind 8th place but sitting on 16th, Real Madrid have minimal chances to go through – but it is in no way impossible.
Realistically, the race is open from 5th place all the way down to 18th, but only 4 of those 13 teams will secure qualification directly to Ro16, with Milan and Atletico Madrid practically being two of the teams that book two places – barring any surprise. Both teams need only a draw and their matches are easy on the surface, as Atletico Madrid faces Salzburg away and Milan travels to Zagreb to face Dinamo. But in the case that both these teams lose and Real Madrid wins, Ancelotti’s team would be ahead of both of them due to better Goal Difference.
This is one of the chances – but being very unrealistic, we move on to the other scenario.
Barcelona would need to beat Atalanta and only ONE of Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Lille, Feyenoord, Lille, Dortmund and Bayern would be allowed to win for Real Madrid to go through directly to RO16.
The chances are really, really slim for Real Madrid to go through directly, but either way a win is very much needed to climb higher on the table – as being on the place that they currently are, they would have to face 1st or 2nd place in case they advance to Ro16. So in theory, the higher they finish on the table, the better the chances to face an easier draw tonight.
All to play for tonight, in what will be an absolutely historic night in UEFA Champions League.
Match details
Real Madrid will be without Vini Jr, Eduardo Camavinga and the usual Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao who are expected to miss the rest of the season.
Rodrygo, Mbappe, Brahim is set to be Real Madrid’s front three again tonight – with some doubts and questions on who starts in midfield and who occupies the midfield positions.
In the last two matches, Fede Valverde and Raul Asencio have been the players who have started at RB, but with Lucas Vazquez being back – remains to see if Carlo Ancelotti will start him or continue choosing other options.
Our expected XI tonight:
Courtois; Lucas, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Fran; Valverde, Ceballos, Bellingham; Brahim, Mbappe, Rodrygo.
Amazing writing. Personal belief: I hope Vasquez and Tchouameni don’t start. If Tchouameni starts, I only want to see him in the midfield.
We just hoping for a win tonight … Hala_Madrid!