ARBELOA TO CAPTAIN SECOND-STRING REAL MADRID Veterans and rookies Álvaro Arbeloa will captain Real Madrid against Cornellà. The full-back will wear the captains armband for the first time in a competitive game due to a lack of first-choice players in the squad for tonights game. With no Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema, amongst others in the team, Arbeloa will captain Carlo Ancelottis second-string team as Los Blancos look to seal their place in the next round. Aside from being rested for tonights game, several of Reals first-choice players have been given time off until Thursday. After all but sealing qualification in the first leg, the Italian can rest several of his first-choice players, something they needed following a recent packed fixtures list. Ancelotti is lucky as he will be able to repeat the experiment next week because Real Madrid have nothing to play for in the Champions League. Los Blancos have two weeks to focus on defending the top spot in La Liga and avoiding any scares ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Club Cup. That is plenty of time to recharge their batteries. Of the players who started the game against Málaga, only Bale - who has featured less than Reals other first-choice players -, James and Isco - as there is a gap to fill up front - will start tonights game. Ancelotti called up four Real Madrid Castilla players - Javi Muñoz, Diego Llorente, Noblejas and Medrán - for tonight, but only named the last of them in his starting XI. Medrán looks set to link up in midfield with Illarramendi and Khedira. Marca. MIDFIELDER WOULD PREFER A MOVE TO REAL MADRID Arsenal offer €15m for Lucas Silva Real Madrid are not the only club keen on signing Lucas Silva. As previously reported by MARCA, United and Arsenal are the Premier League sides keeping an eye on the Cruzeiro midfielder. However, Arsene Wenger has gone one step further and sent scouts out to Brazil to make first contact with the player. In doing so, Wenger looks set to be Real Madrids main competitor for the 21-year-olds signature, a player who has just won the Brasileirão league title and looks ready for a new challenge in Europe. According to reports in The Sun newspaper, Arsenal, whose midfield has been ravaged by injuries, is studying the viability of signing the Brazilian. The Gunners are prepared to meet Cruzeiros asking price of €15m, although Lucas would prefer to join Real Madrid. Lucas Rocha is the midfielders agent and the man in touch with the clubs. The truth of the matter is that Real Madrid have not made up their mind yet, despite already informing Cruzeiro that they would be prepared to offer €12m for their midfielder. The Real Madrid board see him as a player with huge potential, but they are aware of the risks associated with signing a player midway through the season. Without taking anything away from Lucas, Real Madrid know that it is not easy to hit the ground running, especially when arriving in Europe halfway through the campaign.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 11:45:10 +0000
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