As Real Madrid begin their new campaign away to RCD Espanyol in La Liga, here is the starting XI Jose Mourinho has opted for in his first game back in charge.
Later on tonight, at 21:30 CET, Real Madrid will begin their La Liga season with an away game against RCD Espanyol. Although the league started last week, the club were officially able to get their first game - originally at home to Real Sociedad - postponed to allow more time for the returning World Cup players to prepare for the start of the season.
This is Jose Mourinho's first game in charge of the club since leaving in 2013 after three years at the helm. For this big occasion, he has opted for the following starting XI; Courtois; Dumfries, Konate, Huijsen, Carreras; Valverde, Silva; Guler, Bellingham, Vinicius; Mbappe.
Meanwhile, the bench consists of; Mestre, Lunin, Cucurella, Rivas, Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Diaz, Ciria, Cesetro, Camavinga, Diomande and Espi.
So, no room for three new signings; Cucurella, Diomande and Espi, whilst Dumfries, Konate and Silva all start. A little bit surprising, perhaps. Despite the World Cup, and playing so many games, people expected Cucurella to be starting, particularly as the opener was moved back for this sort of reason. That said, Carreras did have a good pre-season.
On the opposite end of that, there is also a little bit of surprise that Dumfries got the nod over Alexander-Arnold, with Mourinho appearing to be a huge fan of the Englishman. Still, it is only the first day of the season, and there will be a lot of game time to go around for everyone.
The inclusion of Konate was expected, given that Eder Militao is still a way away from returning after his injury. Meanwhile, Silva was always likely to start, particularly with Aurelien Tchouameni missing the game through his own injury.
There is also perhaps a bit of surprise over Diomande not being in the team, given the financial outlay of that particular deal, but it is also clear that Mourinho very much likes Arda Guler, and he had an impressive pre-season, so it is not a huge shock in that regard.
The rest of it pretty much picks itself in the form of Courtois, Huijsen, Valverde, Bellingham, Vinicius and Mbappe. There was no chance any of those players would not be starting this game, even with a couple of those players returning very recently from their World Cup exploits. In another universe, Vinicius would have been starting for Arsenal on Friday night. Thank goodness that potential transfer did not happen in the end.
