Los Blancos targeting last 16 berth in Murcia
Real Madrid can book a spot in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey when they face Deportiva Minera at Estadio Municipal Angel Celdran on Monday. The fourth-tier hosts have not played a game since Dec. 21 while Carlo Ancelotti’s visitors saw off Valencia 2-1 in La Liga on Friday.
Luka Modric and Jude Bellingham did the damage despite Vinicius Junior seeing red which will keep him out here. Minera shocked Alaves on penalties to get here and now have a shot at becoming giant slayers but Jose Perez’s men started their campaign with a 5-0 win over Tudelano.
Los Blancos have won this trophy 20 times with the most recent success coming in 2023 but they exited last year at the hands of bitter rivals Atletico Madrid. Real will not back in La Liga action until Jan. 19 and could even play a potential last-16 tie before their next league outing.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Monday, January 6 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio Municipal Angel Celdran – Murcia, Spain
- Watch: ESPN+
- Odds: Minera +2200; Draw +900; Real -1000
This season so far
Minera were promoted from the fifth tier into the fourth for this term and it has gone reasonably well so far with the team eighth in Group 4 with 24 points from 17 games. However, the Red Eagles are without a league win since late November and come into this one with two points from four game and on the back of a loss. Real finally lead La Liga having caught up with their game in hand but now face a run of Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey games before working on growing that advantage or simply maintaining it.
Team news
Minera: Omar Perdomo has been key with five goals and two assists this season while Pipo has four goals and four assists so both should start. Francis Ferron and Cristhian Britos should both also form part of Perez’s starting XI.
Possible Minera XI: Martinez; Mas, Monty, Vera, Heredero; Pujante, Petcoff, Britos, Pipo; Perdomo, Ferron.
Real: Vini Jr. is suspended while Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba are all out injured although the Austrian could return soon. Ancelotti should go with Andriy Lunin, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia, Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler and Endrick in his XI ahead of the Spanish Supercopa semifinal. Jesus Vallejo could also get a rare start despite not really being part of Ancelotti’s plans in Madrid.
Possible Real XI: Lunin; Vazquez, Asencio, Vallejo, Garcia; Ceballos, Tchouameni; Brahim, Modric, Guler; Endrick.
Prediction
Weakened XI or not, this one should be straightforward for Real and they should win it by a few goals. Pick: Minera 0, Real 3.
