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Real Madrid can book their place in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on Monday when they play Deportiva Minera at Estadio Municipal Angel Celdran. The fourth-tier hosts have not played a match since December 21, while Carlo Ancelotti’s visitors beat Valencia 2-1 in La Liga on Friday.
Luka Modric and Jude Bellingham did the damage, despite Vinicius Junior seeing red, which means he remains out. Minera shocked Alaves on penalties to get here and now have a chance to become giant killers, but Jose Perez’s men started their campaign with a 5-0 win over Tudelano.
Los Blancos have won the trophy 20 times, with the most recent success coming in 2023, but were left out of the club by bitter rivals Atletico Madrid last year. Real won’t return to La Liga action until January 19 and could even play out a potential last-16 tie before their next league match.
Here are our storylines, how to watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Monday January 6 | Time: 1:00 PM ET
- Location: Estadio Municipal Angel Celdran – Murcia, Spain
- Watch: ESPN+
- Chances: Minera +2200; Sign +900; Real -1000
This season so far
Minera were promoted from the fifth to the fourth tier this season and are doing quite well so far with the team sitting eighth in Group 4 with 24 points from 17 games. However, the Red Eagles have not had a league victory since the end of November and come into this competition with two points from four games and after a defeat. Real eventually led La Liga after catching up, but now have a series of Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey games to play before working on increasing that lead or simply maintaining it.
Team news
Myera: Omar Perdomo has been key this season with five goals and two assists, while Pipo has four goals and four assists, so both should start. Francis Ferron and Cristhian Britos should both also be 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 injured, although the Austrian could return soon. Ancelotti should join Andriy Lunin, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia, Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler and Endrick in his XI ahead of the Spanish Supercopa semi-final. 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; Endrik.
Prediction
Weakened XI or not, this one should be easy for Real and they should win by a few goals. Choose: Minera 0, Real 3.