Real Madrid could secure a much-needed European Cup victory against Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday and aim to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The reigning continental champions have won three and lost as many of their first six league games, which puts them in an unfamiliar position. Carlo Ancelotti’s normally relentless superstars have lost their level this season, but a win over Salzburg would almost guarantee them a place in the play-offs.
Madrid may have lost the recent Supercopa de Espana final against Barcelona, but overall they have been in impressive form since the turn of the year. The capital club have scored 19 goals in their last five games in all competitions and could give Salzburg a run for their money at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the struggling Austrians conceding 18 in five defeats and only one win in the Champions League so far.
Here is 90 minutes Guide to a decisive game for Madrid.
Real Madrid vs RB Salzburg H2H results
This is the first competitive game between Real Madrid and Salzburg.
Current form (all competitions)
real Madrid | RB Salzburg |
|---|---|
Real Madrid – Las Palmas 4:1 – 19.01.25 | RB Salzburg – Austria Klagenfurt 3:0 – 12/14/24 |
Real Madrid 5-2 Celta Vigo (AET) – 01/16/25 | RB Salzburg 0-3 PSG – 10/12/24 |
Real Madrid 2-5 Barcelona – 12/01/25 | RB Salzburg – Rapid Vienna 2:2 – 07/12/24 |
Real Madrid – Mallorca 3-0 – 09/01/25 | RB Salzburg 4:0 Hartberg – 04/12/24 |
Deportivo Minera 0-5 Real Madrid – 06/01/25 | Hartberg – RB Salzburg 1:1 – 11/30/24 |
country | TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | TNT Sports 5, Discovery+, Discovery+ app |
United States | Paramount+, fuboTV, TUDN.com, Univision NOW, TUDN App, ViX, TUDN USA, UniMas |
Canada | DAZN Canada |
Madrid are already without their right-back due to Dani Carvajal’s season-ending injury, but they will also be without their deputy Lucas Vazquez on Wednesday evening due to suspension. Federico Valverde is likely to take the Spaniard’s place as he has been deployed in defense this season.
Eder Militao is also out for the season with a torn cruciate ligament and Eduardo Camavinga is missing in the middle of the park. It is doubtful whether Aurelien Tchouameni will feature against Salzburg after missing the weekend’s win against Las Palmas with a leg problem.
Vinicius Junior and Luka Modric are both available after missing the Las Palmas triumph through suspension, while David Alaba made his long-awaited return from injury in a 14-minute cameo at the weekend.
Expected lineup of Real Madrid against RB Salzburg (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Valverde, Asencio, Rüdiger, Mendy; Ceballos, Modric; Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius; Mbappe.
There is talk of a baptism of fire for the new Salzburg coach Thomas Letsch, who is overseeing his first competitive game as the club’s coach since his return to the Bernabeu. The German briefly took charge of the Red Bull team as interim coach in 2015, but made a permanent comeback as head coach following the sacking of former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders.
Letsch will be without the influential Karim Konate for Salzburg’s first game of the new year, while Maurits Kjaergaard is also out due to injury.
Bobby Clark, formerly of Liverpool, is a doubt for the game alongside teammates Amar Dedic, Alexander Schlager and Daouda Guindo.
Predicted line-up of RB Salzburg against Real Madrid (4-4-2): Blaswich; Morgalla, Baidoo, Piatkowski, Terzic; Yeo, Capaldo, Bidstrup, Nene; Gloukh, Ratkov.
Salzburg have been poorly positioned in the Champions League this season and may be a little rusty on Wednesday, having not played a competitive game since mid-December. Letsch has had time to work with his new squad but won’t expect any miracles in Madrid.
Despite all of Los Blancos’ defensive deficiencies, they appeared to be in a confident mood in the final third and could still get a point by midweek. Kylian Mbappe has been in excellent goalscoring form and Vinicius’ return to the starting XI will only increase their chances of defeating Letsch’s new side.