Preview: Ronaldo set to continue fine form against French giants
The Italian manager began his Real Madrid era in style as Ronaldo and Co romped past through Championship side Bournemouth in a 6-0 demolition. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo led the rampage scoring a brace, with Sami Khedira, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria and new arrival Casemiro adding goal apiece.
Madrid will now face a stiffer challenge as they face Olympique Lyonnais in a familiar fixture.
The two sides have met six times in the course of three years in Champions League fixtures, with Madrid getting the better of their counterparts on four occasions.
This time the two sides meet in a less competitive scenario as both coaches will be focusing on helping the player regain fitness through these friendly matches.
Los Merengues have been very active in the transfer market and have added no less than four players to their ever growing roster, which culminates a total of 63 million Pounds which Madrid have already splashed out on transfers this season. This includes the likes of Asier Illarramendi, Isco, Daniel Carvajal and Casemiro all of who were very impressive in their last outing against Bournemouth.
Real Madrid fans in particular will be eager to watch star signing Isco line up alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in what could develop into a very devastating partnership.
Lyon in contrast have been very quiet in the transfer market with Rémi Garde yet to make a notable signing. Les Gones however are currently unbeaten in pre-season friendly games this season. Lisandro and Lacazette were the goal scorers as Lyon earned a hard fought victory over Korean outfit Jeonbuk Hyundai in their friendly match on the 20th of July.
All eyes will be on Clement Grenier who ended the 2012/2013 season on a high note and will be hoping to pick up where he left from. Arsenal target Maxime Gonalons who declared his intention to continue his development in France is another of Lyon’s bright prospects and will be hoping to build upon his excellent performance last season.
Even though this fixture will be a much bigger challenge for Real Madrid compared to their opening match, Ancelotti’s side should score an easy victory considering the quality in the squad and the form Ronaldo seems to be in.
Where to watch the match – live stream, start time, TV channels
Watch Olympique Lyonnais vs Real Madrid live:
In France at 9:00 PM on Canal +
In Spain at 9:00 PM on Gol Stadium, Antena 3
Among other channels that feature in our live TV listings for this pre-season friendly live from France are TV3 Sport 1, Viaplay (Denmark) and Sport TV4T (Portugal). If you are located elsewhere in the world, be sure to visit the match page for full details.
