Real Madrid on tour

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After the great performance against Valladolid, there will be no more league matches at the Santiago Bernabéu until next year - to be precise, the sixth of January, when Real Madrid will face Celta in the last match of the first half of the league programme. Until then, the Real Madrid players will have to pack their bags and play away in the two remaining league games of December, at two grounds which are not going to be easy for them - at Pamplona against Osasuna on 14th, and then at Mestalla against Valencia on 21st. These are two clashes which will be highly significant for Real Madrid's league aspirations. Besides these league trips, Real Madrid will also have to travel to Xativa in the King's Cup, and to Copenhagen in the Champions League. These two trips look quite easy, and will serve to give outings to some of the other squad members, and let the first team men rest. In the cup match, Real should not have any problems winning against Olimpic de Xativa, from the Spanish Second Division B, and in the Champions League it will land in Copenhagen having already qualified as group champion. The only match Real Madrid will play at home during the rest of December will be the second leg of the cup tie against Xativa - another game in which younger and less-frequently used players might be given a chance. The first team will however be out in full force on the trips to Pamplona and Valencia, fixtures which in the past have often caused the Madrilenian team quite a few problems.

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