Espanyol vs Real Madrid, 2026 La Liga: Predicted lineups

Real Madrid visit Espanyol in what will be the season opener for Los Blancos. This is the start of a new era for Madrid, who are hoping to improve their chemistry issues now that José Mourinho is in charge. Tchouameni is not available but it will be interesting to see who Mourinho deploys on the field. Will Arda Güler start after a magnificent preseason?

PREDICTED LINEUPS

Espanyol predicted XI: Dmitrovic; El Hilali, Riedel, Unai Núlez, Hinojo; Urko, Edu Expósito; Calatrava, Javier Hernández, Dolan; Roberto.

Real Madrid predicted XI: Coutois; Trent, Konaté, Huijsen, Carreras; Valverde, Bernardo Silva; Brahim, Güler, Vinicius; Mbappé.

Players like Cucurella, Bellingham or Diomandé still need to improve their conditioning since they only played one preseason friendly, so this could be a good opportunity for Mourinho to reward Carreras, Güler and Brahim after their quality performances during the summer.

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA

Date: 08/22/2026

Time: 21:30 CEST, 03:30pm EST.

Venue: Cornellá-El Prat, Barcelona, Spain.

Available TV: DAZN La Liga (Spain), ESPN Deportes (USA).

Available Streaming: ESPN+ (USA)

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