Real Madrid vs Elche preview - Ronaldo to start despite rotation

Posted Monday, September 22, 2014 by PA

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is set to shuffle his pack for the visit of Elche - but has no intention of leaving out talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo took his tally of hat-tricks for Madrid to an astonishing 24 during Saturday's 8-2 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna and he is now only four short of the club record, which is held by Alfredo di Stefano.

The Portugal international is once again Madrid's chief goal threat, netting seven goals in all competitions already this season, but with some big games coming up it might have been tempting for Ancelotti to rest him for Tuesday's clash with Elche.

In the next four weeks, Madrid must face Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal in La Liga, plus Liverpool and Ludogorets in the Champions League.

However, Ancelotti is thinking nothing of the sort, saying of Ronaldo: "At this moment he doesn't need a break. He's in top form, and good both physically and mentally. Now we need him because he's at his best."

Ancelotti is, though, set to tinker with the side that humbled Depor - a result which came hot on the heels of a 5-1 thrashing of Basle as Real responded emphatically to criticism of their disappointing start to the season.

The Italian refused to confirm what those alterations would be but there is speculation on-loan Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, who scored twice as a late replacement against Depor, could start in place of Karim Benzema.

Ancelotti said: "I'll make some changes. I think the whole squad understand that there are a lot of games and that rotations are normal.

"If Karim doesn't play, he'll understand why."

On Real's improved form over the last week, Ancelotti added: "I think we've reacted well but tomorrow is another game, another test which we have to face well.

"We need another good result to improve our confidence. We still need to improve certain aspects of our game."

Madrid's win over Depor lifted them onto six points, although they remain six adrift of leaders Barcelona after only four rounds.

Madrid have a chance to provisionally halve that gap on Tuesday as they play 24 hours before Barca's trip to Malaga and Elche are unlikely to pose the European champions too many problems, especially if Ancelotti's side repeat their weekend performance.

However, Elche were victorious on their last trip to the capital, beating Rayo Vallecano 3-2 just over a week ago, and their coach Fran Escriba is hoping to secure an even bigger scalp at the Bernabeu.

He said: "We know the difficulty of this match, but we're not going there thinking about a defeat.

"Anything can happen in a match. Even if you only have a chance to win once in every 20 games, lets see if this is that time for us."