Real Madrid will be looking to extend their winning streak in La Liga to 38 games when the reigning Spanish champions face Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Real Madrid’s return to domestic league action comes just four days after a late comeback against Stuttgart in their Champions League opener. Los Blancos took all three points in a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappé, Antonio Rüdiger and Endrick.

Now Real Madrid must turn its attention back to La Liga, where Ancelotti’s side are already four points behind Barcelona after five games. Hansi Flick has given the Catalans a perfect start in his first season as coach, while Real Madrid stumbled in their opening games against Mallorca and Las Palmas.

The 36-time La Liga champions have won all of their September matches so far, despite an injury crisis forcing Federico Valverde to play as a double six alongside Luka Modric last weekend. The return of Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni against Stuttgart gave Real Madrid a much-needed boost ahead of a packed six-match schedule over the next three weeks.

Before Los Blancos can look forward to the Madrid derby or their next Champions League match, they need to beat Espanyol on Saturday. Manolo Gonzalez’s side earned an impressive goalless draw with Atletico Madrid and then beat Rayo Vallecano and Alaves.

Although the hosts still go into the match as clear favourites, Real Madrid have struggled to score from open play against a deep defence; four of Los Blancos’ nine La Liga goals this season have come from the penalty spot. In addition, Ancelotti is likely to rotate his starting XI to rest recently returned players such as Bellingham and Tchouaméni and avoid over-exertion. The Frenchman in particular was reportedly still struggling with foot discomfort during the midweek UCL match.

Luka Modrić and Arda Güler could get the nod as Ancelotti works to keep his squad fit and fresh a week before Real Madrid’s clash with Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid’s expected line-up against Espanyol: Courtois; Carvajal, Militão, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde,
Modrić, Guler; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius

If Ancelotti really wants to rotate his eleven, Endrick, Fran García and Lucas Vázquez could also play a lot of minutes against Espanyol.

Real Madrid vs Espanyol kicks off at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 21.