REAL MADRID U19S

Our round of 16 opponents are coached by ex-professional Alvaro Arbeloa. During his playing days, the 41-year-old played for Real Madrid and Liverpool FC, among others. Arbeloa won the Champions League twice, the championship once with Los Blancos, and the former defender became world champion and twice European champion with the Spanish national team. In 2017, he ended his career at West Ham United.

In the league, the Spanish U19s are in second place behind city rivals Atletico Madrid. So far, Real have won 15 wins and 47 points from 21 games. On Saturday, Real Madrid won 5-0 against Union Andarve. Forward Hugo de Llanos has already scored 14 goals.

In the preliminary round of the UEFA Youth League, Real Madrid marched into the knockout round as group winners. In a group with Sporting Braga, SSC Napoli and Union Berlin, Real won comfortably, earning 14 points, scoring 14 goals and conceding one. De Llanos scored four times. Their two attackers, Cesar Palacios and Iker Bravo, are also extremely dangerous.

Bravo is on loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen; the 19-year-old played for die Werkself once in the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup at 16.

"Real Madrid have a very strong team. We are preparing for a very intense game in which we will be particularly challenged defensively. Nevertheless, the plan is to exploit Real's weaknesses and always pose a threat to the opponent's goal to come," estimated Sebastian Heidinger in advance.