Sunday afternoon in Madrid will see Real Madrid square off with relegation-threatened Sporting Gijón -- but the focus of the day is only going to be partially on what’s going on in the action on the pitch. No, most of the day’s story will be about Zinedine Zidane, the legendary player turned new manager, still just two weeks into his tenure of his first senior management job -- and what a doozy of a job it is, running Real Madrid.
Real Madrid vs. Sporting Gijón 2016 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to La Liga online
Zinedine Zidane is about to lead his second match in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Denis Doyle/Getty Images
Zidane acquitted himself well in his first match, leading a 5-0 beating of Deportivo de La Coruña, but now he’s going to have to do it again with Madrid hosting Gijón. He still has time before his first match that’s truly tricky on paper -- next month’s clash with Athletic Bilbao is his first against a team currently in the top half of La Liga -- but Zidane will need to continue to prove himself again and again in each match Madrid play until then. There’s a lot left to learn about what kind of manager Zidane is and how well he can do leading Real Madrid, and games like this will help us start to peel back the layers to come to the truth of the matter.
Key factor -- Real Madrid’s focus under Zinedine Zidane
This isn’t a huge test yet for Zidane as the manager of one of the biggest clubs in the world, but it could prove a telling one. This will be just his second match in charge, and with Madrid facing a team in the relegation zone, it’s not entirely inconceivable that his players could lose focus and expose themselves to danger against a not-at-all-incapable opponent. Zidane needs to keep his players on-task and completely focused on the match at hand, and that’s not always an easy job for a new manager in charge of so many big-time stars.
Key player -- Alen Halilovic (Sporting Gijón)
The young Croatian has been arguably Gijón’s best and most important player this season, proving to be their only reliable playmaking presence and one of their biggest goalscoring threats at the same time. There’s another factor for him at play in this match, though -- he’s a loanee from Barcelona, and he will be eager to show his parent club that he too can put Real Madrid to the sword and come up huge against Barca’s arch-rivals.
Real Madrid injuries and suspensions
Out: None In doubt: Sergio Ramos
Sporting Gijón injuries and suspensions
Out: Bernardo Espinosa
Match Date/Time: Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. local
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain
TV: beIN Sports (U.S. & Canada, English), beIN Sports en Español (U.S. & Canada - Spanish)
Online: beIN Sports Connect, Fubo TV (U.S. & Canada),
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