Real Madrid will play Deportivo de La Coruna on Wednesday at 21:00 in the Teresa Herrera Trophy, a competition the club has not entered since 2013. The match can be watched on TVE and Real Madrid Televisión.
Real Madrid won the trophy that year for the ninth time in its history. The club's previous titles came in 1949, 1953, 1966, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1994, meaning the team returns to the competition thirteen years after its last appearance.
Third preseason test
The game in La Coruna will be Jose Mourinho's third preparation match of the preseason. Real Madrid has already drawn 2-2 with Fiorentina and beaten Ferencvaros 1-2. The squad list confirms the Portuguese coach will again be without several important players.
Marc Cucurella, Yan Diomande and Ibrahima Konate, the three most recent arrivals at the club, will not travel to Galicia and so will not yet make their debut in the white shirt. Kylian Mbappe, who arrived on Monday, and Thibaut Courtois, who joined training over the weekend, are also absent. Aurelien Tchouameni, who is carrying a knock, trained inside the club's facilities and is left out of the squad.
Mourinho turns to the academy
With so many absences, Mourinho has again called up players from the reserve team to fill out the squad. The list includes several academy names across almost every position.
In goal are Andriy Lunin and Sergio Mestre. The defense is made up of Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alvaro Carreras, Joan Martinez, Denzel Dumfries, Antonio Rudiger, Mario Rivas and Lamini Fati. The midfield features Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde, Arda Guler, Bernardo Silva, Cestero, Lacosta and Alexis Ciria. The forward line is Brahim Diaz, Endrick, Vinicius Junior, Carlos Espi and Yanez.
Final session before travel
Real Madrid closed its preparation with a session combining activation drills, running and rondos, followed by pressing and possession exercises finishing with shots on goal. Training ended with small-sided games.
Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Rodrygo Goes continued their respective recovery processes and remain in the treatment room.
Wednesday's match will give minutes to several players who need match rhythm and allow Mourinho to keep evaluating combinations. Real Madrid arrives at the Teresa Herrera with a squad heavily reshaped by absences and needs to build good form. After this game, the team faces Schalke on Sunday before LaLiga begins against Espanyol on the 22nd.
