Malmo vs. Real Madrid: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info

Among the footballing destinations around Europe, Malmo in south-west Sweden doesn't exactly rank highly in terms of glamour. Though it's the birthplace of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and its team once reached a European Cup final in 1979, Malmo will have hardly been considered a daunting draw by Real Madrid when they were matched up with the Swedish outfit in Group A of this season's Champions League.

For Malmo, however, clashes with the competition's 10-time champions should be daunting. Or at least that's the theory. 

"They know nothing about us," said Malmo manager Age Hareide of Real Madrid this week, per Marca, speaking like a coach ready to lead an ambush or engage in guerrilla warfare. "And they're only human."

Though such bullishness might seem misplaced to many, Hareide's men have experience making life difficult for visitors from the Spanish capital.

In last season's Champions League, Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid endured an arduous night at the Swedbank Stadion. Malmo's intensity and pressure caught Simeone's team somewhat off-guard, and they scraped past the hosts with a 2-0 victory that was considerably more difficult than the scoreline suggested.

"A relief," was how Simeone described his team's clinching goal afterward.  

Malmo appear intent on making life just as uncomfortable for Atleti's neighbours, Real Madrid, on Wednesday—starting with Cristiano Ronaldo. 

"He's perfect for the job. He isn't scared of anyone," said Hareide of right-back Anton Tinnerholm, the player who'll be charged with the responsibility of man-marking the Portuguese. "I promise you that he's going to be all over him." 

Malmo's plan doesn't stop with Ronaldo, though. 

This week, the club has narrowed its pitch for this encounter with European royalty, bringing in each sideline by a metre, essentially telling Real in advance exactly what they're in for: a congested scrap. Malmo, you sense, won't care if it isn't pretty. Madrid might, however. 

After drawing a blank at home against Malaga on Saturday, Rafa Benitez's Real Madrid will want to quickly re-establish some rhythm and fluency in attack, particularly given the way deep-lying sides have blunted them so far this season. 

Indeed, Saturday's scoreless stalemate with the Andalusians came seven days after a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 victory over Granada at the Bernabeu, and to open the season, Benitez's men couldn't find a way through the newly promoted Sporting Gijon. 

"The team are creating plenty of chances," said Benitez on Tuesday, per Marca. "We aren't conceding, but it's true that we need to improve in front of goal."

If anything needs to improve, it's their clarity of purpose going forward. 

Though it was scarcely believable that Real Madrid came out of their tussle with Malaga without a goal after taking 31 shots, including 14 from Ronaldo, there was a somewhat chaotic feeling and a sense of predictability to Real's attacking method.

"A tactical blockage," said AS in its match report. "It's a Madrid we haven't seen since the days of Zamorano, Hugo and Santillana: Cristiano, deployed in a central role, waiting for a never-ending supply of balls whipped in from either wing."

That essentially summed it up, and Benitez and his players will be eager to address the issue, none more so than Ronaldo, who remains just three goals shy of breaking Raul's club record of 323 goals. 

We've said it before, but might Wednesday be the day?

Match Details

Date: Wednesday, September 30

Time: 7:45 p.m. BST / 2:45 p.m. EDT / 8:45 p.m. local

Venue: Swedbank Stadion, Malmo, Sweden

TV Info: BT Sport (UK), Fox Sports (U.S.)

Live Stream: BT Sport (UK), Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S.)

Form Lines

Malmo	Real Madrid
D: 0-0 vs. Halmstad	D: 0-0 vs. Malaga
W: 4-3 vs. Falkenberg	W: 2-1 vs. Athletic Bilbao
W: 2-0 vs. Djurgarden	W: 1-0 vs. Granada
L: 0-2 vs. Paris Saint-Germain	W: 4-0 vs. Shakhtar Donetsk
D: 1-1 vs. Elfsborg	W: 6-0 vs. Espanyol
W: 3-0 vs. Helsingborg	W: 5-0 vs. Real Betis

Team News

For Real Madrid, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Danilo all remain unavailable for this meeting with Malmo due to injury. However, Jese has been selected in the 20-man squad despite leaving the pitch early against Malaga on Saturday. 

As such, Raphael Varane and Nacho will continue as Benitez's centre-back pairing, while Mateo Kovacic could possibly come back into the XI alongside Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in a bid to recapture some passing fluency in midfield. 

For Malmo, goalkeeper Zlatan Azinovic is sidelined with a knee injury, while centre-back Rasmus Bengtsson and forward Guillermo Molins are doubtful for Wednesday's game. 

Hareide will be sweating the fitness of Bengtsson in particular, who, if available, will likely stand in the middle of a back three flanked by wing-backs, as seen against Paris Saint-Germain on Matchday 1. 

Predicted Lineups

B/R UK

In the Spotlight

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

When Rafa Benitez took over from Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid this summer, one of his core objectives was to carefully manage the minutes of key players whose energy levels became depleted under the Italian's extremely consistent selection policy. And no player would have been a more obvious case in that regard than Toni Kroos. 

After a sparkling opening to his Real Madrid career, the German looked like a horse trying to pull a commercial aeroplane by the end of the 2014-15 season, his tank depleted and his legs destroyed by a workload placed upon him in midfield that could only be described as barbaric. 

Undoubtedly, Benitez will have wanted to restrict Kroos' playing time in these early stages of the new campaign, ensuring he's able to go the distance, but the new manager has instead been confronted with a plethora of injuries that have forced him to do otherwise. 

Indeed, without the likes of Rodriguez and Bale available to him, Benitez has found himself in a position in which he can't remove his most talented midfielders without the presence of two of his game-changing stars up front. Essentially, while his team's attack is short-handed, he must ensure the supply line isn't similarly so.  

As such, Kroos' legs haven't been spared at all this season, and against Malaga, it was evident the former Bayern Munich star was still some distance from peak condition, with Marca going as far as calling him "sluggish." And until others return, rest likely won't come for Kroos, who will face a Malmo outfit intent on swarming him on Wednesday.

Odds

Malmo: 13-1

Draw: 6-1

Real Madrid: 1-5

Odds via Odds Shark.

Follow @TimDCollins