After Deportivo there is no match left in which to fix anything.
Real Madrid’s next opponents are Ajax, with a place in the league phase of the Champions League at stake.
Pau Quesada’s side close their pre-season on Sunday against Deportivo at 20:00 CEST —19:00 in the United Kingdom— at the Ciudad Real Madrid, the club’s training complex. Real Madrid TV will show the match live.
For Deportivo it is a fourth friendly of the summer and by some distance the hardest. It also serves as a preview: the two sides meet again on 13 September at Riazor, Deportivo’s ground in A Coruña, on the third matchday of Liga F.
Three wins and a warning
Real Madrid started pre-season with two 2-0 victories, over Madrid CFF and Crystal Palace.
Sevilla interrupted that run by winning 2-4 in Marbella. The Andalusians were three goals clear in the 86th minute; Däbritz and Schröder pulled two back in a finish that produced three goals in total.
The response came on Wednesday against Tottenham. The English side led inside five minutes, but Schröder and Linda Caicedo had completed the turnaround before the half hour. The Swede finished a through ball from Caicedo, and the Colombian then seized a loose ball in the area to make it 1-2.
Schröder has scored in each of the last two matches and is the only Real Madrid player to have scored in more than one match this pre-season. The side have three wins and one defeat, with eight goals scored and five conceded.
From here the calendar allows no room: Real Madrid visit Ajax on 26 August, host Atlético Madrid four days later and play the return leg of the European tie on 2 September.
Deportivo have not conceded all summer
Alberto Rodríguez’s side began the summer with a goalless draw against Athletic Club in Luanco.
Six days later they beat Sporting Gijón, a Segunda Federación club, 9-0 to win the Trofeo Emma Cuervo, one of the summer trophies Spanish clubs contest during pre-season. Millene marked her return to competition with three goals.
The Brazilian forward scored again on Thursday against Porto. Her header just before half-time opened a match that Eva Dios closed in the 87th minute. The 2-0 win gave Deportivo a sixth Trofeo Teresa Herrera, the summer tournament held in A Coruña.
Three matches into pre-season, the Galicians have yet to concede. Visiting the reigning Liga F runners-up will test that record against far greater attacking resources than they have faced so far.
The trip also comes in the week the club completed the permanent return of Inês Pereira. The Portugal goalkeeper, who spent the past two seasons on loan from Everton, has signed until 2029.
Eight players are away with Spain Under-20s
Both squads are missing players to Spain’s training camp for the Under-20 World Cup.
Ainoa Gómez and Marisa García are away from Deportivo. Alberto Rodríguez is also without Esperanza Pizarro, who is being rested to manage her workload, and Merle Barth, who has a problem with the sole of her foot.
Real Madrid contribute six players to the camp: Bibiana Casquero, Irune Dorado, Laia López, Noe Bejarano, Pau Comendador and Silvia Cristóbal. The camp began on 10 August and finishes on Wednesday 19.
Pau Quesada is also without Athenea del Castillo. The forward fractured her right collarbone in the friendly against Madrid CFF and had surgery on 3 August.
They meet again in September
Sunday offers a first look at the fixture the two sides will play at Riazor in four weeks’ time.
Real Madrid won both meetings last season: 4-0 at home at the Alfredo Di Stéfano and 2-4 away in A Coruña. The second was level until the 73rd minute, when Caroline Weir converted the first of the two penalties that settled it.
Before they meet again, Deportivo open their league campaign against Sevilla on 29 August. Real Madrid follow a day later against Atlético Madrid, a fixture that falls between the two legs of their European tie with Ajax.
Sunday’s friendly kicks off at 20:00 CEST at the Ciudad Real Madrid and is live on Real Madrid TV.
