Real Madrid vs Grenada

Real Madrid will try today to get the first win in La Liga against Granada. The Andalusian team managed to avoid relegation last year, and they are currently tied with Mourinho's team after a loss against Rayo in the first fixture and a draw against Sevilla in the second.

Given that Granada shouldn't be a very hard team to beat, Mourinho could give some playing time to Michael Essien and Luka Modric. Both players need to feel well on the pitch, and this could be the perfect game for them. Furthermore, Real Madrid's next game will be in two weeks due to FIFA fixtures, so Mourinho might as well give Modric and Essien the starting spots since Croatia and Ghana might do it anyway. Xabi Alonso never gets any rest with Spain's National Team, so Mourinho should rest him today after the tough second game of the Supercup this past Wednesday.

The thing is Mourinho doesn't take that kind of decisions very often. He might prefer to not take any risks and start the players he feels more comfortable with so far and then introduce some substitutions. After all, Real Madrid really needs to beat Granada and not speculate.

Kaká is on the team's list, and according to Marca, Mourinho is happy with his performance in the training sessions so far. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If Mourinho is that happy with him, why has he been on the stands for Real Madrid's past three games? It's true that the situation has changed now, and the Brazilian player might not leave Real Madrid until winter or even next summer, so Kaká might finally be on the bench today instead of watching the game from Bernabéu's stands. Will Mourinho trust him if the game doesn't go so well? It's probably too early to say that.

It'll also be interesting to see which striker Mourinho choses to start today. Higuaín has won his battle against Benzema so far, but he has also missed some very good chances. Benzema will need to start playing at his best if he doesn't want to lose the spot he earned last season. Since Granada will be a defensive-minded team, best choice would be Benzema, whose playmaking skills are certainly better than Higuaín's.

One way or another, Real Madrid will need to be completely focused on this game after the last success with the Supercup title if they don't want to end up losing three more points.

HALA MADRID!!!