Real Madrid will play on the African mainland on Wednesday night
Real, who parted company with Julen Lopetegui following their El Clasico thrashing by Barcelona at the weekend, have been drawn to play UD Melilla in the Copa del Rey in the last 32 of the competition, the first leg taking place on Halloween.
Melilla is a small Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco and is home to just 86,000 inhabitants – not even enough people to fill the Santiago Bernabeu. Their team currently play in Segunda División B – the third tier of Spanish football.
The return leg will take place in the Spanish capital on December 5.
The European Champions have had a miserable start to the 2018/19 season, their weekend hammering in the Camp Nou leaving them ninth in LaLiga, seven points off the top with as many defeats to their name as they have wins.
For now, former midfielder Santiago Solari has taken charge of the team following Lopetegui’s dismissal. Solari has recently been in charge of the club’s B Team – the same role Zinedine Zidane had before he was promoted to first team manager when Real sacked Rafa Benitez as manager in 2016.
It’s been reported that club president Florentino Perez is considering bringing in a more long-term replacement for Lopetegui in the summer. As well as Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino and former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte being linked with the role, it’s also been suggested that Jose Mourinho could make a surprise return to the Bernabeu.
Following their trip to Melilla, Real return to league action against Valladolid in Madrid at the weekend. They will then travel to Poland next week, playing Viktoria Plzen in a Champions League group game.
