The 36th edition of the 2015 Santiago Bernabeu Trophy will witness Real Madrid host Turkish giants Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Real Madrid has won the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy 24 times ever since its inception in 1979, except in 2014, when it was not held.
Real Madrid will be eager to win the trophy for the 25th time, but they face a stiff competition from Turkey's elite club, Galatasaray, who last played for the trophy in 2011, which they lost 1-2. Can the Turkish club turn their fortunes around this time?
Football fans, who have followed Real Madrid's pre season campaign closely, might find it hard to put Real Madrid as second favourite, especially after Real Madrid defeated teams such as Manchester City, Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur in the last couple of months. But their last performance against Valerenga on 9 August in Oslo was far from impressive, when they drew 0-0.
With the La Liga scheduled to start next season, Real's fixture against Galatasaray shall also bring the pre season friendlies to an end. Hence, they were will be eager to come up with some brilliant performance and head into their first match against Sporting at El Molinón with their tails up on Sunday.
Ahead of their clash against the Turkish giants, Real Madrid have been involved in some serious training under the watchful eyes of Rafa Benitez, who joined Real Madrid during the summer from Napoli.
It will be interesting to note the formation and the strategy Rafa Benitez, who will be eager to lift the La Liga as well as the champions league, will employ.
With the season opener on Sunday, will Rafa rest his key players or play with his best eleven so as to get some crcuial game time before the season kicks off?
All such questions shall be answered tonight.
Irrespective of the team that will be on show for the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy, the Whites are not going to be short of quality, for they have a very strong squad.
However, Real Madrid are not expected to take Galatasaray lightly for they are a major force and with the latest signing of German striker Lukas Podolski, they will be a huge threat. Apart from Podolski, they also have the class of the former Real Madrid star, Weisley Sneijder, who is still a highly-rated played in Europe.
Where to Watch Live
Real Madrid vs Galatasaray live match is scheduled for 10:30pm local time (2am IST, 9:30 pm BST) start. Unfortunately there is no live TV coverage in India.
Viewers in Spain can watch the game in La Sexta, and Turkish viewers have the provision of watching the Real Madrid vs Galatasaray game Live on TRT 3 Spor.
International viewers can watch it on Real Madrid TV.
