Real Madrid renew their rivalry with Juventus

Real Madrid will renew their rivalry with Juventus when the teams meet in the International Champions Cup (ICC) at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Sunday, 5 August 2018, kick-off at 00h05 CAT.

The teams have been regular combatants in European club competition in recent years, and their rivalry has been given further spice by the shock transfer of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from Los Blancos to the Old Lady for a fee of €100 million earlier this month.

The 33-year-old has begun training with the Italian side this week and could well be in action against his former club come Sunday morning.

Real will come into the game on the back of their opening ICC match against Manchester United in Miami on Wednesday, with new coach Julen Lopetegui looking to stamp his authority on Los Blancos and ensure they continue to enjoy success, even without the talismanic Ronaldo.

Juve will also have been in midweek action, taking on the MLS All-Stars team in a friendly in Atlanta on Thursday following on from ICC wins over Bayern Munich (2-0) and Benfica (on penalties after a 1-1 draw).

Coach Massimiliano Allegri is looking to fine-tune his team ahead of their Serie A title defence, which begins with a clash away to Chievo two weeks after this friendly against Real Madrid.

In head-to-head stats, Real and Juve have met in 21 matches across all competitions since their first meeting in 1962. Los Blancos have claimed 10 wins compared to nine for the Old Lady, while just two games have been drawn.

The teams’ most recent meeting was in the quarterfinals of last season’s UEFA Champions League: Real triumphed 3-0 in Turin and Juve won 3-1 in Madrid to see the Spanish side advance 4-3 on aggregate en route to winning the competition for a third successive year.

Real would usually be the favourites to claim victory in this encounter, but the fact that Juve are further on on their preseason programme and will be able to call upon Ronaldo gives them the edge for this game in Maryland.

Real Madrid v Juventus – Head-to-Head (all competitions, no friendlies included)

Matches played 21

Real Madrid wins 10

Juventus wins 9

Draws 2