The LA Galaxy, Major League Soccer and CAA Sports announced today that the Galaxy will face La Liga champions Real Madrid in an international friendly at The Home Depot Center on Thursday, August 2. That game, which will kick off at 7:30 p.m., will be played as part of the World Football Challenge, which returns this summer, featuring a number of Europe’s top club teams taking on the best of MLS. Complete ticketing information for this game will be released at a future date.
This will be the second friendly of the summer at The Home Depot Center for the Galaxy, who are also scheduled to face Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, July 24.
“We are excited to give our fans a chance to see the Galaxy take on one of the best clubs in the world in Real Madrid,” said Galaxy COO, Chris McGowan. “This will be a tremendous event for Southern California soccer fans, especially with the opportunity to see this game in such an intimate setting as The Home Depot Center. It will truly be one of the must-see sporting events of the year.”
This will be the fourth time that the Galaxy face Madrid in Southern California and the first time that the two sides will meet at The Home Depot Center since 2005 when David Beckham made his Southern California debut in front of a capacity crowd of 27,000, helping Madrid to a 2-0 victory. The two sides met at the Rose Bowl in 2010 with the Galaxy taking a 2-0 halftime lead before falling 3-2 in front of more than 89,000 fans. Last summer, the teams met at the L.A. Coliseum, with more than 56,000 fans seeing Spanish side win 4-1.
Winners of nine European championships and 32 Spanish La Liga titles, Real Madrid clinched their first La Liga title since the 2007-08 season on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. Their 31-2-4 record gives them a league-best 97 points while their 117 goals scored and plus-86 goal-differential are the best in La Liga as well.
One of the most successful managers in the soccer world, Jose Mourinho will once again lead Real Madrid into Southern California for the start of their preseason. His squad of international stars is led by Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a team-best 45 goals in the league and 59 in all competitions. He is joined up front by Karim Benzema, and Gonzalo Higuain who have each scored more than 20 goals in La Liga this season. That trio is supported by a midfield that features World Cup winners Xabi Alonso and Kaka as well as young stars Angel Di Maria, Sami Khedria and Mezut Ozil and many more.
Along with their wealth of attacking talent, Madrid also have one of the best defenses in the world with World Cup winner and club captain Iker Casillas leading the way in goal for Jose Mourinho’s squad. In front of him, Sergio Ramos, who was also a member of Spain’s 2010 World Cup winning squad, marshals a back four that also features Portuguese internationals Ricardo Carvalho, Fabio Coentrao and Pepe as well as Brazilian fullback Marcelo and Spanish international Alvaro Arbeloa.
A complete travel roster and itinerary for Real Madrid will be released prior to their arrival in Southern California this summer.
