Preview: WSG Tirol vs Real Madrid – prediction, team news

Real Madrid will play their first and final pre-season friendly of the summer in Austria on Tuesday, with the Spanish giants taking on WSG Swarovski Tirol.

Los Blancos will begin their 2025-26 La Liga campaign against Osasuna on August 19, while WSG Tirol are three matches into their domestic season, and they have posted three straight wins.

Match preview

Real Madrid’s first-team squad have been on a break since suffering a 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the 2025 Club World Cup on July 9.

Little over one month later, Los Blancos will play their first and only pre-season friendly of the summer, with Xabi Alonso’s side set to line up against Austrian side WSG Tirol, just seven days before their La Liga opener against Osasuna.

Real Madrid will know the task ahead of them in La Liga considering Barcelona’s excellence last season, and it is set to be another fascinating battle at the top of the division; new head coach Xabi Alonso will not have time to settle, though, with immediate success demanded at Bernabeu.

Los Blancos have made four signings during this summer’s transfer window, boosting their defence with the arrivals of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Alvaro Carreras, while excellent teenager Franco Mastantuono is an incredibly exciting player in the final third of the field.

Real Madrid will be expecting nine points from their opening three games in August, following the fixture against Osasuna with matches against Real Oviedo and Mallorca, before taking on Real Sociedad in their first match of September.

WSG Tirol started their 2025-26 campaign on July 25, recording a 4-0 victory over Traiskirchen in the Austrian Cup, while they have won their two Austrian Bundesliga matches this season.

Indeed, Philipp Semlic’s side beat Hartberg 4-2 in their opener on August 2 before recording a 3-1 victory over LASK on August 10, so the team have been full of goals at the start of the new campaign.

WSG Tirol are top of the Austrian Bundesliga with six points from two matches, and they will be back in league action against GAK on August 16, but this glamour friendly will mean a lot to the club.

The Austrian side have never won their country’s top division, but they did triumph in the Austrian Second Division in 2018-19 to secure a return to the first tier.

While Tuesday’s game is a friendly, a positive performance and result against a team of Real Madrid’s ilk would do a lot for them in terms of their confidence for the remainder of this season. 

WSG Swarovski Tirol form (all competitions):

WWW

Team News

The fact that this match comes just two days after WSG Tirol’s league game against LASK means that changes will be made throughout the contest in order to keep the players fresh.

Valentino Muller has been in stunning form at the start of the season, scoring five times in three appearances from a defensive midfield role, and the 26-year-old will be a player to watch for the hosts.

Meanwhile, there are set to be spots in the forward areas for Tobias Anselm and Moritz Wels, who have both found the back of the net twice for the Austrian side during the early stages of this season.

As for Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham is out of action, potentially until October, following a shoulder operation, while Eduardo Camavinga has a fresh ankle issue and is unlikely to be involved on Tuesday night.

The speculation surrounding Rodrygo’s future at Real Madrid continues, but the absences of Bellingham and Camavinga could mean that the Brazilian starts alongside Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior in the final third of the field.

Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen and Carreras are all in line to start, but fellow new signing Mastantuono will not link up with the team until he turns 18 on August 14, so the Argentina international will not be involved here.

WSG Swarovski Tirol possible starting lineup:

Stejskal; Boras, Gugganig, Lawrence; Butler, Taferner, Muller, Bockle; Wels, Anselm, Sabitzer

Real Madrid possible starting lineup:

Courtois; Tchouameni, Rudiger, Huijsen; Alexander-Arnold, Guler, Valverde, Carreras; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius

We say: WSG Swarovski Tirol 1-3 Real Madrid

WSG Tirol are three matches into their season, and the hosts have been in good form, so we are expecting this to be a test for Real Madrid. However, the away side’s additional quality all over the pitch should see them pick up a relatively comfortable win.

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