How I Figured Out the Starting Lineups for Today’s Derby
Trying to nail down the predicted starting XI—or alineaciones, as we call them here—for Ourense CF against Deportivo La Coruña is always a headache. Especially today, with promotion hopes sitting right on the table. Coaches get paranoid, they throw curveballs, and if you just check the big national sports pages, you’re only getting the general vibe. I needed the real dirt, the whispers that only bounce around the local training grounds. So I set about digging, and I didn’t stop until I felt like I had the truth locked down.
I didn’t start with the usual stuff. That’s a waste of time. I went straight to the club’s official social media feeds, not for the quotes, but for the training pictures. I studied the blurred backgrounds, trying to identify which players were standing near the coach and which ones were just jogging laps. This sounds crazy, but you learn a lot about who’s in favor by who gets to stand closest to the whiteboard during tactical talks.
The Deep Dive: Sifting Through the Noise
My next move was to pull up every local radio snippet I could find from the smaller, regional Galician stations. The key is to find the ones broadcasting from tiny villages near the stadiums. They often have guys who are friends with the kit man or the groundskeeper, and they hear things the big city journalists never do. I wasted four hours listening to distorted audio about the weather and local politics, but I hit paydirt on one podcast.
The host, a bloke named Fernando, mentioned off-hand that he saw Deportivo’s key central defender, Jaime, leaving a training session early on Wednesday. Not a public injury, nothing reported, but he looked “like he was favoring his right thigh.” That was huge. Depor needs Jaime’s stability. If he’s not 100%, they have to adjust their defensive formation completely, likely dropping deeper to protect the back line.
Why did I put in this insane amount of effort? It all started brewing a few weeks back after a really rough incident. I’d been chatting with my cousin, who works for a catering company that services the Ourense stadium. I told him I had a rock-solid prediction for their last match’s lineup, based on what the national papers were saying. He laughed at me. He said, “Mate, the coach benched three players because they were late for the team bus after the trip back from Lugo. The papers never knew because the club hushed it up.” I lost a decent amount of money on a bet that day because I was lazy and trusted the official narrative. I swore I wouldn’t get burned again. That day, I vowed to establish my own low-level network of “human sensors”—people working in the periphery of the club who could feed me those tiny, crucial details.
Verifying the Secrets and Making the Final Call
After finding the Jaime rumor, I went back to work on Ourense. Ourense CF has been running a lot of 4-4-2 formations lately, relying on quick transitions. If Depor is weaker centrally without Jaime, Ourense is going to flood the midfield to win the ball quickly and then launch their wingers. I needed to know which midfielder was the designated ball-winner.
I tracked down an old acquaintance—a photographer who shoots high school soccer but occasionally covers the lower leagues. I promised him I’d shout him dinner. I asked him if he had been near the Ourense training facility recently. He didn’t have much, but he did confirm that the coach was screaming specifically at Soto, the defensive midfielder, during passing drills. Not yelling because Soto was bad, but yelling detailed tactical instructions—which means Soto is the guy they are building the structure around. He’s the linchpin. That was my final confirmation.
I spent the last two hours putting all these little clues together: the early departure of Jaime, the tactical intensity focused on Soto, and the training pictures showing Ourense’s forwards practicing high pressure. It all led me to these final lineups. I feel pretty confident, though remember, a local derby can always bring surprises. But this is the most informed guess you’ll find anywhere.
My Predicted Starting Lineups and Rationale
Ourense CF (The Aggressive 4-4-2)
- Goalkeeper: Ramírez
- Defense: Gómez, Rivas, Torres, Varela (Standard back four, good width)
- Midfield: Peña, Soto (The crucial anchor), López, Iglesias
- Forwards: Delgado, García
Rationale: Soto starts because he is the chosen ball-winner. The formation is built to launch quick attacks wide, trying to catch Depor out if their defensive organization is disrupted by Jaime’s potential absence or reduced mobility.
Deportivo La Coruña (The Cautious 4-2-3-1)
- Goalkeeper: Mackay
- Defense: Antoñito, Lapeña, Granero (Covering for Jaime), Aguilar
- Defensive Midfielders: Bergantiños, Villares
- Attacking Midfielders: Quiles, Soriano, Doncel
- Striker: Miku
Rationale: I am banking on Granero replacing Jaime to avoid risk. They will start with the two holding midfielders (Bergantiños and Villares) to solidify the center, hoping to soak up Ourense’s initial pressure. Miku starts over the quicker forwards because they need someone to hold the ball up and relieve pressure early on. It’s a pragmatic start, designed not to lose, rather than to win big.
I closed down my investigation only when I couldn’t find any conflicting evidence for the substitution of Jaime and the pivotal role of Soto. It was a long night, but this process of connecting fragmented local intelligence is the only way to get these predictions right. Wish me luck—and wish Marco luck with his accumulator!
