Real Madrid will aim to pile on pressure on league leaders Barcelona when they face Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica tomorrow.
Villarreal have proved to be a significant force this season as their 12 wins and eight draws from 26 matches have put them in fifth-place, just five points away from Athletic Bilbao who have played a game more.
The Yellow Submarines’ six-game unbeaten streak came to an end as they suffered a shock defeat to Alaves in their last match. Despite going two men down during the course of the match, Manu Sanchez’s 11th-minute strike stood as the decider of the contest, handing the visitors their sixth defeat of the season.
Marcelino will hope to use the positive momentum of his side and convert it into a top-four finish this campaign, something which the club have not achieved since 2015-16. A large part of their finishing position depends on their final 12 games of the campaign and overcoming Real Madrid would produce a huge step in their stride.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid enter into this match after securing a route to the Champions League quarter-finals in spectacular fashion as they earned the bragging rights over Atletico Madrid on penalties. Julian Alvarez’s early goal in the second leg levelled the scores on aggregate and Los Blancos failed to find a way through the Atleti defence throughout the 120 minutes of the contest. Finally, they netted four of their five spotkicks to win the knockout match.
Defeat to Real Betis dislodged Real Madrid from the LaLiga league leaders position as Barcelona reclaimed the spot. However, they are currently level on points with the Catalans having played an additional game but a victory tomorrow could change things quickly. Real will have one eye on Barcelona’s match against Atletico Madrid on Sunday as a negative result for the visitors that day could hand Madridistas an advantage.
Here are the results from their last five matches across all competitions
Villarreal:
L D W W W
Real Madrid:
W W W L W
Team News
Marcelino is set to have a refreshed side for the match with the exceptions of Gerard Moreno and Ilias Akhomach.
Thierno Barry is set to deputize for Nicholas Pepe.
As for Real Madrid, Ferland Mendy joins the injured list with Dani Carvajal, Jesus Vallejo, Eder Militao and Dani Ceballos.
Fran Garcia is set to start as the left-back. Luka Modric is expected to be rested.
Predicted XIs
Villarreal: Conde; Foyth, Kambwala, Costa, S Cardona; Pino, Gueye, Parejo, Baena; Barry, Perez.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Vazquez, Asencio, Rudiger, F Garcia; Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius.