Preview: Second meets third as Madrid take on Villarreal
Real Madrid and Villarreal go head-to-head at the Bernabéu on Saturday evening as the home side look to bounce back from their derby thrashing to rivals Atlético last weekend.
Xabi Alonso’s men had won all six of their LaLiga fixtures until they visited the Metropolitano last Saturday.
What happened next was scarcely believable. For the first time since 1950, Atlético scored five goals against their biggest rivals, securing a 5-2 victory in the process.
Real bounced back on Tuesday evening with a solid 5-0 win over Champions League debutants Kairat in what was their second successive win in the competition.
Villarreal secured a share of the spoils against Italian giants Juventus on Wednesday evening as Renato Veiga scored a late equaliser.
They have enjoyed an excellent start to the domestic campaign, winning five of the opening seven LaLiga matches to occupy third in the table.
Team news
Alonso will be without the services of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, Ferland Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger for the weekend clash.
Éder Militão should be ready to return to the starting XI while Jude Bellingham could be set to make just his second start of the season after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Villarreal are missing several key players for this crucial league match. Indeed, Logan Costa, Willy Kambwala, Juan Foyth and Pau Cabanes are all definitely out.
Ayoze Pérez and Gerard Moreno are considered major doubts, meaning manager Marcelino will have to make a few changes to his starting XI.
Kylian Mbappé is a man in form
This tie is a tricky one for Los Blancos undoubtedly, but Alonso will be counting on Mbappé to continue his impressive scoring streak.
The Frenchman has scored in his previous eight matches for club and country, netting a hat-trick last time out against Kairat in the Champions League.
In his debut campaign at Madrid, Mbappé scored 44 goals in all competitions for the club. After just nine club appearances this term, the 26-year-old has already notched 13 goals. Expect him to be Madrid’s main threat in the final third against the Yellow Submarine.
Villarreal’s defence is stubborn
After seven rounds of matches in LaLiga, Villarreal have conceded just five goals. Alongside Barcelona, this is the best defensive record in the league.
They rank joint-first in LaLiga for goals conceded per game (0.7) and for clean sheets (3), with only Barcelona matching either of these numbers.
Keeping Mbappé and co quiet will arguably be their hardest challenge of the season so far for Villarreal, but don’t be surprised to see the home side drawing a blank.
Prediction
Madrid will be in a confident mood coming off a 5-0 European victory and they will be aiming to return to winning ways in LaLiga.
Marcelino’s men won’t make it easy at the Bernabéu, that’s for sure. But we at FotMob are predicting a narrow 1-0 win for Los Blancos – a result that will see them leapfrog Barcelona at the top of the table.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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