Preview: Athletic Club look to pile more misery on Real Madrid
Athletic Club will be hoping to take advantage of Real Madrid’s recent LaLiga woes when the clubs clash at the San Mames on Wednesday evening.
The home side recorded a 2-0 victory against Levante over the weekend, while Madrid were held 1-1 by struggling Girona. This marked the third successive league game where they have shared the spoils.
Athletic Club have endured a mixed start to the season
The Basque side may be sitting eighth in the table, but they have lost six of their 14 matches thus far.
As such, the club are currently 11 points adrift of a top four position as they bid to replicate their success last term.
Two recent domestic victories sandwiched a dispiriting 4-0 humbling by Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. Furthermore, Athletic Club also lost 3-2 to their rivals Real Sociedad.
Only Nico Williams, Gorka Guruzeta and Robert Navarro have scored more than twice for the club this season. They will, however, face a Madrid side which is struggling to gain any sort of consistency of late.
There might never be a better time to face Los Blancos. Since the start of the 2015/16 season, the home side have won just four times against Madrid, with only two of those coming in LaLiga.
Is Xabi Alonso the right man for Real Madrid?
Xabi Alonso and Real Madrid appeared to be a match made in heaven. After ten wins across their opening 11 league ties – the only loss being a 5-2 reverse against Atlético Madrid – it looked as though he was settling in nicely.
Since then, the club have drawn three consecutive league games while losing against Liverpool in the Champions League.
Further still, Alonso’s men hardly looked convincing in the 4-3 win over Olympiacos last week, relying on the brilliance from Kylian Mbappé to see them over the line.
Now with Vinícius Júnior halting contract talks with the club due to an alleged fallout with the manager, Alonso has work to do to get his team firing once again.
Team news
Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta will return for the home side following a suspension, although they will be without Oihan Sancet, who remains banned.
In terms of injuries, Athletic Club will be missing Beñat Prados, Unai Egiluz, Maroan Sannadi and Robert Navarro for the clash against Madrid on Wednesday evening.
Iñaki Williams is a doubt having missed the previous seven games, while Aymeric Laporte could return to the starting XI.
Alonso’s injury crisis is alleviating slightly. Éder Militão and Antonio Rüdiger returned from injury against Girona. Elsewhere, Eduardo Camavinga could be back in the starting XI for the away side.
Prediction
A few weeks ago, this tie would have been a lot easier to call. Recent results, however, has changed the complexities of the match, especially as Athletic Club have a great chance of getting a result.
Alonso will be boosted by getting several key players back into his side though and this could help Los Blancos end their three-game winless run.
Athletic Club 1 – 2 Real Madrid is what we are backing here at FotMob.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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