Real Madrid Sparking into Life?
Ververidis Vasilis / Shutterstock.com
For a club like Real Madrid, a 4th place finish in La Liga would be a disaster and that is where they find themselves heading into this match.
Their opponents this week are Levante and this means Real Madrid will return to Valencia for the second week running. Levante are 16th in the league and involved in a relegation battle. The hosts need a win to move clear of the bottom three.
However, trends show Levante have won just one of their last sixteen La Liga games, which is a remarkably poor statistic. The win came back on the 19th November at Las Palmas and the last time they won in-front of their own fans was on the 21st September.
Levante have lost six and drawn three of their last nine home La Liga matches and the home fans have been starved of something to cheer about for much of this season at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia.
Goal scoring has been a problem for Levante and trends show they have failed to score in six of their last nine league games. They have also kept just one clean sheet in their last seven home La Liga games and will need to tighten up ahead of this game.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways last weekend as they produced one of their most convincing performances of the season to defeat Valencia 4-1 away from home. This result came on the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Leganes in the Copa del Rey.
Having failed to win for three La Liga games in a row, Real Madrid have won their last two league matches and the goals have been flowing again. Zinedine Zidane’s team have scored 11 goals in their last two league games, netting 7 times against Deportivo La Coruna to add to the 4 at Valencia last week.
However, they are still leaking goals and Real Madrid have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last five league games and will be looking to change that run by shutting out Levante on their own turf.
Looking ahead to the team news and Levante have both injury and suspension concerns. They are set to be without Ivan Lopez, Alex Alegria and Raul Fernandez. Both Chema Rodriguez and Jose Campana are suspended.
Real Madrid will be hoping both Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane are fit to take their places at the heart of the defence. Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale should all start in attack as Real Madrid go all out for the win.
Given the recent upturn in Real Madrid’s form in La Liga and Levante’s poor home results, the away team should come away with a convincing win.
Home
Football 
Basketball
Hockey
American Football
Baseball
Rugby
Volleyball
Handball
Esoccer
