Real Madrid Eying Third Place
VICTOR TORRES / Shutterstock.com
There is one match in La Liga during the week and it sees defending champions Real Madrid travel to play Leganes at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
This is a game in hand for both teams following Real Madrid’s involvement in the Club World Cup and Leganes can move up to 11th place in La Liga with a win.
Real Madrid start the match in 4th place in La Liga but are just a point behind Valencia, who occupy 3rd place and Los Blancos have this game in hand. A win would not only see them move above Valencia but also open a gap between themselves and 5th place Sevilla.
Leganes come into this match having lost 3-0 at Girona on Friday night and are in danger of slipping down towards the bottom of the table. Trends show they have lost each of their last three matches in all competitions, with one coming in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey and the other two in the league.
Leganes have now gone five games without a win but this is the first of two home matches in succession and they will hope to make home advantage count.
At home, Leganes have lost only four of their fifteen games in all competitions this season. One of the defeats was against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey but Leganes overturned the deficit at the Santiago Bernabeu to progress to the semi-final.
Leganes have conceded in each of their last four home games.
Real Madrid were involved in a fantastic match against Real Betis on Sunday night as they defeated the hosts in a 5-3 thriller. Having taken the lead to then fall 2-1 behind, three unanswered goals, followed by a fifth at full-time secured maximum points for Zinedine Zidane’s team.
Defending seems to have gone out of the window in recent games for Real Madrid and they are focusing their efforts on outscoring the opposition. The defending champions have seen 39 goals in their last seven games in all competitions, scoring 29 themselves but conceding 10, including at least one goal in each match.
Away from home, Real Madrid are undefeated in their last nine matches, including wins at APOEL, Numancia, Leganes, Valencia and Real Betis. Real Madrid have scored 2 or more goals in 4 of their last 5 away games.
Looking ahead to the team news and Leganes are still without the injured duo of Alexander Szymanowski and Mauro dos Santos. Miguel Guerrero may get the nod in attack over Claudio Beauvue.
Real Madrid will travel without the injured Toni Kroos, who is expected to be side-lined with a knee injury until early March. Jesus Vallejo is coming back from a hamstring injury but this game is expected to be too soon for the Spaniard.
Zidane may need to shuffle his pack with the important away leg against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League looming but Real Madrid still have enough attacking talent to score the goals to defeat an out of form Leganes.
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