Carlos Ancelotti’s team can extend their lead over Barcelona to seven points and eight over Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid can once again become the isolated leader of La Liga today, but to do so they will have to defeat Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Looking at the history of clashes for the League in the Spanish capital, in 23 duels Real Madrid won 15, drew six and lost just two.
Even so, it is still curious that Villarreal’s last victory at the Santiago Bernabéu happened precisely last season, on Matchday 28, by 2-3. And in the game before that, in 2021/22, there was a goalless draw.
Thus, Real Madrid have not won at home against Villarreal since May 22, 2021 (2-1), which could cause some anxiety for the Merengues, who in addition could increase their advantage over Barcelona to seven points and eight for the Atlético Madrid.
Before this match, the topic was the renewal of coach Carlo Ancelotti, which ended up not dispelling the journalists’ curiosity: «The club knows I’m happy. To renew, there is no rush or hassle. My timing is July 1st because we are here until June 30th.”
PROBABLE TEAMS
Real Madrid:Lunin; Lucas Vázquez, Rudiger, Alaba and Mendy; Dani Ceballos, Valverde and Toni Kroos; Jude Bellingham; Rodrigo and Brahim Diaz
Real society:Jorgensen; Altimira, Cuenca, Albiol and Pedraza; Akhomach, Dani Parejo, Capoue e Baena; Sorloth and Gerard Moreno
This will also be a duel between two scorers. Jude Bellingham has so far scored 12 goals and Gerrard Moreno is close, with 8.
Real Sociedad finished the Champions League Group Stage in first place, relegating Inter to second place and Benfica to third. In La Liga the quality of football has been maintained, but only a victory in the Basque Country against Betis allows it to be in a position to access the million-dollar competition.
In the 49 league games at Anoeta, Real Sociedad won 28, drew 15 and lost just 6, a record that shows the capacity of the Basque team.
In goal for Betis will be the Portuguese Rui Silva and on the bench will be William Carvalho. But it would be fair to say that if Álex Remiro has played almost every minute for Real Sociedad, Isco is the most used player in Seville.
PROBABLE TEAMS
Real society: Remiro; Traoré, Zubeldia, Le Normand and Tierney; Mikel Merino and Zubimendi; Kubo, Zakharyan and Oyarzabal; Sadiq
Calf: Rui Silva; Ruibal, Pezzella, Riad and Abner Vinicius; Marc Rock and Altimira; Washed Perez, Isco and Ezzalzouli; Willian Joseph
2023-12-17 08:00:00
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