Real Madrid vs Las Palmas, 2017 La Liga: Match Preview

Who would have thought that Real Madrid could have come back and won Sunday’s match against Villarreal? Nevertheless, this awe-inspiring victory by Zinedine Zidane and company can’t be celebrated for long as they must prepare for their midweek match against Las Palmas on Wednesday.

Real Madrid will be heading into the game after a bumpy week that featured a loss to Valencia and a narrow win against Villarreal. Los Blancos will want to take all three points in easy fashion against Las Palmas, who have drastically dipped in form since the start of the La Liga season.

Las Palmas will be entering the match with a four-game losing streak, all of which were narrow losses with a goal margin of -1. Las Palmas started the season out near the top of the table but after their recent spell, they have found themselves sitting in twelfth place, five points behind eleventh placed Alaves.

With Madrid having to quickly prepare for yet another game after Wednesday’s outing, they will hope to find their weekday match against Las Palmas to be effortless. Within the next twelve days, Madrid will play four games against Las Palmas, Eibar, Napoli, and Real Betis. Although these matches look easy on the stat sheet, the minimum amount of rest may affect the league leaders.

PROJECTED STARTING XI:

Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Isco, Kovacic, James; Bale, Ronaldo, Morata

Las Palmas: Varas; Simon, Artiles Oliva, Bigas, Lopes; Gomez, Quevedo, Boateng, Viera; Jese, Tana

Player to Watch: It has been less than a year since Real Madrid decided to transfer away Spanish winger Jese Rodriguez to Paris Saint-Germain. Since his arrival to Paris, Rodriguez has found himself loaned to La Liga side Las Palmas. Due to his return to Spanish football, Jese has found himself preparing to play a match against his boyhood club. Both side of fans should expect a huge effort from the 24-year-old as he will attempt to show Real Madrid what he has to offer.

X-Factor: At this stage of his career, Alvaro Morata is one of the most prolific back up strikers in the world. Banging in more goals that the man he backs up, Morata is starting to show why he deserves the starting spot. The Spanish striker currently holds the club’s second highest tally of goals with 12 in all competitions. The striker left Madrid before for playing time, if he doesn’t receive any more soon, he might leave again.

Time and Location: Wednesday, March 1^st 2017 at 3:30 PM EST at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

How to watch

Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Movistar Partidazo (Spain).

Available streaming: BeIN Sports Connect (USA), Fubo.TV (EVERY Real Madridgame with a high-quality and legal stream, click here to sign up and benefit from a huge offer for new members and Managing Madrid readers).

For listings in other countries, check out LiveSoccerTV.com.

Past Meeting: September 24^th 2016: 2-2 draw

Top Goal Scorer (Goals (all comps)):

Real Madrid:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - 16 (23)

2. Alvaro Morata – 8 (12)

3. Gareth Bale – 7 (9)

Las Palmas:

1. Kevin-Prince Boateng – 6 (6)

2. Jonathan Viera – 5 (5)

3. Marko Livaja – 4 (6)

Table (Record: W-D-L):

Real Madrid: 1st – 55pts (17-4-2)

Las Palmas: 12^th – 28pts (7-7-10)