Eibar vs Real Madrid, La Liga 2018 Match Preview, Injuries, Potential XIs, Prediction

Match Preview

Real Madrid are back in action for the first time since they defeated PSG at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. Saturday, Real stay on the road and travel to the Municipal de Ipurua to take on Basque Country-side Eibar.

Real are currently in 3rd in La Liga with 54 points on the season, still 7 behind Atletico and still 15 behind Barcelona. But, they are only 1 point ahead of Valencia in 4th. The good, though, is that they are 9 points ahead of Sevilla and should stay in the top 4. They won their last match in Liga against Getafe last Saturday. And, of course, their heads are held up pretty high coming off their big win in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Eibar sit in 8th with 39 points on the season. They drew their last match on Saturday against Deportivo.

Injuries

There are no injuries to the current roster. Marcelo, Modric, and Kroos are all back to being fully healthy as we saw against PSG. Jesus Vallejo also returned to training last week and seems to have made a recovery after his lengthy injury.

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Navas; Carvajal, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro, Isco, Kroos; Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema

This is a match where Zidane can rest some of the starters after having a huge bout with PSG in the 2nd leg of the Round of 16. While Eibar is in the top 10, this still isn’t too huge of a match on Real’s schedule, though one they should take 3 points from.

Nacho could potentially fill in for Varane and see some more action. He’s done rather well this season filling in for both Varane and Ramos at times during injury.

In the midfield, one of Kroos or Modric will likely start. It’s doubtful both play so soon after both have recovered from injury, which means Isco could be slotted in for a start.

The BBC will likely start together after not doing so against PSG. This is a match where Bale should get a start in order to secure 3 points.

Zidane has many different options at his disposal with his squad fully healthy now, so this is just one of many different possibilities that could feature against Eibar on Saturday. Asensio, Vasquez, and Modric could feature as substitutes.

Eibar

Dmitrovic; Oliveira, Ramis, Arbilla; Capa, Escalante, Carrillo, Jordan, Junca; Kike, Enrich

Prediction

3-1 Real Madrid-Eibar

If this is similar to the lineup Zidane actually goes with, there’s no reason they can’t take all 3 points from this match (barring a lackluster effort). They should be motivated after defeating PSG, but there’s no sure thing with how this season has gone for Real in La Liga.

With Real staying on the road for this match, it’s even more important that they put their best effort forth and try to get the opening goal for this match. They can’t afford to come out flat just because they had a big match on Tuesday, though the goal is to maintain a top 4 spot in La Liga the remainder of the season.

This should be a good match and one where Real puts in the work and takes home all available points in order to maintain their spot in 3rd.

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA

Date: 3/10/2018

Time: 13:00 CET, 07:00am EST, 04:00am Pacific.

Venue: Ipurua, Eibar, Spain.

Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), BeIN La Liga (Spain).

Available Streaming: BeIN Sports (USA),Fubo.TV (EVERY Real Madrid game with a high-quality and legal stream, click here to sign up and benefit from a winter discount for new members and Managing Madrid readers).