Match Preview

Real Madrid will travel to the Benito Villamarín on Sunday for the first match this season against Real Betis. Los Blancos won their midweek Copa Del Ray match against Leganes on Wednesday, but have dropped points in their last two LaLiga fixtures.

Betis, who are currently in 7th, are the toughest opponent Real have faced in quite a while, which doesn’t bode well for them given their recent form in the league. Their last two matches, against the 19th and 14th clubs respectively, resulted in a late draw and loss. Betis are faring much better in the standings, currently in 7th and just four points trailing Real.

The midweek win against Leganes was promising, but Real have played much differently in the league than they have in different competitions this season. To add to that, they’ve also been fairly poor on the road. Add to that and they’ve been continuously adding names to the injury list within these last few weeks.

Needless to say, this is going to be tough for Real given the circumstances surrounding Sunday. Being down 10 points to Barcelona is devastating, especially if they maintain this inconsistent, poor form. They’re main focus is starting to look like last season’s, where they need to finish top 4 as their goal for the rest of this season.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid are just being left devastated by all the muscle injuries being suffered by their players. Mariano, Asensio, Llorente, Bale, Kroos, and Courtois are the names that now have the unfortunate pleasure of featuring in the official injury list. Vinicius is also questionable after missing Friday’s training due to the flu.

Sidnei and Júnior Firpo are questionable to feature in this match for Betis.

Lucas Vazquez is the sole player serving suspension for Sunday’s match.

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Navas; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Ceballos; Isco, Brahim, Benzema

Real will be stuck with a Frankenstein’s Monster type lineup on Sunday, a lineup consisting of many random parts. Navas will finally get his LaLiga start with Courtois out, after starting on Wednesday already against Leganes.

With Kroos still out, Ceballos will likely stay in his place as he did against Leganes.

The main questions come up top with who will be joining Benzema. It will likely be Isco at the very least. If Vinicius misses because of illness, then one would think Brahim Diaz gets his first start at Real Madrid against Betis.

Real Betis

Lopez; Mandi, Bartra, Feddal; Carvalho, Canales, Lo Celso, Guardado, Joaquin; Sanabria, Tello

Prediction

Real Madrid-Real Betis 2-2

Given Real’s injury situation, recent LaLiga form, and their play on the road all season there’s not a lot of confidence going into a match against 7th-place Betis. Real are really going to have to dig down deep on Sunday if they want to take home all three points.