Match Preview

Real Madrid travel away for the first time in a couple weeks when they face off against Eibar at the Ipurua on Saturday.

Away at Eibar is always a tough fixture and Real Madrid haven’t been great on the road this season so far in LaLiga. They lost their last road league match against Mallorca.

Eibar have won their last two league matches. They remain 14th in the LaLiga table.

Real Madrid are third currently, tied on points with Barcelona. Los Blancos failed to capitalize last weekend when Barcelona lost 3-1 to Levante, instead Real drew 0-0 with Betis. A bit surprising, Real Sociedad currently lead the league with 23 points. They have been great this season and a big part of that has been Martin Ødegaard playing so well.

This will be a tough match for Real Madrid so they need to prepare for a battle on the road if they want the three points.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid remain without Nacho and Asensio. Bale and James are both unavailable for this match, though they are traveling with their respective national clubs. Luka Jovic is also out of the squad after picking up a muscle injury. Marcelo also picked up injury against Galatasaray and will not feature.

Eibar will be without centerback Iván Ramis.

There are no suspensions for either club in Saturday’s match.

Potential XIs

Eibar

Dmitrović; de Blasis, Oliveira, Arbilla, Cote; Orellana, Escalante, Diop, Inui; Charles, Kike

Real Madrid

Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy; Valverde, Casemiro, Kroos; Rodrygo, Hazard, Benzema

With Marcelo out, no doubt Ferland Mendy gets another start in his absence at left back.

Even with Modrić back in the lineup the last couple of matches, it’s hard to justify sitting Valverde for him. The current midfield trio has worked great and Valverde has been a clear standout. Outside of Rodrygo, Valverde was arguably Real Madrid’s best player against Galatasaray.

Zidane is also unlikely to make any changes to the attacking trio. Rodrygo has the hot foot currently, so he is the unquestionable starter with Bale still missing for Real Madrid.

Vinicius and Brahim are both back in the squad, it will be interesting to see how either feature if given the chance to come off the bench.

Prediction

Eibar—Real Madrid 1-2

As said before, this is a tough road match for Real Madrid at the Ipurua. Eibar have been a winning club their last couple of matches and they will be determined to keep that going.

The last time these two faced off in Basque Country, Eibar defeated Real Madrid. Needless to say, Real will have to fight hard for the win.

Now tied with Barcelona, a win is important to keep up the pace. You can’t count Barcelona, and now Real Sociedad apparently, to drop points every week.

Real have been fairly good since their last loss to Mallorca, which is also their last league road match. They have to turn things around against Eibar this time, especially after dropping points in their draw with Betis.

This is absolutely an interesting matchup. Real will have to play their best if they want to come away with all three points from a tough ground.