Match Preview

Real Madrid are home as they turn their attention towards Osasuna this weekend. This is a bit of a breather before Real travel to London for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.

Real are currently second in La Liga, now trailing five points behind Atletico Madrid and equal on points with Barcelona. Atletico won their match against Elche earlier on Saturday. Barcelona dropped points in a 2-1 loss to Granada on Thursday, but play again against Valencia on Sunday. Surprisingly, Sevilla only trail Real and Barca by a point after going perfect in their last five.

Osasuna are having a middling season as they sit 11th in the league table. They finished 10th last season in their promotion to the Primera Division. They lost their last match but have won three of their last five matches. Real and Osasuna drew 0-0 when they met at El Sadar back in January.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid are still without Sergio Ramos, Fede Valverde, Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy due to injury. Dani Carvajal has not been included after suffering a hamstring injury against Chelsea; he is now reportedly out for the season.

Osasuna will likely be without goalkeeper Ruben Martinez and midfielder Inigo Perez.

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

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Courtois; Odriozola, Varane, Militao, Marcelo; Isco, Casemiro, Kroos; Asensio, Hazard, Benzema

Zidane has called up several Castilla players to the squad specifically for this match including Antonio Blanco, Sergio Arribas and Antonio Blanco. We will likely see some of them incorporated as Luka Modric and/or Toni Kroos could be rested for Chelsea.

Eden Hazard is likely to start in his first match since returning from injury in preparation of Wednesday’s match.

Osasuna

Herrera; Vidal, Hernandez, Garcia, Sanchez; Oier, Torro, Martinez; Barja, Ruben Garcia, Budimir

Prediction

Real Madrid—Osasuna 1-0

This will be an interesting match as Zidane is likely to incorporate the youth in the squad, whether that’s starting or subbing on at some point to rest some of the starters for Chelsea.

Osasuna do not allow a ton of goals compared to some of the clubs around them in the table. We saw the 0-0 draw back in January and we may not see a ton of scoring with the lineup Real puts out given rest.

This is an important match to win given Barcelona dropped points in the match they held in-hand and still to play again this weekend. And with Atletico increasing their lead it’s even more crucial Los Blancos come out with the win ahead of the next Champions League leg.