Real Madrid will look to get their revenge on Villarreal for a 2-1 loss in La Liga when the two teams face each other at Estadio de la Ceramica in the Copa del Rey last 16. Los Blancos are low on spirits following the Spanish Super Cup loss to Barcelona, and it is no wonder the odds for home side to win have been dropping. Eder Militao has overcome his injury, but Lucas Vazquez has joined David Alaba and Aurelien Tchouameni in the recovery room.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Submarine head into the match following a 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo. Both Raul Albiol and Alex Baena are back from suspensions, and seeing that Villarreal are tough to beat at home, I think that the match will end in a draw. All Kiko Femenia, Nicolas Jackson, Alfonso Pedraza, and Juan Foyth remain on the sidelines with injuries, but Etienne Capoue has overcome his problem.
You don’t have to look to far back into the past for the last time these two teams met, with Villarreal beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the league earlier this month. That is one of three wins from the Yellow Submarine’s last four La Liga outings, while they have also won eight of their 11 outings at La Ceramica this season.
Indeed, they are arguably playing better under Quique Setién than Unai Emery, while the new boss has only lost three of his last eight clashes with Real Madrid.
Real Madrid have not had a great time of things since the World Cup, as they are without a win over 90 minutes in their last three games, a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Super Cup final at the weekend.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have struggled for clean sheets all season, only keeping two in their last 11 matches, so there is a good chance they will concede. And when they do concede, they have a problem in getting back to games, picking up three defeats and a draw from their last four away matches in which they have gone behind. With this, I am also of the opinion that Villarreal will win this game.
Inspecting their past head to head meetings stretching back to 16/07/2020 shows us that Villarreal have won 1 of these and Real Madrid 2, with the number of drawn games standing at 3. An aggregate of 11 goals were scored between the two sides during those clashes, with 5 from El Submarino Amarillo and 6 netted by Los Blancos. This gives an average number of goals per game equal to 1.83.
The previous league encounter between the two was La Liga match day 16 on 07/01/2023 and the score finished Villarreal 2-1 Real Madrid. On that occasion, Villarreal had 49% possession and 17 shots at goal with 5 of them on target. The goalscorers were Yeremy Pino (47′) and Gerard Moreno (63′). For their opponents, Real Madrid had 12 shots at goal with 3 on target. Karim Benzema (60′) scored.
Team News: Villarreal
The Villarreal boss Quique Setien will be thankful to have no fitness concerns whatsoever before this game thanks to a completely healthy group to pick from.
Team News: Real Madrid
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has some current player fitness concerns. David Alaba (Muscle Injury) and Aurelien Tchouameni (Muscle Injury) won’t be making appearances.
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