Lowly Eibar head to the Santiago Bernabeu in danger of falling into the relegation dogfight at the bottom of the table should they lose on Saturday. they currently sit in fourteenth place just six points above the drop. On the other side of things, Real Madrid are sitting firmly in second place in the table, four points behind league leaders and rivals Barcelona. With a midweek showdown against city rivals Atletico looming, Real Madrid must get another win to keep momentum on their side.
The last time these two teams met, there was a sellout crowd at Eibar, likely more were there to see the stars of Real Madrid rather than their hometeam. Los Blancos opened up the scoring with big-money summer signing, James Rodriguez. Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the lead just a couple minutes before the break, and Benzema and Ronaldo would find the net in the second half for a convincing 4-0 victory.
Real Madrid are coming off of a not-so-convincing 2-0 win against Rayo Vallecano. After remaining scoreless in the first half, Ronaldo burst into the box and was taken down on a late challenge but was surprisingly booked for diving. Just today, it was found out that Ronaldo won his appeal and is set to start. Ronaldo would score off of a diving header, and James Rodriguez would seal the victory by curling the ball into the bottom corner. Eibar shocked seventh-placed Malaga giving them three vital points to give them breathing room from the relegation zone. A fifty-third minute goal by Mikel Arruabarrena was the difference as Malaga's shots at a European spot were dashed with that loss.
Team News:
Real Madrid: Gareth Bale has been ruled out of tomorrow's game with a muscle injury. Sami Khedira and Fabio Coentrao are also ruled out as they picked up injuries in training yesterday along with Bale.
Eibar: The club from the Basque region are all fully healthy and have no reported injuries for this showdown.