Overview
Villarreal surprisingly lost to Alaves last weekend, thereby breaking their streak of 6 consecutive unbeaten matches in La Liga. However, this does not mean that coach Marcelino's team is underrated. Entering the upcoming match against Real Madrid, Villarreal will have the advantage of playing at home.
Not necessarily a team that often has good results at home, but Villarreal is still very difficult to beat. The proof is that they have only lost 2 out of 12 matches since the beginning of the season at home, won 5 and drew 5. Not to mention, Villarreal is also showing impressive scoring form at home with 10 goals after the last 3 rounds.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid struggled to overcome their city rival Atletico Madrid to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Coach Carlo Ancelotti's team did not play convincingly for 120 minutes, scored by Atletico Madrid very early and completely lacked ideas in attack. Fortunately, the bravery of the most successful team in the Champions League was shown on the penalty spot.
However, Los Blancos' form in La Liga is also quite unstable. In the past 6 rounds, Real Madrid have won 2, lost 2 and drawn 2. They have had extremely confusing matches despite being rated higher than their opponents, typically the loss to Espanyol, Real Betis or a draw with Osasuna. Obviously, if they want to win the championship, Ancelotti's team needs to accumulate more thorough points.
Historically, Villarreal often made it difficult for Real Madrid to play at home. In La Liga alone, they are unbeaten in their last 7 meetings with Los Blancos at the Estadio de la Ceramica, with 6 draws and 1 win. Most likely, the two teams will hold each other back once again.
Personnel situation
Villarreal have no further injury concerns ahead of this match as Gerard Moreno, Ilias Akhomach and Kiko femenia are still undergoing treatment.
On the other side of the front line, Ferland Mendy will be absent from this match after leaving the field due to injury in the Champions League in midweek. Meanwhile, French defender Mendy is sidelined alongside Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Dani Ceballos and Jesus Vallejo.
Expected lineup:
Villarreal: Conde, Foyth, Kambwala, Costa, Cardona, Pino, Gueye, Parejo, Baena, Barry, Perez.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Vazquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Garcia, Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius.
The match between Villarreal and Real Madrid takes place at 0:30 am on March 16 (Vietnam time).
