Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao 21/04/19

21 April 2019

Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao go head-to-head at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for a clash the visitors have to make the most out if looking to qualify for Europe.

Although Zinedine Zidane started off his new adventure on Real’s bench on the right foot by securing back-to-back La Liga wins, Los Blancos have failed to build on that. The reigning Champions League holders have pulled off just one triumph in their last three LL outings (W1, D1, L1) with all three of those games featuring goals on both ends. An encouraging fact for their home fans is that Los Merengues have gone from four straight home losses across all competitions to three consecutive victories. Interestingly, all seven of Real’s previous competitive home wins have seen them scored 2+ match goals while preventing their opponents from scoring four times in the process. Also, seven of Real’s last nine competitive home games have produced over 2.5 goals with five of those meetings featuring goals on both ends.

Meanwhile, the visitors come into this encounter off the back of a 3-2 home win over Rayo Vallecano hoping to bring a disastrous 13-game away winless run against Real Madrid (D1, L12). Sitting seventh in the table with six LL fixtures left to go, Los Leones can’t afford a failure as they can still reach the Champions League promotion in spite of enduring a mediocre campaign. Only Valencia (13) have played out more draws than Athletic (13) this term although Bilbao’s last LL road stalemate dates back to late January. Los Rojiblancos have endured mixed fortunes in their previous five LL road clashes (W2, L3) with both of their triumphs in that period coming against teams from the bottom half of the table.