After a gruelling 210 minutes of intense soccer and a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out, within the UEFA Champions League Spherical of 16 tie and make their strategy to the quarter-finals of the competitors.
Whereas the Merengues emerged victorious within the tie with the shoot-out, there was no change within the fortunes of the White crew whereas taking part in away from house, as they misplaced one other sport in regulation time.
Following this sport, Los Blancos have one other stern check awaiting them in La Liga, as they face the fifth-placed Villarreal on Saturday. That is one other away sport, and maintaining in view the truth that Actual Madrid haven’t received an away La Liga sport for the reason that win 3-0 win over Actual Valladolid again in January, there’s a actual risk of them dropping factors once more tonight.
Nevertheless, there may be nonetheless little question that Carlo Ancelotti has sufficient star energy and expertise in his crew to get a beneficial outcome from this sport. Alternatively, Villarreal additionally boast an excellent squad, that may go toe to toe with the Merengues.
Thus, this tie guarantees to be a extremely thrilling affair, however would possibly in the end be determined by three key battles, that are anticipated to be as follows:
Kylian Mbappe vs Logan Costa
This battle will see two gamers who joined their respective golf equipment in La Liga solely within the final summer season from Ligue 1 face off towards each other. Kylian Mbappe is undoubtedly the extra outstanding of those two gamers and might be trying to construct upon his scoring outing within the final league sport towards Rayo Vallecano.
The Frenchman is a contender for the Pichichi title together with his 18 objectives thus far and might be eager so as to add extra objectives to this tally to overhaul Robert Lewandowski, who has 3 extra objectives than him.
On this sport, he’ll principally be going through the 23-year-old centre-back Logan Costa, who has established himself as a transparent starter for Marcelino since his arrival final summer season. He has already amassed 18 begins in La Liga, making 1.5 tackles, 3 clearances, and three.2 ball recoveries on common in every sport in keeping with , and might be trying to preserve the French ahead in verify.
Jude Bellingham vs Pape Gueye
Jude Bellingham made his return to La Liga after serving a two-game ban within the final match towards Rayo Vallecano. Though he was unable to contribute a lot in the direction of purpose creation or scoring in that sport, he nonetheless contributed loads to assist his crew retain management of the ball and in the end emerge victorious.
In opposition to Villarreal, he might be trying to put in a extra wonderful efficiency, one that may hopefully get his title on the scoresheet or the help sheet, whereas additionally serving to his crew in defence.
Nevertheless, he should battle with the Senegalese midfielder Pape Gueye on this sport, who has been a hard and fast starter for Marcelino since he joined the Yellow Submarines final summer season. As statistics present, he boasts good defensive numbers, making 1.8 tackles, 1.5 clearances, and three.8 ball recoveries every league sport on common in 20 begins thus far, whereas additionally having 2 objectives to his title.
Alejandro Baena vs Federico Valverde
The Spanish midfielder Alejandro Baena has been in nice kind for Villarreal lately, and can clearly be one of many greatest threats for Actual Madrid in tonight’s sport.
Based on statistics, this season, he has already scored 6 objectives and supplied 7 assists, whereas additionally creating 15 large possibilities and giving 3.3 key passes on common in every sport. He additionally makes a number of defensive contributions, recovering 4.6 balls on common in every sport.
Nevertheless, taking part in towards the Merengues, he might be going through one other participant who has simply been pretty much as good, if not higher, this season. That is none aside from Federico Valverde, who has been one of the utilised and constant gamers for Carlo Ancelotti.
The Uruguayan has 5 objectives and three assists to his title in La Liga thus far, however his contributions go considerably past simply these numbers as he is without doubt one of the key drivers of the Actual Madrid midfielder, whereas additionally acting at a really excessive stage when employed as a right-back.