Real Madrid are coming off an unexpected draw against Las Palmas mid-week, and they will now be up against a much harder task, as they will be hosted by Eibar on Saturday, March 4th. Eibar have been amazing at home all season long, and they are one of the toughest teams to beat so far.
Eibar (11-8-6) are coming off a very sturdy and manly performance on Tuesday, as they managed to grab a point from their road match against Basque rivals Real Sociedad. They stuck to their usual plan, they created a lot of scoring opportunities, while they played the entire second half with 10 men. Even so, they managed to score a late goal at the 3rd minute of stoppage time to salvage a point from their 2-2 draw. They are now sitting at the 7th spot of the La Liga, just 3 points behind the top 6 spots that grant entrance to the European competitions next season. They have a 4-1-1 record in the second round of the league, having lost only to the mighty Sevilla, while they have scored at least two goals in all the other 5 matches (16 scored against 5 conceded). They have a 8-3-2 record at home, where they have won their last 3 matches by 0-3, 1-3 and 0-4. They have only lost there by Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Osasuna so far.
On the other hand, Real Madrid (17-2-5) are coming off a disappointing result, as they were held to a 3-3 draw at home against Las Palmas on Wednesday. The final score is far from satisfactory, as they have dropped from the top spot after quite a while. They were down by 3-1 till the 85th minute, but Ronaldo scored twice in a 3 minute span to eventually grab a single point. They have now fallen to the 2nd spot of the La Liga, where they are sitting just 1 point behind league leaders Barcelona, but with a match in hand. Even so, they scored a goal for the 45th consecutive league match, breaking Barcelona’s record. Their new goal is to break Bayern Munich’s record, who have scored in a whopping 62 consecutive league matches during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. Real Madrid’s defense has been struggling all season long, but especially lately, as they have conceded at least two goals in their last 3 matches.