La Liga Round 17: Real Madrid Take On Villarreal At The Bernabeu

With five points now the distance between Barcelona and Real Madrid, a victory against Villarreal is quite simply a must for Jose Mourninho and the new band of Galacticos. They cannot allow the gap at the top to get any bigger, and while the margin is kept to three points, anything is possible as we enter into the second half of the season. Tonights tests don’t come much more complicated as they take on arguably the best of the rest in the form of Villarreal, who could pull themselves to within five points of Real Madrid with victory in the Bernabeu.

Pepe and Gonzalo Higuain both out with long-term injuries, Raul Albiol steps in to partner Ricardo Carvalho at the back, while Karim Benzema continues to deputise for Higuain in attack. All eyes will be on the Frenchman once more, because many more performances like those he’s offered up this season and Jose Mourinhos patience will surely run out. He may well have hit hattricks against the likes of Auxerre in the Champions League and Levante in the cup, but Madrid fans want to see him score regularly against the big guns. Tonight could be his chance to finally let the shackles loose and once again I’ll be following his performance closely, as I will be with Lass Diarra who keeps his place in the side, with Sami Khedira continuing on the bench.

For Villarreal, Juan Carlos Garrido is going to stick with the team that made a spectacular comeback midweek in the cup against Valencia. The midfield partnership of Bruno and Borja Valero, that has worked so well for the Yellow Submarine, continues in the middle of the park, while Guiseppe Rossi will be partnered in attack by Marcos Ruben in the absence of Brazilian hotshot Nilmar. Garrido will be looking to his widemen to cause Madrid problems, with Cani and Santi Cazorla both capable of reeking havoc against the best of them.

It promises to be an entertaining clash and you can follow all the action here at SBNation!

Teams:

Real Madrid: Casillas; Ramos, Carvalho, Albiol, Marcelo; Lass, Xabi; Di María, Özil, Cristiano; Benzema.

Villarreal: Lopez; Ángel, Catalá, Gonzalo, Capdevila; Cazorla, Borja Valero, Bruno, Cani; Rossi; Marco Ruben.