Real Madrid take on fifth placed Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu this evening hoping to extend their lead at the the top of the table to four points ahead of a crucial weekend of action.
Los Blancos take on city rivals Atletico de Madrid on Saturday at the Vicente Calderon and a win in their next two games would open up a 10 point gap between the two sides, all but ending the defending champions’ chances of retaining their trophy. A win against Sevilla and Atletico would also heap pressure on Barcelona, would would go into their weekend game against Athletic Bilbao seven points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
Real will be without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo this evening as he’s serving the second of his two-game ban for his sending off against Cordoba. The Champions League holders have scored 24 goals in the past six home games and will be confident they have enough fire power to see off Unai Emery’s team. This visitors have been poor on the road recently, losing three of their last six.
They’ll also be without the services of Ever Banega who missing out tonight, although the Real defence will have to be alert as Carloa Bacca is a dangerous frontman who has netted 12 goals already this campaign.
Probable line-ups:
Real Madrid: Casillas: Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Illarramendi, Kroos, Isco; Rodriguez, Benzema, Bale
Sevilla: Beto; Fuguieras, Arribas, Kolodziejczak, Navarro; Iborra, Carrico, Vidal, Vitolo; Bacca, Aspas
