La Liga Preview: Real Madrid - Málaga

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Real Madrid's Raúl goes flying in spectacularly to meet a cross to head his side into the lead against Almería. It wasn't enough, though, as the game ended 1-1 (Marca)

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Bernabéu Alarm Bells

Just three days after applauding Juventus hero Alessandro Del Piero off the pitch with a rousing standing ovation, the Bernabéu faithful will welcome their beleaguered Madrid side back to the turf, demanding nothing less than a convincing and immediate end to their current decline in form.

Los Merengues have now lost three of their last five competitive games, picking up only one win in the process. Although they remain unbeaten in La Liga since the opening day loss at Deportivo La Coruña, last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Almería was greeted with disgust not only by their fans but also poignantly by the players themselves, some of whom have willingly admitted that the team are struggling to perform at present.

Coach Bernd Schuster has already taken the first steps to prevent the alarm bells – and the whistling by the home fans – from reaching catastrophic decibels by holding an emergency rally with his players in the hopes of inciting a response.

The next five weeks will be pivotal for the men in white to save their season, even though the new campaign is only a little over two months old. Their first obstacle will be this Saturday’s meeting with newly-promoted Málaga, but the first real test will come next Wednesday when they take on Segunda B minnows, Real Unión, in the second leg of the Copa del Rey, a tie in which they must overturn a 3-2 deficit if they are to remain in the tournament that they so desperately want to win. 

Then comes the remaining two group matches of the Champions League: a trip to BATE Borisov and a home clash with Zenit St Petersburg; two games that they must win to keep alive any hopes of nicking top spot off Juventus in the group and progressing safely to the knock-out phase.

All that will culminate with the grandfather of all derbies on the 14^th of December, the El Clásico battle with Barcelona. Even with the minor stutter in midweek against Basel, the Blaugrana have been simply irresistible and at the rate they have been dismantling their opponents over the past month or so, Madrid would not stand a chance if they were to meet based on current form.

Even though there’s every possibility Barça will slide into a slump of their own come derby day, Los Blancos simply have to rediscover their touch as soon as possible to avoid being embarrassed by their eternal nemesis. 

More Misery From Málaga?

Málaga were just one of the many teams over the past few weeks who felt the full force of Barça’s uncontainable fury. They entered the clash against the Catalans last weekend as one of the form teams, having pieced together four successive league wins, but they were no match for Pep Guardiola’s men on the pitch as they were steamrollered 1-4 at home.

But Los Boquerones are well aware that they have a glorious opportunity to pull off an upset against a fragile and vulnerable Madrid side on Sunday and they will not hesitate to heap more misery on the reigning La Liga champions should they be presented with that chance.

On the flip side of the coin, however, the Andalucians could be walking straight into the den of a wounded animal and if the men in white do happen to awaken from their slumber all of a sudden, Antonio Tapia’s side could be facing the full brunt of another fury.

Current Málaga president Fernando Sanz, a former Los Blancos player, will have mixed emotions when he sets foot in the VIP box seat at the club once run by his father, Lorenzo. But he is confident that his own charges will be fully motivated to take down Madrid on the pitch and atone for the crushing defeat they suffered last week.

FORM GUIDE

Real Madrid

Nov 05 Real Madrid 0-2 Juventus (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Nov 02 UD Almería 1-1 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

Oct 30 Real Unión 3-2 Real Madrid (COPA DEL REY)

Oct 26 Real Madrid 3-2 Athletic Bilbao (LA LIGA)

Oct 21 Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Málaga

Nov 01 Málaga 1-4 Barcelona (LA LIGA)

Oct 29 Málaga 1-1 Real Mallorca (COPA DEL REY)

Oct 26 Sevilla 0-1 Málaga (LA LIGA)

Oct 19 Málaga 2-1 Getafe (LA LIGA)

Oct 05 Recreativo Huelva 0-4 Málaga (LA LIGA)

TEAM NEWS

Real Madrid

Arjen Robben is out for six weeks after suffering a second degree muscle tear in his right calf during the warm-up for the Juventus game. Sergio Ramos, meanwhile, picked up a foot injury during the match itself and he is now certain to miss the Málaga clash. Also likely to be sidelined is striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who aggravated his knee problem in midweek.

Pepe, on the other hand, is making good progress in recuperating from the bruised left thigh he sustained last weekend at Almería, and although he is still slightly doubtful at this stage, he has resumed normal training with the rest of the squad. Rubén de la Red is expected to be omitted again to ensure he recovers fully from his black-out episode a week-and-a-half ago.

Probable Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas – Salgado, Cannavaro, Pepe/Heinze, Marcelo – Sneijder, Gago, Guti – Higuaín, Raúl (c), Drenthe

Málaga

Duda has successfully had the booking he picked up against Getafe three weeks ago revoked by the Appeals Committee, which means that his yellow card count goes back to zero.

Defender Adriano Rossato and forward Salva Ballesta are the only two injury casualties for Málaga and they have both been omitted from the trip to Madrid as they continue with their rehabilitation.

Coach Tapia has already confirmed that he will take the same squad that he used against Barcelona to the capital and without too many options or much quality on the bench, he is likely to summon an identical first XI.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Arnau (c) – Gámez, Rosário, Welington, Calleja – Eliseu, Miguel Ángel, Apoño, Duda – Baha, Adrián

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Royston Drenthe was Madrid’s most threatening player in the impotent display against Juve last Wednesday, and with his team’s midfield starved of any creativity or flair, this could be a chance to finally herald his arrival on the big stage and elevate himself from a promising young player to the next big superstar.

Wesley Sneijder was infuriated with his own ineffectual performance in midweek against Juventus, when he was substituted, and he will be out to make amends. He desperately needs to re-invigorate his collaboration with Guti in midfield to spark the team’s attack back to life, but in truth, every player in white on Saturday will have to seriously pull his weight to haul the club out of this rut.

PREDICTION

If Madrid fail to perform inside the first 45 minutes, expect the Bernabéu to be blanketed by white handkerchiefs by half-time. There’s an urgent need for Schuster’s men to respond and bounce back immediately but a simple win may not even be enough for the fans to leave the stadium satisfied. This is one of those games where the merengues have to turn on the style to win any kind of approval and applause from the die-hard supporters.

Real Madrid 3-1 Málaga

KS Leong