Next Saturday, 22nd of November 2014, the super powerful Real Madrid will travel to the Basque Country to measure forces with the newly promoted Eibar at Estadio Municipal de Ipurua for round 12 of the Liga BBVA, on what will certainly be a complicated test for Los Blancos, especially if we consider that the hosts have only lost once at home this season and tend to be twice as dangerous when playing at home in front of their devoted supporters.

Real Madrid are going through a fantastic moment both on domestic and on international competitions. After a slow and bumpy season start, Los Blancos rallied their troops and started what appears to be an unstoppable walk towards La Liga’s title.

Carlo Ancelotti was forced to perform some changes into the usual 4-2-3-1 system he implemented last season, in order to find a place at the starting line-up for all the top quality signings Real made this Summer. By changing his usual approach into something quite similar to a 4-4-2 style, the Italian managed to find a way of placing James Rodríguez, Kroos, Modric, Bale, Ronaldo and Benzema in the team and at the same time, taking out the best of them.

Real Madrid’s upcoming match at Ipurua will definitely be a difficult one. The pitch is considerably smaller than the majority of the other La Liga’s stadiums and the usual rough weather conditions might also conditionate Los Blanco’s strategy.

For that particular match, Carlo Ancelotti is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of the Spanish full back Carvajal and with Modric, both struggling with recent injuries.

As for Eibar, they could not have asked for a better debut season at the Spanish football top tier. The Basque team are currently on the 10th place of table, four points ahead of Elche, who are the first team on the relegation zone.

After an impressive win at Vallecas against Rayo, Eibar failed to manage to overcome a super motivated Málaga at La Rosaleda two weeks ago in their fourth defeat of the season. The Armeros are one of the most interesting teams at La Liga right now and the good work their manager, Gaizka Garitano, is producing cannot go unnoticed.

Despite Eibar’s strong will and resilience, the current European champions are firm favourites to win the next Saturday’s match at Ipurua.

Eibar

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - LWDLD

Real Madrid

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Possible Line-ups

Eibar (4-2-3-1) - Irureta - Bóveda - Castellosa - Navas - Abraham - Errasti - Garcia - Berjon - Capa - Arruabarrena - Del Moral

Real Madrid (4-4-2) - Casillas - Nacho - Pepe - Sergio Ramos - Marcelo - Modric - Kroos - James Rodríguez - Ronaldo - Bale - Benzema

Prediction

Eibar 0 Real Madrid 2