Real Madrid vs Espanyol Prediction - Will Los Blancos Be Able To Return To Wins On The Last Match Of The Season?

Next Saturday, Real Madrid will take on Espanyol at Santiago Bernabéu for the last round of Liga BBVA, on a match that Los Blancos will certainly want to win in order to erase the pale image they made of themselves after their last three matches, which also cost them La Liga’s title this season.

Last Sunday, Real Madrid continued their recent poor run at Liga BBVA by being defeated at Los Balaídos by a highly motivated Celta de Vigo, which took advantage of Los Blancos’ mistakes during the entire match and ended up grabbing a much deserved 2-0 win. Due to the large number of injured players, Carlo Ancelotti presented a team with five midfielders and only one man up in the front, something that might have contributed for the overall lack of quality of the team’s game.

Next weekend’s home match against Espanyol will certainly constitute a good opportunity for Real Madrid to return to wins, after three matches in a row without one. On the other hand, the Catalan side are drowned in a terrible results’ crisis as they’ve failed to win their last seven matches, something that will surely not help them for their travel to Santiago Bernabéu.

For the match against Espanyol, Carlo Ancelotti will certainly have plenty of headaches regarding what players to choose, because of the recent wave of injuries that seems to have swept Los Blancos. With the Champions League final on his mind, the Italian manager is not yet certain if he will be able to count on Ronaldo, Di Maria, Pepe, Carvajal, and Varane, all of them injured, for the next La Liga’s match.

As for Espanyol, next Saturday’s match poses a good opportunity to put an end to the negative row of results the team has been experiencing and to end the current season with their heads held high. Last weekend, Espanyol were not able to overcome an Osasuna side thirsty for points at Cornellà-El Prat, but managed to secure a place at the Spanish football top tier thanks to the point they conquered during the match.

For the match at Bernabéu, Javier Aguirre will probably have all his players at his disposal, since there are currently not any names on the team’s injury list.

When both sides met at Cornellà-El Prat back in January, the visitors grabbed a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a second half goal from the Portuguese centre back Pepe. For next Saturday’s match, Real Madrid are clear favourites, as they still nurture the hopes of Atlético Madrid beating Barcelona at Camp Nou, thus allowing them to reach the Blaugranas at the second place of the table.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-26 L-5 D-6

Recent Form - WWDDL

Espanyol

Stats: W-11 L-17 D-9

Recent Form - LDLLLD

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid  (4-3-3) – D. López - Arbeloa - Pepe - Sergio Ramos - Nacho - Illarramendi - Khedira - Isco - Bale - Morata - Benzema

Espanyol (4-4-2) - Casilla - J. López - Colotto - H.Moreno - Fuentes - D. López - V. Sanchez - Pizzi - Simão - Stuani - S. Garcia

Prediction

Real Madrid 3 Espanyol 0