Next Sunday, 5th of October 2014, the current European champions and highly motivated Real Madrid will entertain an unstable Athletic Bilbao at Santiago Bernabéu for round seven of Liga BBVA on a clash of paramount importance for the visitors who are currently on a four match run without a single win at La Liga.

Real Madrid are definitely now enjoying a very good moment after their bumpy start on domestic competitions. Los Blancos managed to bounce back after two consecutive defeats in three weeks’ time and are now on a five match undefeated row both on domestic and international competitions.

Last Wednesday night, Real Madrid experienced some unexpected difficulties on their visit to Sofia, where they faced Ludogorets for the UEFA Champions League. The Bulgarian side started the match at a good pace and put  themselves in front, thanks to a goal by the flamboyant Brazilian midfielder Marcelinho. Los Blancos reacted instantly but Ronaldo saw Stojanov stopping his penalty kick on the 11th minute. The Bulgarian international goalkeeper almost entered the football hall of fame when he was only inches away from stopping Ronaldo’s second penalty kick fifteen minutes later. Ludogorets tried the best they could to get a second goal in but Casillas always managed to refrain their enthusiasm. On the other side of the pitch, Real’s attacking players were also having an interesting duel with Stojanov, who was frustrating all of the Spanish side's goal attempts, but eventually, on the 77th minute, they granted the second one by the hand of Benzema.

For the next Sunday’s match against Bilbao, Carlo Ancelotti is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of Fábio Coentrão, Sami Khedira and Jesé, who remain sidelined due to injury.

As for Athletic, the match against Real Madrid could not have come at a worst time if we have mind the bad moment the team is currently going through. Athletic’s career at La Liga so far has been somewhat disappointing, with the team failing to win any of their last four matches. Before drawing against Eibar over the weekend, Bilbao sucumbed at the hands of Rayo, Granada and Barcelona and the football they presented has been far from impressive.

To make things worse for them, their career at the UEFA Champions League is also being an utter disappointment. After their home draw against Shakhtar Donetsk, Bilbao lost at Belarus with BATE Borisov,  a team that had been humiliated by FC Porto at Estádio do Dragão on the first round.

When both sides met at Bernabéu last season, Real won the match by 3-1 thanks to two goals from Isco and another one from Cristiano Ronaldo. Los Blancos are also firm favourites for the next Sunday’s match and if Bilbao repeat their recent performances they definitely risk leaving Santiago Bernabéu with yet another embarrassing defeat.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Athletic Bilbao

Stats: W-0 L-3 D-2

Recent Form - LDLLD

Possible Line-ups

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

Athletic Bilbao (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - Iraola - Gurpegui - Laporte - Balenziaga - Iturraspe - M. Rico - Muniain - Beñat - Susaeta - Aduriz

Prediction

Real Madrid 2 Athletic Bilbao 0