Real Madrid vs Deportivo Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jan 06, 2016 @ 01:18 am

Next Saturday, 9th of January 2016, Deportivo de La Coruña, one of the most impressive teams of the season so far, will travel to Santiago Bernabéu to measure forces with Real Madrid for Round 19 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

It has been a busy week at Real Madrid headquarters so far. Last Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Mestalla against Valencia was the end of the line for Rafa Benitez at the helm of Real Madrid’s adrift vessel. His alleged unfriendly relationship with some of the team’s players, the controversial elimination from the Copa del Rey and the somewhat unimpressive league campaign were the motto for his premature departure. The former Liverpool and Napoli head coach didn’t have the best of times with Los Blancos, since his somewhat conservative game style never managed to fully convince Real’s demanding supporters.

To succeed him at the helm of the team, Los Blancos’ board appointed former French international Zinedine Zidane, who was until yesterday the head coach of Real Madrid’s reserve team, Castilla. Zizou has no significant managerial experience and some believe that it was a considerable risk from Real Madrid’s board, to appoint him as the first team’s head coach at such stage of the season.

The upcoming match against Depor is of the utmost importance for both Zidane and Real Madrid, who are already four points behind the current league leaders, Atlético Madrid. Their next weekend’s rivals are, nevertheless, an extremely tough bone to chew and will certainly give them a hard time next time out.

The Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who is currently suspended after being sent off at Mestalla last weekend, will miss out there.

As for Deportivo de La Coruña, the Galicians have been one of the most interesting teams of La Liga so far and have only been defeated on three occasions after 18 league matches. Last weekend, Victor Sánchez’s men were surprised at home by the super Villarreal and dropped one place in the league table. A goal from the penalty spot on injury time by Bruno Soriano helped the visitors to claw a narrow 2-1 win, but Depor probably deserved a different outcome.

For next weekend’s visit to Santiago Bernabéu, Victor Sánchez will not be able to rely on the services of Celso Borges and Fabri, who still remain sidelined due to long term injuries.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - DWWLW

Deportivo La Coruña

Stats: W-1 L-1 D-3

Recent Form - LDWDD

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid (4-3-3) – Navas - Danilo - Pepe - Sergio Ramos - Marcelo - Kroos - Modric - James Rodriguez - Ronaldo - Bale - Benzema

Deportivo La Coruña (4-2-3-1) – Lux - Juanfran - Arribas - Sidnei - Navarro - Bergantinos - Mosquera - Fajr - Cani - Alberto - Lucas Pérez

Injury List / Suspended Players

Real Madrid - Kovacic (sus)

Deportivo La Coruña - Borges (inj) - Fabri (inj) - Cartabia (in doubt) - Manuel Pablo (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions