By Filip Mishov
Troublesome occasions for the hosts
As if the damning defeat to Barcelona in El Clásico (0-4) and controversy across the Ballon d’Or ceremony weren’t sufficient for Florentino Perez & co. over the previous couple of weeks, AC Milan piled on the distress on the Bernabéu by outplaying the reigning champions within the Champions League and taking residence a 3-1 win on Tuesday evening. With back-to-back residence defeats, it’s honest to say that frustrations are operating excessive each on and off the pitch for Madrid, and the rumours round Kylian Mbappé‘s unhappiness at his new membership are actually not serving to.
Excessive-flying Los Rojillos are coming to Spain’s capital on the again of three consecutive victories between in league and cup, and with solely three factors separating the Vicente Moreno-led squad from Los Blancos (though with a recreation in hand) after exceeding anybody’s expectations in the beginning of the season. Nonetheless, the Basque-based membership’s document in opposition to Madrid isn’t one to be happy with as Osasuna‘s final win dates again to 2011 and for his or her final win away from residence you need to go all the best way again to 2004. However on the identical time, Osasuna are the one aspect to beat high-flying league leaders Barcelona this season, which absolutely provides flying winger Bryan Zaragoza & co. the boldness to trigger one other upset.
Madrid’s damage checklist
The Madrid-based membership’s defeat to the Rossoneri got here at an extra value as Aurélien Tchouaméni suffered an damage and the tenacious Frenchman is about to be out for not less than 4 weeks with a sprained ankle. The defensive midfielder joins Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba and Daniel Carvajal on the sidelines, whereas despite the fact that Federico Valverde was changed at half-time, the Uruguayan is alleged to be prepared for Saturday’s conflict. Not like Carlo Ancelotti, Vicente Moreno has a full squad out there to choose from as there aren’t any damage issues inside Osasuna’s dressing room.
Gamers to observe
After enduring a gradual begin to the season, Ante Budimir actually got here to life in opposition to Barcelona with the skilled striker scoring a brace in Osasuna’s memorable win (4-2) again in late September. Moreover, the 33-year-old scored the profitable objective (1-0) in opposition to Actual Valladolid final weekend and located the online in opposition to Actual Sociedad the weekend earlier than. The Croatian goal man is the joint-third prime scorer in LaLiga with six targets, identical to Mbappé, Madrid’s no. 9, and with Antonio Rüdiger‘s droop in kind in addition to abysmal positioning in current matches, guarding Budimir will likely be a difficult activity for the centre-back and his associate.
Prediction
Despite the fact that Actual Madrid are viably struggling in the mean time and Osasuna are flying excessive on confidence, it’s arduous to look previous or wager in opposition to the world-class high quality inside Ancelotti’s squad. Moreover, Los Rojillos’ document on the Bernabéu is discouraging to say the least, and though one can’t count on a objective fest given their current low-scoring attacking output, a slender win for Los Blancos is essentially the most life like situation. Something much less, and particularly if Osasuna have been to inflict a 3rd straight residence defeat on Madrid, then it might undoubtably be disaster time within the Spanish capital.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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