Just days before Paris Saint-Germain touch down in the Spanish capital,
Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid have the chance to boost their fragile
confidence when they face Real Sociedad in La Liga today. The reigning
European champions have been shipping a worrying number of goals in the
build-up to their Champions League last-16 showdown with the likes of
Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.
Zidane’s side have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight
outings, and they could pay a heavy price for any goals conceded against
the French giants in next Wednesday’s match at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“It shows that we need to work even harder. That’s football — whoever
your opponents they are there to make things difficult for you,” said
Zidane after last week’s disappointing 2-2 draw at Levante.
That result left Madrid fourth in the table, a point behind Valencia in
third but with a game in hand. Real Sociedad lie in the lower half of
the table but they score goals for fun — witness a 5-0 win over
Deportivo La Coruna last weekend.
They also have one of the worst defensive records in Spain, so Cristiano
Ronaldo — who turned 33 this week — will hope to fill his boots along
with Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema. Zidane’s side are still 19 points
behind leaders Barcelona, who remain unbeaten, but the Frenchman refuses
to completely give up on a successful La Liga title defence, publicly
at least.
“The league is not over. There are a lot of points to play for, but we
dropped two in a game we were controlling,” he said of last week’s game,
when Levante twice came from behind to draw. “We needed to make it
three straight wins and we couldn’t do it.”
Barcelona have what looks like a straightforward home meeting with
mid-table Getafe tomorrow, fresh from securing their place in the Copa
del Rey final by beating Valencia on Thursday. The Catalans do not face
Chelsea in their Champions League last-16 tie until February 20 so can
focus on further consolidating their nine-point lead over Atletico
Madrid at the summit of La Liga. Atletico visit bottom club Malaga
today, while third-placed Valencia host local rivals Levante today
having suffered six consecutive losses in all competitions.
The former Dutch international, and ex-Real Madrid midfielder, Clarence
Seedorf, will take charge of Deportivo for the first time when they take
on Real Betis at Riazor on Monday. Seedorf was appointed by the
Galician side at the beginning of this week after Cristobal Parralo was
sacked in the wake of the 5-0 defeat at Anoeta that left the club in the
relegation zone.
Seedorf, 41, is Depor’s third coach of the season — he has only had two
previous short and unsuccessful spells as a coach, at AC Milan in 2014
and then at Shenzhen in the Chinese second division from July to
December 2016.
There has been scepticism about his appointment, but Seedorf believes a
certain rookie coach in La Liga has shown the way to go. “You need to
believe in young people, in the new generation. Zidane is an example. He
might have had less experience than me when he started at Madrid and
look what he has done,” he said at his unveiling.
Fixtures (all kick-offs GMT)
Today: Villarreal v Alaves (1200), Malaga v Atletico (1515), Leganes v Eibar (1730), Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (1945)
Tomorrow: Sevilla v Girona (1100), Barcelona v Getafe (1515), Celta Vigo v Espanyol (1730), Valencia v Levante (1945)
On Monday: Deportivo v Betis (2000)
Real Madrid have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight outings. (AFP)