Villarreal take on the visitors Real Madrid in the round 16 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Saturday, January 7th at Estadio de la Ceramica (Villarreal).
Villarreal faced the need to change the coach at the height of the season. Aston Villa, having decided to fire Steven Gerrard, decided to give Unai Emery the second chance to prove himself in Albion. However, at “Ceramic”, it seems that he was not particularly held back, thanked for his undoubted success in the international arena (first of all, the victory in the Europa League - the first trophy in history). But at the same time, the “submariners” last season, having reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and knocking out Juventus with Bayern, rolled back to the 7th place in the LaLiga - and in this temporade it was also impossible to sharply add. They made a bet on Setien, but even that weak result at the end of autumn caused a lot of criticism. It only started working in December. First it was 2-1 with Guernica in the Copa, and, most importantly, this score was repeated in the derby with Valencia in La Liga – Foyth scored the decisive goal in the 88th minute. Then they staged a rout of “Cartagena” in the cup, but does this mean that it turned out to reach maximum speed?
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Real Madrid are one of the strongest football clubs in Spain, and throughout Europe. This was confirmed under Carlo Ancelotti with victories last season in La Liga and the Champions League (adding to this success in the Super Cups). In general, the new drawing turned out to be good, solid. There were misfires, but they were compensated, including the victory in El Clasico. Those 3-1, combined with the upcoming World Cup, seem to have relaxed the Galacticos. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain even a draw with “Girona” – and after all, after it there was a defeat of “Rayo Vallecano”. Now, however, there is already equality between the favorites - after a pause, Xavi's wards managed to lose points, ending the derby with Espanyol only in a draw. But the stars of Ancelotti were close to the same, they could not break the resistance of “Valladolid” for more than 80 minutes – only a late penalty saved them. And only then Benzema netted a double.
Villarreal last won a head-to-head in 2018. But he quite often takes away points from los Blacos, bringing the matches to a draw. “Peacefully” ended 6 out of 9 last games, and last season both sides did not score goals at all. But that was under Emery – what will Setien show? Real show an important skill – to get results even with a poor game. So it's hard to believe that he will lose points now.
Prediction for the match: Real Madrid to win.
