Real face firm test at home specialists Bilbao
Real Madrid have returned to the top of La Liga but need to halt their recent trend of leaking goals in games if they want to stay there in Saturday’s trip to Athletic Bilbao, who have the second best home record in the Spanish top flight.
Zinedine Zidane’s side have conceded 10 times in their last six games in all competitions, falling behind in five of those, and have had to rely on late escape acts to get them out of trouble.
Sergio Ramos came to their rescue in Sunday’s laboured 2-1 win over Real Betis with an 81st minute winner, while Alvaro Morata and Cristiano Ronaldo scored late against Villarreal and Las Palmas, salvaging a 3-2 win and 3-3 draw respectively.
Real leapfrogged rivals Barcelona at the league’s summit after the Catalans’ shock 2-1 defeat at Deportivo La Coruna and enjoy a two-point lead as well as having a game in hand in their pursuit of a first title win since 2012, although their defence is still vulnerable.
“We’re playing well, we are very confident and the derby win gave us an extra boost. We want to keep up our great run at home and the fact we’re playing Real Madrid makes us even more motivated,” Athletic midfielder Benat Etxebarria told reporters.
Athletic have only lost one home game in all competitions, to champions Barcelona in August.
Barca host Valencia looking for a response from their surprise defeat to Deportivo, which came four days after their sensational 6-1 win over Paris St Germain in the Champions League. Sevilla are third in the standings, having slipped five points behind Rea Madrid. Their promising season further unravelled on Tuesday with a 2-0 defeat to Leicester City and elimination from the Cham pions League.