Real sticky situation
Weakened Zidane’s outfit meet Sevilla at Liga summit
MADRID: Both Barcelona and Real Madrid travel to Andalusia this weekend in search of precious Liga points after stuttering form in Europe and in their domestic campaigns as table-toppers Sevilla await Zinedine Zidane’s injury-stricken outfit.
Real, thrashed in the Champions League by PSG midweek, face a daunting challenge to regroup at Sevilla, while Barcelona go to an unlikely mountain stronghold to face plucky Granada.
Led by Julen Lopetegui, sacked by Spain on the eve of last year’s World Cup for accepting a job at Real, the coach will have extra motivation to prove himself after flopping in the Madrid hot-seat.
His current charges are on 10 points from four matches, but Real can climb above them Sunday with an away win.
“Being top means nothing,” Lopetegui said last week. “But it does tell us the team are doing things well.”
Sevilla did well again in the Europa League on Thursday coming back from a marathon trip to Baku with a 3-0 win at Qarabag.
Real have lost on their last four visits to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, and on six of their last seven trips there.
Big-money signing Eden Hazard struggled on his first start for Real on Wednesday as the team failed to muster a single effort on target despite presence of Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale.
“It’s complicated if you are not strong and don’t get into the rhythm,” said Zidane, under mounting pressure in his second spell at the club.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois immediately turned his attentions on their trip to Seville.
“We’re all in the same boat. We sink or swim together and we have a big match on Sunday, and that is what we need to focus on,” said Courtois. “We need to forget this defeat, it is hard but we have another game on Sunday and we need to focus on that,” added Zidane.
It may be stretching it to say his position is under threat at the moment, but another defeat this weekend might change that, and a derby away to Atletico awaits a week later.