Real Madrid will look to get back to winning ways in La Liga this Thursday when they welcome a struggling Valencia side to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side come into this tie on the back of a goalless draw against Real Sociedad. The result, coupled with Barcelona’s narrow 1-0 win over Girona, means that Los Blancos are now trailing the league leaders by five points.
While Ancelotti described the performance against Sociedad as one of his side’s “best performances of the season”, he knows that it will take more than good performances for his side to catch Barca. So far, just half of the league games have been played, so there is still time to cut the gap.
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For now, having not lost in the league at home since March 2022 (W8, D4), they will fancy their chances of beating a Valencia side that are without a manager after recently sacking manager Gennaro Gattuso.
The former Napoli was sacked last week after leading Valencia to just five wins in 18 games this term (D5, L8). The visitors are winless in their last four league games and come into this tie sitting in 14th place, just one point above the relegation zone.
Los Che are also without an away win in La Liga since early October (D2, L2), so it will be hard to predict anything more than a loss here.
They have also lost their last four games against Real Madrid, although they scored in their last three, so we expect over 2.5 goals.
