La Liga: Yellow Submarine to Sink in Madrid…Again

Real Madrid vs Villarreal

League leaders Real Madrid are back at the Santiago Bernabeu for another huge La Liga clash when Unai Emery’s Villarreal come to town.

The last visitors to the stadium went back home with a 6-1 thrashing as Los Blancos took Mallorca apart last week. Four wins and a draw have propelled Carlo Ancelotti’s team to the top of the table and the latest La Liga 2021 betting odds make them clear favourites to win the title in May 2022.

Villarreal are next in line and they will surely present a stiffer challenge than Mallorca, as Unai Emery’s side has just won its first game of the season, having drawn the first four, so they arrive at the Bernabeu unbeaten. At SBOTOP odds of 1.48 Los Blancos are heavily backed to win this game but Villarreal are a quality outfit, though whether they are good enough to avoid sinking under pressure from the favourites remains to be seen.

Talking Points

Real Madrid’s long injury list

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Bundesliga

Los Blancos’ La Liga 2021 results have been impressive this season, but it hasn’t been all plain sailing for the league leaders. Carlo Ancelotti’s side pulled three points out of the fire with a late, late comeback against Valencia and Levante held them to a 3-3 draw at the end of August, and a Champions League opener against Inter Milan was only decided by a late Rodrygo goal. Real Madrid have been grinding out the results but resources have become a little stretched recently with an ever-growing injury list, which includes midfield general Toni Kroos as well as Marcelo, Gareth Bale, Ferland Mendy and Dani Ceballos.

But there are no shortages upfront for Los Blancos where Karim Benzema has led the line superbly, scoring eight goals and making seven assists, while Vinicius Junior has scored five goals and Marco Asensio hit a hat-trick in the destruction of Mallorca. Benzema and Vinicius have been combining particularly well, both scoring in the dying minutes in the vital win over Valencia, and despite Los Blancos’ injury worries they have Eden Hazard and Luka Modric available for selection again, and that’s a measure of the quality in this squad.

Villarreal have found a long lost winning touch

With four draws and a win Villarreal are currently lodged in mid table and three points away from a top four place. They started the season with four draws, three of which were goalless and the 4-1 win over Elche last time out was a first victory in 13 games, including pre-season.

Paco Alcacer eyes to score his first La Liga goal this season as Villarreal take on Real Madrid — Paco Alcacer during Villarreal’s Europa League match against Qarabag last season

Head coach Unai Emery has already brought silverware to the club after the Yellow Submarine won the Europa League last season, beating Manchester United on penalties 11-10 after outplaying the Red Devils in a 1-1 draw. He has made the team hard to beat but really needs to turn draws into wins more frequently if Villarreal are to challenge for Europe again. Three of the recent draws have been goalless and with star striker Gerard Moreno doubtful there could be a chance for Paco Alcacer to shine, while Yeremi Pinu has been a creative force making three assists and one goal. A draw with Atletico Madrid and a 2-2 stalemate with Atalanta in the Champions League shows that Villarreal can live with top competition and, as Valencia and Inter Milan showed, Real Madrid can be vulnerable, or at least held at bay.

History

Los Blancos have totally dominated the head to heads, winning 28 of the 42 meetings since 1998, losing four and drawing ten. The last encounter was at the Santiago Bernabeu where the hosts ran out 2-1 victors. Villarreal took the lead but late goals from Benzema and Modric turned the match around.

In fact, Los Blancos are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with the Yellow Submarine, winning three successively at the Santiago Bernabeu.

They are also unbeaten in 11 games at home while Villarreal are winless in four matches away.

In terms of recent form, both teams are unbeaten in the last six matches but in rather a different style; Real Madrid winning the last five, drawing the game before that run. Meanwhile, the Yellow Submarine won last time out and drew the five games before.

Betting Tip

	Real Madrid vs Villarreal	Real Madrid Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 1.85
	September 26, 03:00 (GMT+8)

This is a game we expect the league leaders to win with the draw at 3.97 and Villarreal out at 6.18. The Yellow Submarine can be a formidable opponent but they could be missing star striker Gerard Moreno, while Madrid’s strike force is firing on all cylinders and should have enough of a threat to sink the visitors.