Real Madrid vs Cadiz

Back to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for their final La Liga outing ahead of the Qatar showpiece, reigning champions Real Madrid entertain perennial bottom-half strugglers Cadiz in a must-win fixture.

A frustrating 3-2 defeat at Rayo Vallecano earlier this week did not only mark Real Madrid’s first loss of the 2022/23 La Liga season (W10, D2 otherwise) but saw them surrender the top place to Barcelona. Carlo Ancelotti’s men can ill-afford another sub-par result if they’re to keep pace with the Catalan high-flyers, and a nine-game unbeaten home record in 2022/23 (W7, D2) comes in handy. However, ‘Los Merengues’ have been kept goalless twice in their last four top-flight meetings with Cadiz (W1, D2, L1), while they drew both La Liga H2Hs against them in 2021/22. That’s unlikely to inspire much confidence in the Madrid camp as they risk going three consecutive home league games without winning for the first time since 2020 after failing to win their last two at the Bernabeu.

In the meantime, visiting Cadiz held fellow bottom-half tenants Getafe to a scoreless draw at the weekend, only a week after pulling off a mammoth 3-2 home win over Atletico Madrid. After a nightmarish five-game losing league start, the visitors have only lost once in their last eight matches (W2, D5). But it’s worth noting that ‘Los Piratas’ have been victorious just three times on their 37 previous visits to Madrid in La Liga (D5, L29). That said, Sergio Gonzalez’s men have avoided defeat on their last two top-flight outings at the Bernabeu (W1, D1), keeping Real Madrid at bay on both occasions! With Cadiz remaining the only side in La Liga yet to smash double-digits (eight goals scored), they’ll need to be at the top of their defensive game again.