On the final weekend of the 2020/21 La Liga season, Real Madrid must beat Villarreal at the Bernabeu to stand any chance of winning the title.
Meanwhile, seventh-place Villarreal could finish as high as fifth if they beat Los Blancos and results elsewhere go their way.
👊 On Saturday we will do battle for the @LaLigaEN title! #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/KKjPk8Vfik— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 18, 2021
👊 On Saturday we will do battle for the @LaLigaEN title! #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/KKjPk8Vfik
Zinedine Zidane’s side sit two points behind first-place Atletico Madrid, meaning they must beat Villarreal and hope that Atletico lose to Valladolid.
Real Madrid are finishing the season in fine form and head into the final weekend on a 17-match unbeaten streak in La Liga.
Los Blancos have picked up 12 wins during that period and beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 last weekend to set up a final-weekend showdown.Looking at the bigger picture, Real Madrid have only lost three of their previous 37 home matches in all competitions.
They have also lost just one of their last 27 league games, both home and away, but Atletico have equaled their rivals every step of the way.
Real Madrid have kept six clean sheets in their previous nine league games and that certainly bodes well for the last day of the campaign.
On the flip side, Villarreal head into the final day of the La Liga season on the back of two straight wins over Valladolid and Sevilla.
Unai Emery’s men also come into Saturday’s clash on the back of two consecutive clean sheets, having beaten Valladolid 2-0 and Sevilla 4-0.
Interestingly, Villarreal haven’t recorded any draws in their previous 13 La Liga matches – registering seven wins and six losses in that time.
Looking at the bigger picture, Villarreal have only lost eight of their last 52 encounters in all competitions.
Let’s not forget that this isn’t the last match of Villarreal’s season. Emery’s side have the Europea League final against Manchester United to look forward to.
Head-to-head: Real Madrid haven’t lost any of their last six meetings with Villarreal, although four of those matches were drawn.
The two sides produced a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign, with Real Madrid leading at half-time on that occasion.
Team news: Real Madrid will be without Lucas Vazquez, Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Ferland Mendy and Toni Kroos on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Villarreal currently have three injury absentees – Vicente Iborra, Juan Foyth and Samuel Chukwueze.
With the La Liga title on the line, Real Madrid are expected to get the better of Villarreal and keep the pressure on Atletico.
Forebet predicts that Real Madrid will score over 2.5 goals on their way to seeing off the Yellow Submarine.