Preview: Zaragoza - Real Madrid - 7M sport

Preview: Zaragoza - Real Madrid

Posted Friday, April 23, 2010 by Goal.com

Sniffing blood, los Blancos will not want to lessen their pace on Saturday, when they face los Manos...

Kick Off: Saturday, April 24, 2010. 20:00 CET
La Romareda, Zaragoza

Danger Time

Zaragoza remain delicately poised in their quest to avoid immediate relegation  back to the Segunda Division, but they face a difficult weekend test against championship chasing Real Madrid and could find themselves in the bottom three come the end of play on Sunday.

Los Manos are presently two points clear of the red zone, and they do have the additional buffer of Malaga to protect themselves, but confidence cannot be especially high at La Romareda after a disappointing run of only two wins in nine. Back in February, on the other hand, three wins and a draw in five matches seemed to suggest the Aragon side were going to pull clear of trouble with some ease.

Against los Blancos on Saturday evening, Zaragoza cannot count on picking up points, especially since they have already tasted a 6-0 defeat at the Bernabeu, where they were wholly outclassed. Jose Aurelio Gay, who was making his debut in the dugout that night, may have revamped his side in January, but los Manos are not close to the level of their weekend opponents.

Now boasting as strong a defensive unit as they have done at any stage this season, Zaragoza may hope to achieve a shut-out on Saturday, as they have done in three of their last five games, but Manuel Pellegrini’s side are scoring goals for fun at present and go into this encounter buoyant.

Irresistible

Interrupted only by a hiccup in El Clasico, Real Madrid continue their relentless pursuit of Barcelona. Despite being schooled by the Catalans 2-0 a couple of weeks ago, many pundits now believe the momentum in the title race is in favour of los Merengues, who have dropped only those three points from their last 45 available.

Worryingly for Barca, there is little sign of the Bernabeu club showing any let-up in their form, with victories over Almeria and then impressively against Valencia last weekend indicating that los Blancos are in the title race for the duration.

Rarely have Real been as impressive all season as they were against los Che last weekend. Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring midway through the first half, and though it took Cristiano Ronaldo until close to full-time to add a second, the margin of victory was comfortable.

Ezequiel Garay has a steely determination in his tone when he told journalists on Wednesday: “Clearly, the Blaugrana are not unbeatable. We are one point away from them and we have to win the five finals that remain. We cannot fail.”

On current pace, there is little prospect of los Blancos tripping up at the weekend against a team they have already demolished this term. Higuain, Ronaldo and Van der Vaart were all on target as Real breezed by los Manos 6-0 when the sides met at the Bernabeu, and though a more difficult challenge is in store this weekend, a similar result would certainly not go amiss.

Barcelona have been warned.


FORM GUIDE

Zaragoza

DREW 0-0 (a) Athletic Bilbao (Liga, April 18)

DREW 1-1 (h) Mallorca (Liga, April 14)

LOST 2-0 (a) Osasuna (Liga, April 11)

WON 2-0 (h) Malaga (Liga, April 3)

WON 3-0 (h) Valencia (Liga, March 27)

Real Madrid

WON 2-0 (h) Valencia (Liga, April 18)

WON 2-1 (a) Almeria (Liga, April 15)

LOST 2-0 (h) Barcelona (Liga, April 10)

WON 2-0 (a) Racing Santander (Liga, April 4)

WON 3-2 (h) Atletico Madrid (Liga, March 28)

TEAM NEWS

Zaragoza

Rugged Italian centre-back Matteo Contini has been training alone in recent times as he attempts to shrug off an adductor problem that kept him out last weekend. It is expected that he will be fit to play. Angel Lafita, Ikechukwu Uche and Victor Laguardia will all miss out due to injuries, however.

Probable Starting XI: Roberto; Pulido, Jarosik, Contini, Ponzio; Edmilson, Gabi; Arizmendi, Herrera, Eliseu; Suazo

Real Madrid

Kaka trained with the team last weekend but appears to have taken steps away from the first team again of late. He did not train on Wednesday and has not featured at all for los Blancos in around a month.

Christoph Metzelder, Royston Drenthe and Raul Albiol, who is suspended this weekend, have been reduced to training indoors, while Raul continues his rehabilitation from a meniscus injury. Pepe remains a long-term problem.

Probable Starting XI: Casillas; Arbeloa, Ramos, Garay, Marcelo; Guti, Alonso, Gago; Van der Vaart; Higuain, Ronaldo

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Zaragoza

Matteo Contini has been one of the major reasons that Zaragoza’s defence has improved so dramatically in recent times. Signed on loan from Napoli in the January transfer window, the hard-nosed 29-year-old is a no-nonsense centre-back and will look to bully Gonzalo Higuain out of the game. Real’s offence is difficult to stop, but rest assured the Italian will give it a good go.

Real Madrid

With the news that Kaka is unlikely to return once again, Rafael van der Vaart will be expected to prompt many of Real’s attacks from a position just behind the front two. The Dutchman has stepped into the Brazilian’s boots admirably to date, and having already scored twice against Zaragoza this season will be hopeful of adding to his five goal Liga haul to date.

PREDICTION

Zaragoza are a significantly better side than the one thumped by Real Madrid last December, but they are not so much improved that they should pose a great threat to Manuel Pellegrini’s Blancos, who seem to have the bit between their teeth at present. The capital club don’t look like dropping points at the moment and won’t at La Romareda.

Zaragoza 1-3 Real Madrid



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