Wednesday features a nice selection of games in Spain’s La Liga and in this preview we’ll take a look at a matchup between Real Madrid and bottom of the table Leganes at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid is off to sa good enough start in Spain’s top domestic league. They’re 5-3-1 on the year scoring 16 and conceding 9. That puts them in 6th place with 18 points but since the upper tier of the La Liga table is so tight a win here would vault them up to one of the top two spots (depending on the outcome of Barcelona’s Tuesday matchup with Valladolid). At the Santiago Bernabeu, they’re 3-1-0 scoring 10 and conceding 5. They’ve got a game in hand (as does Barcelona) since the matchup between the two last weekend ended up being postponed.
The expectation is that Madrid will take all three points since their opponent is bottom of the table Leganes–a team that has been in very poor form and looks to be going nowhere but down via relegation. Leganes is 1-2-7 overall this year scoring 5 and conceding 14. They’ve yet to win on the La Liga road this season going 0-1-3 though they’ve played a tentative style that keeps the outcomes at least respectable. They’ve scored just two goals but have conceded only six in their four away games. Oddly enough, they’ve done much better in this regard on the road than at home where they’ve scored 3 and conceded 8.
Leganes has already taken the obvious step toward reversing their fortunes which was to show manager Mauricio Pellegrino the door after their brutal start to the season. Luis Cembranos is the caretaker manager and he’s off to a good enough start and got a win in his first game at the helm with a 1-0 home victory over Mallorca. Even with that win they’ve dug quite a hole for themselves and remain 3 back of 19th place Espanyol and 4 back of 18th place Real Betis. Five points is needed to get them clear of the relegation zone for at least the time being.
Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Mallorca last time out but had a 3-1-0 record in their previous four games. That loss broke an eight game unbeaten streak in La Liga play during which Madrid went 5-3-0. There is little doubt among fans that Madrid will get the victory here but it is worth noting that they haven’t exactly been dominant over Leganes. Leganes held Madrid to a 1-1 draw at Butarque last season and also have a 1-0 win in their previous meeting in Copa del Rey play. The game will likely be tighter than expected so we’ll place a couple of wagers accordingly.
