HP Terbaru 2023 – Real Madrid meet Matarazzo’s in form Real Sociedad

---

By Filip Mishov

---

Los Blancos keen to put pressure on and leapfrog Barça at the top the table

Real Madrid’s flawless form in LaLiga continues to put pressure on the leaders, Barcelona, as Kylian Mbappé & co. came off victorious from the tricky trip to Mestalla to extend their seven-match winning streak, which stretches back to December last year. Furthermore, the Whites have conceded just 18 goals, or the joint-least in Spain’s top tier, with no goalkeeper keeping more clean sheets (11) than Thibaut Courtois, and also, only the reigning champions, Barça (63), have scored more goals (49) this campaign.

With the in-form Real Sociedad coming to Estadio Bernabéu next, a difficult challenge awaits Álvaro Arbeloa‘s squad to strengthen the third-best home record in the league.

La Real are riding high on a wave of confidence, as the Basque club is on a seven-match (4W, 3D) unbeaten run in LaLiga and on an incredible 11-match unbeaten run across all competitions as well, which includes a draw against Atletico Madrid, a surprising win over Barcelona and, most recently, a victory in the Basque derby. To put it into context, since Pellegrino Matarazzo took over the helm back at the start of this calendar year, Real Sociedad have climbed up to 8th place in the standings and are on the verge of reaching the Copa del Rey final.

However, the White and Blues’ recent record at the Bernabéu is relatively poor, as Real Sociedad’s last win in Madrid dates back to 2020, but they have recorded three defeats and three draws since then, which is ultimately better than most!

Key Players

The free-firing Frenchman up front might be stealing the headlines, but Álvaro Carreras deserves plaudits for his impressive performances this season too, as the uncapped Spaniard opened the scoring at Valencia last weekend, earning him a FotMob rating of 8.5 and thus, the Player of the Match award. Also, the attacking-minded left-back is ranking high (over 95% in each category) in goals scored (2), successful passes (1.114), touches (1.687) and recoveries (119) among the other full-backs in the league, which makes him the highest-rated (7.51) defender in LaLiga.

Regardless of who is at the helm in San Sebastián, Mikel Oyarzabal is the undisputed protagonist and the Spanish international is La Real’s top scorer (9 goals) and joint-top assist maker (3) in LaLiga, while the versatile forward is also leading the ranks in terms of chances created (30) and possession won (0.9) in the final 3rd per 90, making him the best and most important player in the squad.

Team news

With Trent Alexander-Arnold coming off the bench against Valencia, Éder Militao, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo remain the only absentees in Arbeloa’s squad, with Vinícius Júnior also set to return to the starting XI after serving a one-match suspension.

For Real Sociedad, Brais Méndez will serve his second match of his two-match suspension in Madrid, while Luka Sucic, Arsen Zakharyan, Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea are injured.

Prediction

Even though Real Madrid’s performances are not really eye-catching, securing wins and collecting points is all that matters in a title race, and with Real Sociedad playing a midweek Basque derby in the Copa del Rey and Álvaro Arbeloa enjoying a full week to prepare for the match, I expect the hosts to celebrate a narrow victory in Madrid.

---

(Cover image from IMAGO)

---

You can follow every game from LaLiga with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, player ratings. Download the free app here.