Real Madrid – Athletic Bilbao

Real and Athletic will play it safe

In the centre match of the 30th round of La Liga, Real will play against Atletico. The poster is beautiful, but the result of the encounter takes a back seat to two clubs with historic games looming ahead. Real will cross paths with Manchester City in the Champions League for the third year in a row, while Athletic will be favourites for next weekend's King's Cup final against Mallorca. The tournament significance is present at the same time. They need to keep a resurgent Barcelona at a comfortable distance from themselves to avoid a nervous finish. Athletic are sensationally fourth so far, but the margin over Atletico is only one point. Real are having a near-perfect season. After a slight slump, the team did not just return to the winning wave, but gave out two magnificent matches against Celta and Osasuna. As many as eight goals have been in the gates of tough opponents. Vinicius is in great form. The Brazilian can even take a swing at winning the scorer's race. The footballer has already scored 12 goals. But the top scorer of the Spanish championship Jude Bellingham did not score in recent meetings due to disqualification. It just expired. With Atletico Jude will be able to go on the field. From Ancelotti here should not expect a big rotation. It's in Real's interests to play cautiously, but with the main squad. Still, the match with Manchester City is more than a week away. Among the new injuries - Kamawinga. The Frenchman will get a rest in the game with Bilbao. But Eder Militao may return to the pitch. Thibaut Courtois will definitely not be out. Andrey Lunin will remain the main goalkeeper until the end of the season. Athletic have produced a phenomenal stretch in two tournaments: four games, three wins, no goals conceded, seven points in the league and a fair shot at the top four. Ernesto Valverde has done a tremendous job with the Basques. The Williams brothers' tandem is hardly the best bunch in Spain right now. And Gorka Guruseta has suddenly emerged as the top scorer. The fairly limited striker has 13 goals. If the match was held, not burdened by additional factors, Atletico could count on points with a high degree of confidence. Now the club will be objectively difficult to adjust to the match from a psychological point of view. Most likely, the opponents will choose a cautious model. Athletic will give the ball to Real, and the "creamy" in economy mode will look for gaps in the defence. The main objective is to avoid injuries before key games. In this regard, a lot of goals should not be expected. Atletico have the best defence in terms of the number of chances allowed, while Real have simply conceded the least in La Liga.