Granada vs Real Madrid – La Liga – Preview

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Sreya

Real Madrid travel to Los Carmenes to face Granada on Sunday, 7th February as they aim to close the gap on Atletico Madrid who are placed second in the La Liga standings. Real Madrid sit on the third position in league table with forty seven points after twenty two matches.

Their opponents tonight, Granada are involved in a relegation battle with only twenty points in their kitty. The nineteenth placed club is coming off a 1-0 loss against Villareal and have an uphill task against Real Madrid who scored six goals against Espanyol in their previous fixture.

Team News

Edgar Mendez and Salva Ruiz are the only injury concerns for Granada. Ruben Rochina, Adalberto Penaranda and Isaac Success have regained match fitness and are expected to feature in the starting line-up. David Barral, who arrived on deadline day, is also likely to start. Gareth Bale and Pepe are Zinedine Zidane’s injury concerns with Pepe facing a late fitness test.

Granada Possible Starting Lineup: Andres Fernandez, Miguel Lopes, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Lomban, Cristiano Biraghi, Ruben Perez, Fran Rico, Success, Ruben Rochina, Adalberto Penaranda, David Barral.

Real Madrid Possible Starting Lineup: Keylor Navas, Daniel Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Marcelo, Isco, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“It’s quite a difficult week because we have some new players coming in and three games against big teams. We played a good game against Villarreal but we missed out on the points, and I think we have the quality to do something good on Sunday.

Madrid are a good team, they have players of a high level, but as players we like this kind of game. If we’re united as we were in Madrid, we can win.”

– El-Arabi, Granada.

“As long as there is a mathematical possibility of winning we will be in the mix, Real Madrid have to battle until the end. We know that it is difficult but we are going to fight because we have a good dynamic with the new manager and I believe that we are going to battle until the end.”

– Kiko Casillas, Real Madrid

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Real Madrid have won eight of their last nine matches against Granada in all competitions, keeping a clean sheet in five of the last seven matches.

Granada have won only three out of their previous ten league fixtures. Undefeated in their last seven La Liga fixtures, Real Madrid are the clear favorites and are likely to win 3-0 on Sunday.