Real Madrid travel north to the Basque Country to face Athletic Bilbao at San Mames this evening, another crucial game in their tightly-fought battle with Atletico Madrid for the league title. Los Blancos are neck-and-neck with their city rivals, who play Osasuna in Madrid at the same time Madrid face Athletic.
They’re second in La Liga, two points behind Atletico and two clear of third-placed Barcelona. They need to beat Athletic, always a difficult task at their place, and hope Atletico drop points to Osasuna. That would put Madrid in the driving seat heading into the final game of the season, where they face Villarreal at Valdebebas. Atletico travel to play Real Valladolid.
Zinedine Zidane opted for what looked to be a 4-3-3 shape, with Thibaut Courtois starting in goal behind a back four of Alvaro Odriozola, Eder Militao, Nacho and Miguel Gutierrez. The midfield three will be Casemiro, Fede Valverde and Luka Modric, with Karim Benzema leading the line, flanked by Vinicius and Rodrygo.
Atletico thought they’d taken the lead around the hour mark through centre-back Stefan Savic back in Madrid, only for it to be ruled out for offside. Madrid did indeed take the lead through their centre-back Nacho about ten minutes later, however, setting up a nail-biting final 20 minutes.
Real Madrid have scored! 🚨
Nacho didn't know anything about it, but what a monumental goal that could prove to be 👀
Benzema was in an offside position, but must have been deemed not to be interfering as the goal stood after a VAR review 🤷 pic.twitter.com/v1NsY9zhfe
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) May 16, 2021
