The Galacticos’ 0-0 draw vs Betis in their previous La Liga match was a poor result but marked a flush run of five first-half La Liga clean sheets.
Real Madrid
After ending last week just two points adrift of the summit, Real Madrid remain in firm title contention. The Galacticos’ 0-0 draw vs Betis in their previous La Liga match was a poor result but marked a flush run of five first-half La Liga clean sheets. Zinedine Zidane’s men have also beaten the first-half handicap in their last two league victories. That draw vs Betis also extended Real’s current unbeaten run of La Liga home games to seven. Three of those five victories ended 2-0 and averaged an equal number of goals per game across halves (1.00). Meanwhile, both games which saw Real concede first witnessed their comeback goals arrive exclusively beyond the 70th minute.
Osasuna
Mid-table Osasuna travel knowing that a top-half finish is still possible, but Los Rojillos’ immediate task is to arrest a winless run of 13 H2Hs. They conceded an eye-watering 3.80 goals per game across those defeats – and an average margin of precisely 3.00. Osasuna’s average number of goals conceded per game across their last ten La Liga away defeats vs current top-four opposition (3.60) is similarly alarming. The previous three multi-goal margin defeats in that group of losses saw Osasuna concede at least once inside the 61st-75th minute period. Although after picking up 58.82 per cent of their away point haul across their last five trips, Osasuna could be a potential banana skin for Real’s title charge.
Karim Benzema opened the scoring in Real’s last league victory. In turn, 14 of his 23 prior decisive La Liga goals to arrive within the opening half-hour have come during wins to-nil by a 2 goal margin. Meanwhile, Roberto Torres still accounts for Osasuna’s most recent La Liga match-winner away to the current top-four opposition. Osasuna’s last 20 La Liga games to be won/lost have favoured the opening scorer.