Preview: Leganes vs. Real Madrid

Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Copa del Rey clash between Leganes and Real Madrid, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

A place in the Copa del Rey semi-finals will be on the line when Real Madrid make the short trip across the city for Wednesday’s last-eight clash with Leganes.

Los Blancos will be looking for a response to their recent league defeat against Espanyol, while Leganes will try to bounce back from their home loss to Rayo Vallecano.

Match preview
© Imago

Real Madrid’s La Liga title bid suffered a setback in Saturday’s trip to the RCDE Stadium, falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat to relegation-threatened Espanyol following an effort from Carlos Romero, who was fortunate to escape a red card for an earlier tackle on Kylian Mbappe.

As a result of their first league defeat since December 4, leaders Real Madrid are now sitting just one point clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid ahead of Saturday’s derby clash between the two at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are just four points behind their Clasico rivals, demonstrating that Los Blancos still have plenty of work to do if they are to retain their La Liga crown.

However, they will put their title bid on hold to focus on Wednesday’s cup tie, with the visitors set to feature in the quarter-finals for the second time in three seasons after successfully negotiating two rounds of Copa del Rey action.

Carlo Ancelotti’s charges kicked off their Copa del Rey campaign with a dominant 5-0 win over fourth-tier Deportivo Minera, before they eventually claimed a 5-2 extra-time win over Celta Vigo after they had given up a two-goal advantage in their last-16 tie.

The 20-time Copa del Rey winners will be the heavy favourites to advance from the quarter-final tie, especially as they have already recorded a comfortable win at Butarque this season, with Mbappe, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham all finding the net in November’s 3-0 away victory over Leganes.

© Imago

Leganes are competing in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals after navigating their way through four rounds of matches to set up a tricky tie against the reigning European champions.

After edging out Cuidad de Lucena, Leganes required penalties to get the better of fourth-tier Estepona in the second round, before they went on to claim a narrow 2-1 victory over Cartagena from the Segunda Division.

Borja Jimenez’s side got the better of another second-tier team in last month’s quarter-final against Almeria, overturning a 2-1 deficit to claim a 3-2 victory thanks to a Miguel de la Fuente penalty and Diego Garcia’s 86th-minute winner.

The wins over Cartagena and Almeria helped Los pepineros put together a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions, with their impressive form including a surprise 1-0 home win over Atletico Madrid and a hard-fought goalless draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames.

Unfortunately for Leganes, their unbeaten run drew to a close in Friday’s La Liga home clash against fellow Madrid side Rayo Vallecano, which saw Sergio Gonzalez shown a straight red card before Pathe Ciss scored the decisive goal to condemn Los pepineros to a narrow defeat, leaving them in 16th place with a two-point gap to the bottom three.

Having lost four of their last five home games, Leganes know that they will have their work cut out to spring a surprise in Wednesday’s cup tie, but they may be able to take some inspiration from the fact that they prevailed in their most recent Copa del Rey quarter-final against none other than Real Madrid, progressing on away goals after playing out a 2-2 draw across two legs in the 2017-18 competition.

Leganes Copa del Rey form:

Leganes form (all competitions):

Real Madrid Copa del Rey form:

Real Madrid form (all competitions):

Team News
© Imago

The hosts remain without the services of Enrique Franquesa, who is out for a significant period after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in November.

Midfielder Seydouba Cisse has joined Franquesa in the treatment room after he was forced off with a hamstring issue in the first half of Friday’s defeat to Rayo.

Renato Tapia was introduced for Cisse in the 23rd minute of the 1-0 defeat, and the former Celta Vigo midfielder is now expected to start Wednesday’s cup tie.

Gonzalez will feature in the backline despite being sent off against Rayo, with his suspension set to be served in La Liga.

Real Madrid remain without Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao, while Eduardo Camavinga will be absent again after missing the last five matches with a hamstring problem.

Ancelotti will be forced into at least one change after Antonio Rudiger picked up a hamstring injury in Saturday’s defeat to Espanyol, with the defender expected to be out of action for around three weeks.

The Real Madrid boss has also confirmed that David Alaba has picked up a muscle issue, while Ancelotti also revealed on Tuesday that Bellingham and Mbappe will not be fit to feature in Thursday’s cup game.

As a result, Ancelotti could give starting opportunities to Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Luka Modric, Arda Guler, Brahim Diaz and Endrick.

Leganes possible starting lineup:
Soriano; Altimira, Rosier, Gonzalez, Nastasic, Cruz; Raba, Neyou, Tapia, Rodriguez; De La Fuente

Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Lunin; Vazquez, Tchouameni, Asencio, Mendy; Valverde, Modric; Guler, Brahim, Vinicius; Endrick

We say: Leganes 1-3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid will be aware that they will face a similar challenge to the one that they failed to overcome in Saturday’s league game against Espanyol, with Leganes likely to defend deep and look to trouble Los Blancos on the counter.

However, the visitors have already picked up a comfortable victory at Butarque this season, and we think that their firepower will ultimately prove too strong for the home side.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

ID:564723:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:collect14725:

Previews by emailClick here to get Sports Mole’s daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!