Real Madrid: 5 key players to watch against Eibar

Real Madrid will travel to the Ipurua to face Eibar on Sunday night in La Liga.

Real Madrid are on a streak of four straight wins since their disastrous loss against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League to start December. After Zinedine Zidane felt the heat, his team responded in kind by playing their best football, showing the heart and quality necessary to play for the Royal Whites.

This Sunday, Real Madrid will face one of the top defensive teams in La Liga at the Ipurua stadium. Eibar are a small club, but they will provide a challenge to Los Blancos, sitting back against a team that may be without Eden Hazard, who carved up Eibar twice in 2019-2020.

Let’s take a look at five key players on Los Blancos to watch.

LW Vinicius Junior

Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior has the potential to be one of Real’s best players in a few years, but there will be growing pains along the way. We saw those issues in the last couple of weeks, as Vinicius wasn’t even a standout player in those massive wins over Atletico Madrid and Borussia Monchengladbach.

But there have been positive signs as well. Vinicius’ never-give-up attitude proved fruitful in the 1-0 win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. And this past Tuesday against Athletic Club, Vinicius played very well for Real Madrid, rewarding Zinedine Zidane’s faith in the youngster.

Assuming Eden Hazard isn’t yet ready to start despite training with the team, Vinicius will be the starter against Eibar. His tireless work ethic and ability to catch lightning in the bottle in the box will make him an important player for Real Madrid, especially if Eibar are able to make this a tight affair in their stadium.