Real Madrid vs. Villarreal: 3 things to look forward to

Real Madrid won’t have to face Villarreal’s best side

Villarreal are a very good team in LaLiga. They may have fallen outside the Europa League places this season, but that says more about Real Sociedad’s resurgence and the immediate turnaround Real Betis have experienced under Manuel Pellegrini. Because the Yellow Submarine are a solid football team and showed as much earlier this season when they outplayed Los Blancos at the Estadio de la Ceramica in a 1-1 draw.

Real Madrid won’t have to face a full-strength Villarreal, though. Unai Emery has his signature competition on the horizon, as the Valencian club is in the Europa League Final against a formidable Manchester United. If Villarreal win, they are in the Europa League next season and Emery adds to his legacy. If they fall short, the 2021-2022 season will be tougher for them.

So Villarreal may very well rest their key players against Real Madrid this weekend, giving Los Blancos hope that they can secure the full three points with another professional display. Their win over Athletic Club was a grind, but they produced some free-flowing attacking football last week on Thursday at Los Carmenes.

Perhaps we will see more of the same against Villarreal at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano to at least give the “training ground” a proper send-off with the attacking football Madridistas want to see from the Merengue club.