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Madrid unexpectedly failed in Valencia

Villarreal tied two wins against strong opponents and now they're hoping for a surprise against Madrid who never had an easy time at El Madrigal

RCD Espanyol

The catastrophe against Roma seemed to have a positive effect on Villarreal's players who in the last two games played really good, and they defeated two respectable teams. At San Sebastian Villarreal struggled a lot, but thanks to a goal they recorded full points and remained in the race for the Champions League. The Yellow Submarine were solid in Rome where they were better in the second leg with 1-0, but the Italians were aware they already passed back in Spain.

- Before Roma I said that our wish is only to win and work on our impression. We managed to do that, but I can't say the whole Europa League was successful. We said goodbye too soon to the competition, but now we can turn to the home league. We tied two wins and I'm looking forward that things are doing better. I'm happy that Roberto Soldado is finally with us, who was out from the start of the season, but thanks to our defense, we managed to keep our net intact against very dangerous opponents. Our goal is now to keep the same positive run we're on - said Fran Escriba.

Like Escriba mentioned, we finally saw Roberto Soldado in Rome, but he's still not fully ready to play for 90 minutes. The only officially absent player today is forward Nicola Sansone who missed Roma as well. Midfielder Roberto Soriano is done with the suspension, but Samuel Castillejo will probably remain in-game.

RCD Espanyol

Real routinely dealt with weakened Espanyol, and then they headed for Valencia where they played against the hosts. They had a chance to strengthen the first position, but the system fell apart at the very start of the game. With two goals in the first nine minutes Valencia reached a huge advantage they didn't let go of.

- I'm the first one who will praise the team when they play well, but after the defeat at Mestalla, we need to look ourselves in the eyes. We shouldn't escape the fact that we weren't on the right level. We made too many errors, we lacked focus and intensity. We created a few good chances, but it was hard to make up for two goals. We have no excuses for such matches, we're guilty and we have to make up for what we missed. Luckily, we're still first and the league is still our obsession. This is a delicate moment, maybe even the key part of the season, and we're fully motivated to show ourselves in the best possible way against Villarreal. We often had problems at El Madrigal and that's why we should take all the precautions for that not to happen again - Zinedine Zidane said.

Danilo will probably miss another match, and the French stopper Raphael Varane is out for this away game, meaning that probably Portuguese Pepe will replace him among the starting eleven.