The La Liga champions Real Madrid will host Real Oviedo in the Bernabéu seeking to turn the narrative away from off-field events, while Oviedo consolidate their relegation with a crucial three-point game.
Real Madrid host Real Oviedo at the Bernabéu on Thursday night, with the hope of turning the narrative away from off-field events —at least briefly. Sunday night’s listless 2–0 defeat to Barcelona confirmed that Madrid will end another season without a major trophy, will training ground turmoil and behind-the-scenes chaos has dominated the headlines in recent weeks.
The meeting with already-relegated Oviedo is Madrid’s first of the three remaining opportunities to end the La Liga campaign with some pride and—at the very least—avoid giving their critics further ammunition to use against the team. Real Madrid will expect to dominate against Oviedo. | Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images Real Oviedo are already relegated and are now playing to not finish last in the division—though the odds of that happening are incredibly slim.
The Asturians have not won in their last four and have tasted victory just twice on the road all season. Anything other than a comfortable victory—despite the off-field noise and injury problems—will be seen as further embarrassment for Real Madrid. : In 84 meetings between the two teams, Oviedo have just 14 wins to Madrid’s 54. At the Bernabéu, the visitors have recorded only three victories.
The last meeting between the sides ended 3–0 to Los Blancos back in August. : Real Oviedo goalkeeper Aarón Escandell leads La Liga’s save charts with 4.1 per match. No team has conceded more away from home in Spain’s top division than Oviedo , however. Mbappé leads La Liga’s top scorer’s race with 24 goals—two ahead of Vedat Muriqi.
The Frenchman netted twice in the reverse fixture back at the start of the season. Mbappé and Caravajal could return to the subs’ bench. | FotMob Arbeloa has a substantial absentees list to deal with in the remaining games of the season, with his team balancing made harder by locker room turmoil and the imminent World Cup.
Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Éder Militão and Arda Güler are all confirmed out for the rest of the season, while Dani Ceballos is not expected to feature again in 2025–26 after falling out with the manager. Dean Huijsen is a doubt after pulling out of the Clásico warmup with a virus, while Federico Valverde continues his recovery fromthat club captain Dani Carvajal should be available to feature against Oviedo. The right back has been out of action with a toe injury.
Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappé has returned to training and could play some part at the Bernabéu on Thursday night. Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Rüdiger, Asencio, F. García; Pitarch, Tchouaméni; Díaz, Bellingham, Vinicius Jr; Gonzalo. Real Oviedo will hope to give their fans some cheer before the end of the season. | FotMob Leander Dendoncker and Eric Bailly are both doubts for the visitors, while Javi López and Kwasi Sibo are both suspended.
Though they are rank outsiders for the clash, manager Guillermo Almada will go into this game with the goal of taking advantage of Madrid’s turbulent season to give the club a kicking while they are down. Escandell; Vidal, Costas, Calvo, Alhassane; Colombatto, Fonseca; Fernández, Reina, Chiara; Viñas. READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAndy Headspeath is a Real Madrid correspondent for Sports Illustrated FC.
Originally from the UK, the weather, culture and soccer lured him to Spain over a decade ago where he lives with his wife, son and two untrainable dogs. A player of unspeakably limited talents and only one fully functional knee, he has more than a decade's experience in a wide variety of editorial roles within sports media, from match reporting to in-depth feature writing and interviews. He specializes in soccer history and culture, as well as—of course—La Liga.
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