Real Madrid will be looking to pile up more pressure on Barcelona and Sevilla and will be looking to pick up all three points when they face off against Las Palmas at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu later today. The interesting thing about this match is that Jese Rodriguez will be making an emotional return to Real Madrid with Las Palmas after a failed move to PSG.
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After coming from two goals down in their previous match against Villarreal to win 3-2, Zinedine Zidane will be hoping for a more convincing performance this time from his team. Real Madrid will be without their key defender Raphael Varane for several weeks after he picked up an injury in their previous match. Danilo will miss this match too after he was not considered fit enough.
Zinedine Zidane said in his press conference after their narrow win against Villarreal that they will lose together or win together, but they will stick together until the end. He also said that the pressure was getting to his players with a few complicated matches coming up.
"The other day they entered the game and did their work. We win and lose all together and it is going to be like this until the end. It's good for me that everyone wants to play. It is impossible to please everyone but I want to show everyone that all my players are important.''
"We have a few complicated matches, but until the beginning of January we had not lost a game. In a season, there are times when you know it is going to go wrong, that is normal and that is a pressure you have every day."
Las Palmas are in horrible form at the moment losing their last five matches and face an uphill battle if they are to come out of this match against Real Madrid with any sort of positive result. While they are in 13th place in the La Liga table at the moment they need to start winning some match or they could end up fighting for survival at the end of the season.
Las Palmas have a lot of injuries to deal with ahead of this match as Angel Montoro, Michel Macedo and Javi Castellano are sidelined for the trip to the Bernabeu, while Marko Livaja is doubtful.
Their coach Quique Setien said that his team will stick to their philosophy and will try to control the ball and will try to change the dynamics after they suffered a loss against Real Sociedad despite putting in a strong performance.
"We will try to have the ball. We will not change anything about our philosophy. We know that there will be times when we will be under pressure and we will have to defend well. As a coach I accept that we depend on the results. The players are hurting after playing well against Real Sociedad and losing, they are looking forward to the next match to change this dynamic."
Where to watch
The La Liga match between Real Madrid and Las Palmas is set to start at 8:30pm GMT (2:00am IST, 3:30pm EST)
TV and live streaming information
India: TV: Sony Six/HD. Live Streaming: Sonyliv.
Spain: TV: Canal+ Partidazo
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2/HD. Live Streaming: Sky Go.
USA, Australia, and Canada:TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
