La Liga action returns to the Bernabeu following a 20 day absence. It does so with the visit of the ever competitive Levante. After thrashing Galatasaray on Wednesday and taking a giant step towards the Champions League semi-finals, the Whites play their second consecutive home match with the aim of extending their perfect home league record so far this year. The Whites have six consecutive home wins and have gone 14 months unbeaten on home turf.
That is a great record to take into the match against the team from Valencia, who are themselves unbeaten in their last four league matches (18:00, C+ Liga & Gol T).The record reflects the union that the Real Madrid team have with their fans in the Bernabeu. The perfect record that they have this year in the league and the 14 months unbeaten on home turf show that. Today Levante, who have converted themselves from being the surprise package of the previous two seasons to become a recognised team will put this record to the test.
| RECORDS OF BOTH TEAMS BEFORE MATCH DAY 30 | |||||||||||
| HOME | AWAY | ||||||||||
| Pos. | Ptos | P | W | D | L | P | W | D | L | ||
| Real Madrid | 2º | 62 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | |
| Levante | 10º | 40 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
Real Sociedad (4-3), Getafe (4-0), Sevilla (4-1), Rayo Vallecano (2-0), Barcelona (2-1) and Mallorca (5-2) are the teams that have visited Real Madrid in 2013 and the results are overwhelming: six wins out of a possible six, 21 goals for and seven against. Today they can add a seventh and, as Karanka said at a press conference, the efforts of the players that have played fewer minutes this season will be key: "Real Madrid have players who play less minutes than others and for them there is no better motivation than to be able to give their all in matches like this".
Jose Mourinho has picked 19 players for the match. Club captain Casillas, who returns to the squad following a 72 days absence due to injury, is the main news. The Real Madrid goalkeeper suffered a fracture at the base of the first metacarpal of his left hand on 23rd January in the Copa del Rey match against Valencia which caused him to miss the Whites’ next 14 matches.
Levante have gone four matches unbeaten in the league
The Valencians, who have already nearly guaranteed their safety, will be fighting to play in the Europa League until the end the season. Their participation in this year's European competition was well deserved and they are just six points from Valencia, who are sixth, with 27 left to play for.
| MATCHES BETWEEN THE TEAMS AT THE SANTIAGO BERNABEU | ||||||||
| J | G | E | P | GF | GC | |||
| Real Madrid | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 6 | ||
| Levante | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 23 | ||
In aiming to do so they are in cruise control and have gone undefeated for four consecutive matches in the league. Valencia (2-2), Getafe (0-0), Granada (1-1) and Sevilla (1-0) have been their opponents. Juan Ignacio Martinez has picked 18 players. Barkero and Valdo, have got over their niggles, Ballesteros, Pedro Lopez and El Zhar are new inclusions, whilst the suspended David Navarro has not travelled to the Spanish capital, nor have Mate Simao, Dudka, Nikos and Hector Rodas.