Buoyed by the Copa del Rey triumph over Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao will attempt to put a dent into Real Madrid’s title hopes and cement their place in the top half of the standings.

Meanwhile, los Blancos need to make amends for the home draw against Villarreal, and they can be expected to give their best at San Mames.

This season did not exactly go according to plan, with Athletic crashing out of Europe early on and not exactly impressing in La Liga, but the good news is los Leones can still salvage the current campaign.

Namely, the club have again reserved their best performances for Copa del Rey, and went on to reach the final for the third time in last seven years.

Athletic did brilliantly to defeat Espanyol on the road and secure their place in the final, where they will again be facing Barcelona, the team that pipped them to the trophy on last two occasions.

And having also improved their league form by defeating Rayo Vallecano and Eibar, los Leones can be backed at 3.00 (2/1) to prevent Real from winning at San Mames.

The hosts have some important missings seeing as Mikel San Jose is banned and Ander Iturraspe faces a fitness test.

Second-choice goalkeeper Iago Herrerin has suffered a hamstring injury and will make way for Gorka Iraizoz for the Real clash.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Iraizoz – De Marcos, Etxeita, Laporte, Balenziaga – Rico, Iturraspe – Iraola, Muniain, Williams – Aduriz.

Despite suffering two slip-ups in last four league matches, Real Madrid remain in the driving seat, although they are now just two points ahead of rivals Barcelona.

Los Blancos had a great chance to extend the good run and keep the four-point advantage intact as Villarreal arrived at Santiago Bernabeu with a second-string side, but the Yellow Submarine, nonetheless, managed to hold their more illustrious opponents to a 1-1 draw.

With the derby clash against Barcelona scheduled for 22th March, Real Madrid need to ensure they go into the game at Camp Nou from the top of the standings, but the match against revived Athletic Bilbao will be a serious test to their title credentials.

Even so, with the visitors virtually at full strength, it is hardly surprising Carlo Ancelotti’s charges have been made 1.50 (1/2) favourites to win at San Mames.

Key midfielder Luka Modric has resumed full training and he could be in contention for the Athletic game, but he is not expected to start.

Asier Illarramendi and Lucas Silva are vying for one place alongside Toni Kroos, whereas Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez, Fabio Coentrao and Sami Khedira remain in the infirmary.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Casillas – Carvajal, Pepe, Varane, Marcelo – Bale, Silva, Kroos, Isco – Benzema, Ronaldo.