After the hard-fought triumph over Granada ensured Real Madrid remained in the title chase, los Blancos will be looking to record another comprehensive home win when they host Athletic Bilbao.

Los Leones have seen their top 4 bid all but come to an end as they failed to beat Villarreal, but they will certainly not be lacking motivation ahead of the trip to Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid bosses learned the hard way what everybody had known for quite some time, as Rafael Benitez utterly failed to prove the doubters wrong.

Los Blancos then made another risky appointment as they chose Zinedine Zidane to replace the Spaniard, but the former world-class footballer has enjoyed a very good start to his new job.

Real Madrid enjoyed 5-0 and 5-1 triumphs over Deportivo La Coruna and Sporting Gijon in his first two games in charge, although the 1-1 draw with Real Betis ruined the perfect start.

Nevertheless, with los Blancos having since hammered Espanyol (6-0) and also defeated Granada (2-1), it is hardly surprising they are 1.83 (5/6) for a half-time/full-time win.

Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Pepe have stepped up their recovery from injury, but none of them will be in contention to face Athletic.

The good news is that Luka Modric and Daniel Carvajal resumed full training after missing Tuesday’s session and they should be fit to play.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Navas – Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Nacho – Modric, Kroos, Isco – Rodriguez, Benzema, Ronaldo.

Even with decent strength in depth, Athletic were always going to find it hard to successfully compete in all three major competitions, but they have so far done pretty well on all fronts.

Los Leones were unlucky to face their bogeymen team Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, but at least they now have one less competition to worry about.

Despite being pitted against French giants Marseille in the first knockout phase, Athletic stand a decent chance of reaching the final stages of Europa League, although the focus remains on the league campaign.

Athletic have so far failed to keep up with high-flying Villarreal in the race for the fourth position in the standings, and they appear to have missed the final opportunity to keep their Champions League hopes alive by playing out a goalless draw with the El Madrigal outfit.

Los Leones now face another difficult task as they face Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, the venue they failed to leave as winners in over 11 years, losing 11 straight matches there.

Important midfielders Mikel San Jose and Inaki Williams miss out through suspension, but Oscar De Marcos is back to the side.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Iraizoz – De Marcos, Boveda, Laporte, Balenziaga – Iturraspe, Benat – Sabin, Eraso, Susaeta – Aduriz.