Minnows Leganes will attempt to take advantage of Real Madrid’s slump in form and produce a major surprise in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

Los Blancos, on the other hand, desperately need to arrest the negative trend having suffered four slip ups in last five matches on all fronts.

After narrowly avoiding relegation to Segunda last season, Leganes are doing much better this term, and not only in La Liga.

While los Legionarios sit eight points clear of the bottom three in the league, they have also impressed in Copa del Rey, reaching the quarter-finals.

Leganes eliminated Real Valladolid and Villarreal to set up a clash with Real Madrid, although the game does not exactly come at a good time for the hosts.

Namely, they will be facing relegation rivals Deportivo Alaves mere three days later, so there is a chance head coach Asier Garitano will rest some of his regular starters in midweek.

Argentine defender Mauro Dos Santos picked up an injury at the weekend and he is unavailable, as is his compatriot Alexander Szymanowski.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Champagne – Tito, Munoz, Siovas, Diego Rico – Ruben Perez, Gumbau – El Zhar, Eraso, Naranjo – Beauvue.

While last season was a resounding success, this campaign has been an utter disappointment for los Blancos, and it could serve as a reason for major cuts in the summer.

With arch rivals Barcelona already 19 points in front in the La Liga standings, it is clear that Real Madrid are out of the title chase, while they are not exactly impressing in other competitions either.

Los Blancos have now won just one of their last five fixtures, beating weak Numancia on the road before playing out a 2-2 draw in the return leg.

Real Madrid will be hoping to finally end the barren run in midweek and they can be backed at 1.36 (4/11) to emerge victorious.

Zinedine Zidane is expected to rest Cristiano Ronaldo and few more star players, but Karim Benzema is finally set to return.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Casilla – Hakimi, Vallejo, Nacho, Hernandez – Llorente, Kovacic – Vazquez, Asensio, Ceballos – Mayoral.