Newly-promoted Almeria will be hoping to avoid embarrassment when they host reigning La Liga champions Real Madrid on Sunday night.
Real Madrid won the La Liga title with ease last season. Naturally, they will be looking kick off their title-defending campaign on a positive note.
💪 @Benzema 🙌 @David_Alaba 🏆 #CHAMPION5 pic.twitter.com/GaNAdcHyeo— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) August 11, 2022
💪 @Benzema 🙌 @David_Alaba 🏆 #CHAMPION5 pic.twitter.com/GaNAdcHyeo
Meanwhile, Almeria gained promotion from La Liga 2 last term – clinching the second-tier titles thanks to their superior goal difference. Can they remain in the top flight?
Almeria lost just nine of their 42 league games last season, picking up 24 wins and nine draws in the process.
Not only did they post the best defensive record in the division, but they also ended up with the second-best offensive record.
Almeria last featured in La Liga back in 2014/15. However, they finished second from bottom that season after losing 22 of their 38 games.
It goes without saying that Almeria must improve on their last top-flight campaign if they want to avoid relegation this time around.
As for Real Madrid, they lost just four of their 38 league games last season – securing 26 wins and eight draws along the way.
The champions scored 80 La Liga goals last term (2.1 goals per game), with Golden Boot winner Karim Benzema netting 27 goals in 32 appearances.
Thanks to a stellar end to the previous campaign, Los Blancos have only suffered three defeats in their last 30 La Liga outings.
On Wednesday, Real Madrid kicked off their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup – with Benzema scoring his 324th goal for the club.
Head-to-head: Unfortunately for Almeria, they have failed to win any of their previous ten league meetings with Real Madrid.
To make matters worse for the newly-promoted side, they have conceded at least three goals in each of their past five defeats to Los Blancos.
Team news: Almeria look set to start the season without injured trio Juanjo Nieto, Ivan Martos and Arnau Sola.
Federico Valverde started alongside Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior in Wednesday’s Super Cup, meaning the Uruguayan is likely to retain his place in Sunday’s starting XI.
Although Almeria will be confident of causing an upset on their La Liga return, Real Madrid have more than enough firepower to dispatch the newcomers.
Forebet predicts that Real Madrid will score over 2.5 goals on their way to seeing off Almeria.