Los Blancos lead rivals Barcelona on goal difference and will be hoping to maintain their lead with a difficult tie against Sevilla on the cards. Madrid have performed admirably on the pitch having managed victories in all of their last five matches, but have been surrounded by a few off the field controversies.
One of these is the uncertainty surrounding the future of Cristiano Ronaldo who has dropped hints that he might be leaving the club in the recent future. Manager Rafa Benitez however has remained calm and is hopeful that Ronaldo will remain at the club for years to come.
"Cristiano is scoring for fun and looks happy to me," Benitez said. "He scored three goals in training today.
"I read that his agent said he's happy and that he'll finish his career here. If he's as happy and effective as he showed today then I'm at ease. I hope he's here for years to come and continues scoring hatfuls of goals."
The Spanish tactician also lent support to striker Karim Benzema who has been accused of criminal conspiracy and also threw light on his fitness.
"He's in the final stages of his recovery. We've decided to leave him here so he can get back to 100 percent fitness."
"He's in good spirits, but he won't be travelling to Seville. On a personal level,the club sent out a statement that we all agree with and there's not much else to say about the matter. He returned the other day, trained, did his work for that day and that's all I'm going to say. Karim has our full support."
"He still needs a bit of time to get back to full fitness. We don't want to take any risks. Everyone who works with Karim knows what he's like and all his teammates and the club are fully behind him. The most sensible thing to do now is wait to see what the findings are."
Goalkeeper Casilla is poised to start against Sevilla with Keylor Navas struggling with a groin injury. Full back Marcelo is also a doubt for the match, however Gareth Bale and Dani Carvajal are expected to return to the side.
The fixture last season resulted in a five goal thriller which Real Madrid eventually won by a 3-2 score line thanks to a hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese forward has scored 19 league goals against the Andalusian side, this is more than he has scored against any other top flight team.
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