European Football Pre-Match Analysis: Taiwo Awoniyi Set To Face Eagles Target Noel-Joel In Bundesliga

European Football Pre-Match Analysis: Taiwo Awoniyi Set To Face Eagles Target Noel-Joel In Bundesliga

By Muyiwa Akintunde

Real Madrid will have to reply to last night's triumph by Barcelona, which lifted the Catalans five points ahead in the title race.

The last time Zinadine Zidane and his squad played before the enforced break, they got defeated 1-2 at Real Betis.

In their last five matches, Madrid could only win once, and lost even at home to Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League second round, leading to a potential ouster from Europe.

This evening's opponents Eibar may not survive the race against the drop unless they improve on their statistics of 1-0-4 in the last games before Covid-19 shutdown.

Eibar, who lost at home 0-4 to Madrid in the first leg, are just two points above the bottom three.

Champions League quarter-finalists Atlético Madrid are uncharacteristically out of the top three, placing sixth and 11 points adrift of city rivals Real Madrid.

They however ended their last five games on a high, losing none and winning four - including the home and away victories that eliminated title holders Liverpool from the Champions League.

Atletico will be coming up against Athletic who they beat 2-0 in the first leg. A vulnerable Athletic Club lost three of their five matches preceding the break.

For Sociedad, the strategy will be to consolidate on their fourth position and feature in next season's Champions League.

Their first two attempts in that elite competition ended in Round of 16 (2003/04) and group stage (2013/14) exits.

Visiting Osasuna lost the first leg 3-4.

2019/20 Spanish LaLiga (Week 28):

Athletic Club v Atlético Madrid (1pm),

Real Madrid v Eibar (6:30pm),

Real Sociedad v Osasuna (9pm)

Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi is expected to play a part in Mainz's struggle against relegation. He will be looking to add to his first goal in Mainz's shirt, scored five matches ago against Köln.

Mainz are only a step and three points ahead of the relegation zone and have four matches to end the season. They lost to this afternoon's visitors Augsburg 1-2 in the first leg.

Augsburg, who themselves are just a place and a point ahead of Mainz, parade Noah-Joel Sarenren-Bazee, who is reportedly on the radar of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr.

In the other fixture, Bayer Leverkusen will break into the top four if they avoid defeat on the road to Schalke.

The first leg ended 2-1 in favour of Bayer.

2019/20 German Bundesliga (Week 31):

Mainz 05 v FC Augsburg (2:30pm),

Schalke 04 v Bayer Leverkusen (5pm)