With just 5 more La Liga games remaining in the season, Real Madrid have to win every single one of them to keep fighting till the end in the league.
Real Madrid face Almeria at the Bernabeu as they head into the business end of the season. Carlo Ancelottia s side is second in the league, just two points behind Barcelona and are trying to defend their status as European champions after making it to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Speaking to the press, ahead of the game, Ancelotti insisted that Real Madrid will have to approach every game with a do or die mentality and also said that Almeria are going to be tricky opponents.
Ancelotti said: a All the games are a matter of life and death now. We will approach this match with that mentality. This is going to be an important fixture. A tricky and challenging game. We are entering into a stage of the season in which all our encounters will determine the outcome of the future.a
Almeria come into this game on the back of a 2-0 win over Eibar. The Andalusian side is fighting to remain in first division as they are just two points ahead of the 18th placed Deportivo. Speaking of the opponents, Ancelotti praised their form and claimed that every team fighting to stay in the league are difficult to play against.
He said: a Almer a have changed their playing style with the arrival of the new manager. They control possession better now and have been picking up good results lately. They are in good form at the moment and all the sides fighting to stay up are going to be difficult to play against.a
Real Madrid have a tight schedule in the upcoming weeks. After Almeria, Real travel to Seville at the weekend and then face Juventus over two legs in the Champions League with a game against Valencia squeezed between the two games.
Speaking about his sidea s tight schedule, Ancelotti maintained that the team is confident and will try to win every game.
He said: We have a difficult fixture list because all the games are tough, but we are confident we can do well. We’ll have players coming back from injury soon. We have to try and win all our remaining games, although we could get past Juventus with two draws.a
The game against Almeria could be the one in which teenage sensation, Martin Odegaard, makes his debut for Real Madrid. The Norwegian joined the Spanish giants in January after garnering interest from various top European clubs.