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Real Madrid come into Saturday's La Liga clash with Villarreal CF 12 points behind leaders Barcelona but Los Blancos just knocked their bitter rivals out of the Copa del Rey in the final Clasico of the season. Karim Benzema's exceptional hat-trick as part of a 4-0 rout at Camp Nou comes off the back of a 6-0 thumping of Real Valladolid and guarantees that Carlo Ancelotti's side have something to fight for domestically. Villarreal are four points off a UEFA Champions League spot with four wins from their last five unbeaten after putting a poor run of four straight losses behind them. Quique Setien's men will fancy themselves to make life tough for Real.

Here's our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:

How to watch and odds

  • Date: Saturday, Apr. 8 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
  • Location: Santiago Bernabeu -- Madrid
  • TV/Live stream: ESPN+
  • Odds: Real -200; Draw: +340; Valladolid +500 (via Caesars Sportsbook) 

Team news

Real: Ferland Mendy likely remains out having missed the Barca thumping with patience wearing thin at Santiago Bernabeu over his constant injury issues. Antonio Rudiger made the bench in Catalonia but was a doubt pregame with a knee issue and did not feature -- he could be rested again here.

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Villarreal: Etienne Capoue, Francis Coquelin and Gerard Moreno all missed the win over Real Sociedad but Alex Baena returned from suspension. Giovani Lo Celso came on as a substitute and will hope to break into the starting XI here.

Prediction

This one should be tight but Real have shown greater appetite of late and could continue that against Villarreal ahead of the Champions League return. Pick: Real 2, Villarreal 1.