Leganes vs Real Madrid prediction: SPAIN: Copa del Rey betting tips on match 2025-02-04 20:00.
[p]For just the second time in their history, Leganés are in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and face the same opponents as they did in their first appearance at this stage in 2017/18, namely Real Madrid. Hoping to repeat their progress to the final four that season, they do so having failed to score in both of their last two games (D1, L1), in stark contrast to netting at least twice in all four of their Copa wins this term.[/p]
[p]The Cucumber Growers lost the first leg at their Estadio Municipal de Butarque stadium 1-0 seven years ago, but with this being a one-off tie, they must avoid a fourth straight winless H2H there to progress (D2, L1). This is the club’s first Copa home match since 2022, so something of a rarity for LeganĂ©s fans – rather like home victories, as they’ve only witnessed one in their last five games on their own patch (L4)![/p]
[p]As 20-time Copa champions, Madrid make the short trip south for their third quarter-final appearance in four seasons after being humbled 1-0 by relegation-threatened Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday, ending a five-game winning streak in all competitions. That match in Barcelona was the first time that Los Blancos had failed to score away from home domestically since May 2023, and before last weekend, they had found the net 3+ times in four of their last five such encounters.[/p]
[p]While defeat won’t necessarily spell the beginning of the end for manager Carlo Ancelotti, it would come as a surprise for a side that have lost only one of their last six Copa games away from home (W5). It would be particularly ironic if Madrid were eliminated here, as their current president Florentino Pérez’s construction firm built Butarque in the 1990s![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Munir El Haddadi has scored Leganés’ first goal in three of their four Copa games this season, all of them coming between the 25th and 50th minutes, while Federico Valverde, who started Madrid’s 1-0 H2H defeat here in 2019, is the only player to have netted in both of the club’s Copa outings this term.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Five of Madrid’s last six Copa fixtures have produced more than 3.5 goals in normal time (90 minutes: W4, D2).[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]