Real Madrid seek their eighth win this year in Riazor

There's no turning back. Well into the decisive stages of the season and only days away from facing two crucial qualifying matches in the Copa del Rey and Champions League, Real Madrid are visiting La Coruña to go up against Deportivo on match day 25 of la Liga (Saturday, 20:00, C+ Liga and Gol T). Mourinho's team will be looking to take their recent success at the Santiago Bernabeu against Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano onto rival territory. They face a clash against the team placed last on the table, who has lost their last five matches and needs to start earning three points at a time if they are going to leave the danger zone. Fernando Vazquez, their third manager this season, has all his players available, except Laure, Aythami and Manuel Pablo. The Whites, on the other hand, have recovered Arbeloa, Modric and Higuain, after being suspended.

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After three home matches in a row Real Madrid begins a series of five games in barely two weeks, four of which will take place far from the Santiago Bernabeu. The first is in La Coruña, where the Whites return after Deportivo spent a year in Segunda Division. They'll be looking to clock up their sixteenth win of the championship and their third consecutive victory.

The track record between the two teams in Primera Division favours Real Madrid, who has won 46 of their 83 clashes. Historically, Riazor is a complicated territory for the Whites, although on their last two visits they came away with a win and a draw. In addition, Mourinho has had one of the few full weeks in the season to prepare for the match.

CLASHES BETWEEN BOTH TEAMS IN LA LIGA
	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
Real Madrid	83	46	19	18	158	103
Deportivo	83	18	19	46	103	158

The Portuguese coach has called up 20 players. These won't include Sergio Ramos, who was sent off in the match against Rayo, or Benzema, who's been training in the gym recently. Arbeloa, Modric and Higuain are returning after being suspended, as well as Marcelo. Cristiano Ronaldo will also be there and, once again, will be the Gallicians' biggest threat, having scored six goals against them. The Portuguese forward scored three goals in the first-leg match against Deportivo and has the most hat-tricks and best scoring average of all players active in la Liga.

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Deportivo de la Coruña is going into this match from the bottom of the table with 16 points from three wins, six draws and 14 losses. They've had five consecutive matches without scoring in the championship and need a win to avoid risk of relegation. Up until now they've had their best results playing at home: three wins (Osasuna, Mallorca and Malaga), two draws and six losses.

SITUATION OF BOTH TEAMS GOING INTO MATCH DAY 25
			HOME				AWAY
	Pts.	Pts	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L
Real Madrid	3º	49	12	10	2	0	12	5	2	5
Deportivo	20º	16	11	3	2	6	13	0	5	8

Fernando Vazquez has been the Gallician coach since the last match day when he took over from Domingos Paciencia, who had in turn substituted Oltra at Christmas. Silvio, Assunçao and Kaka are the new faces in the squad after the winter transfer market. Laure and Aythami won't be available for the game against Real Madrid due to injury and neither will Manuel Pablo, who was suspended. The team's strongest players in attack will be Riki, who's scored nine goals, and Pizzi, who has a tally of seven.