Preview: Celta Vigo vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid will attempt to continue their solid recent form against Celta Vigo when the pair meet in the first leg of their Copa del Rey fifth-round clash on Wednesday.

Madrid have not lost against the Galician side in over 10 years and will therefore feel confident of securing a lead ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu.

Celta were taken to extra time by second-tier outfit Almeria in the previous round, but Madrid faced little resistance as they were 7-1 aggregate winners over Alcoyano.

The home side enter the match having suffered a 1-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao at the weekend, a result that has left them in 15th spot in the table.

Madrid, meanwhile, have won all four matches since losing to Real Betis last month, but their early-season form has left them in third position, some 11 points behind leaders Barcelona.

Enrique De Lucas and Park Chu-Young are both expected to start for the home side, with Gustavo Cabral and Andres Tunez also coming into the team.

Meanwhile, Madrid are expected to name a strong starting lineup, although Raphael Varane and Nacho are both pushing for starts alongside Pepe and Alvaro Arbeloa in defence.

Recent form:

Celta Vigo: DWWDL Real Madrid: LWWWW

Possible lineups:

Celta Vigo: Varas; Mallo, Cabral, Tunez, Lago; Bustos, Lopez; De Lucas, Park, Krohn-Dehli; Aspas

Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Varane, Pepe, Coentrao; Khedira, Alonso; Callejon, Ozil, Ronaldo; Benzema

Sports Mole says: 1-3