Wednesday 29 April 2015 12:08, UK
Real Madrid host relegation-threatened Almeria on Wednesday night looking to keep alive their hopes of winning this season’s La Liga title.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side currently lie second in the table, five points behind Barcelona who beat Getafe 6-0 on Tuesday night, with the Italian labelling the next few weeks as "life and death".
In addition to Madrid's Champions League semi-final showdown with Juventus, the European champions also travel to Sevilla and entertain Valencia in the league.
"It's a time of the season when all the games are life and death for every team." Ancelotti said.
"We have to prepare this match (against Almeria) bearing in mind that it comes before a very difficult and very demanding run of games.
"We have a tough calendar, the matches are very, very difficult.
"We have confidence we can play well because the team is in good shape, it's fresh and can compete in all the games.
"We are not thinking about whether Barca will slip up we just have to focus on the matches we have."
Ancelotti has also said that due to injuries to key players such as Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, 16-year-old Martin Odegaard may make his first-ever La Liga appearance.
"Tomorrow in the squad there will be three youth-team players," Ancelotti said on Tuesday. "Odegaard, (Borja) Mayoral and Diego Llorente. I think two of the three will be on the bench and they could get an opportunity to play."
Almeria, meanwhile, sit two points clear of 18th-place Deportivo La Coruna and six ahead of Granada, who are19th in the table.
However, the strugglers did beat Eibar 2-0 on the weekend to move out of the relegation zone.
The visitors will be without both Thievy Bifouma and Wellington Silva (suspended), although Sebastian Dubarbier has now served his ban and may feature at the Santiago Bernabeu, but Fernando Soriano, Michel and Fran Velez all remain sidelined.
Watch Real Madrid face Almeria on Wednesday night from 7pm on Sky Sports 5
