European Football Tip | 26th September 2015 | Sky Sports 2

MARK O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) is off to La Liga for his European NAP this Saturday.

Real Madrid v Malaga | Saturday 17.15 | Sky Sports 2

Well this shouldn’t require too much justification. Rafa Benitez has guided Real Madrid to the top of the La Liga table thanks to their hard-earned 2-1 midweek win at Athletic Bilbao as bitter vials Barcelona slumped to a 4-1 defeat in Vigo.

Real did leak their first goal of the season but previously Keylor Navas had gone five games without conceding a goal – the first time in the club’s 113-year history they achieved such a feat.

Sergio Ramos could return to the ranks for Saturday’s clash with Malaga and Benitez’s aim, to ensure the side are set-up with more balance and solidity in the middle of the park, in 2015/16 appears to be working wonderfully well.

Before the date in Bilbao, Los Blancos had faced just seven shots-on-target in four fixtures. Athletic did manage to fire in five at Navas’ goal but even so, that’s kind of expected when you head to the Basques. So a return to the Bernebeau should see Real return to their miserly ways with shot-shy Malaga the latest visitors.

Pressure is mounting on Javi Gracia after his side lost 1-0 at home to Villarreal on Wednesday night. The Costa del Sol side were booed off the pitch and have failed to even score in five matches. Nordin Amrabat remains a major doubt and it’s difficult to see where the goals are going to come from.

The Anchovies have failed to net in six of their most recent nine away days in La Liga and despite their previous gung-ho approach, Real have W29-D1-L0 when welcoming bottom-half sides since 2012/13, keeping 15/30 (50%) shutouts.

There’s not a huge amount of science behind this bet. It’s Real Madrid to win ‘to nil’ at a bigger-than-expected 20/23 with BetVictor.