La Liga title holders Real Madrid will be aiming to return to winning ways when they host Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight as they kickstart the second half of their league campaign. The Los Blancos are one of the only two teams in the league that are yet to lose a fixture on home soil while on the other hand, Valencia have won only one of their eight fixtures on the road this season. Real Madrid have recently dropped points in four of their last seven La Liga matches which is a major blow in their quest to retain the title. They currently sit five points behind league leaders Barcelona who look set to carry this season's crown if things continue falling in their favour as they have seemed to be in the recent past. 

Ancelotti and company will be looking to bounce back into winning ways tonight as Valencia are a struggling outfit apart from the fact that they can no longer afford to lose points if they are to challenge their arch-rivals Barcelona for the league title. The Los Blancos have already beaten Valencia this month albeit on penalties in a 4-3 shootout triumph in the Spanish super cup semi-finals following a 1-1 stalemate at the end of 120 minutes of play. Additionally, they have also won 11 and drawn 5 of their last 16 meetings with Valencia at Santiago Bernabeu. They last lost to them on home soil back in 2008 a game which saw them beaten 3-2.

Valencia will be going into tonight's match without a coach as the board confirmed on Monday that they had parted ways with Gennaro Gattuso after just seven months at the helm. The 45-year-old only took charge of 22 matches at the club but Valencia came to the decision of letting go of him after he only managed to win two games out of the eight in all competitions since the resumption of the season after the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup break. They are currently 14th on the league table and are just seated one point above the relegation zone together with another three teams fighting to avoid the zone. 

Valencia have been struggling this season and their away form in particular has been wanting as they have won only three of their last 16 matches on foreign soil. Voro Gonzalez is now at the helm as the interim boss which makes it the seventh time in his career he is serving in such a position. The 59-year-old tonight faces the hard task of steering his team to an unlikely victory against League holders Real Madrid, a team that they have just tasted victory against twice in their last competitive 13 fixtures.