BARCELONA – Real Madrid have returned to the top of La Liga but need to halt their recent trend of leaking goals in games if they want to stay there in Saturday’s trip to Athletic Bilbao, who have the second best home record in the Spanish top flight.

Zinedine Zidane’s side have conceded 10 times in their last six games in all competitions, falling behind in five of those, and are increasingly relying on late escape acts to get them out of trouble.

Sergio Ramos came to their rescue in Sunday’s laboured 2-1 win over Real Betis with an 81st minute winner, while Alvaro Morata and Cristiano Ronaldo scored late against Villarreal and Las Palmas, salvaging a 3-2 win and 3-3 draw respectively.

Real leapfrogged rivals Barcelona at the league’s summit after the Catalans’ shock 2-1 defeat at Deportivo La Coruna and enjoy a two-point lead as well as having a game in hand in their pursuit of a first title win since 2012, although their defence is still vulnerable.

The spotlight has fallen particularly on goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who scored an embarrassing own goal against Betis and was fortunate not to be sent off, adding to costly mistakes against Las Palmas and in their 2-1 defeat to Valencia.

Real have won one of three visits to Athletic’s new San Mames stadium, which opened in 2013, and the Basques have hit form, winning their last four league home games and beating local rivals Real Sociedad 2-0 in their last outing.

Athletic have only lost one home game in all competitions, to champions Barcelona in August, and are set to welcome back top scorer Aritz Aduriz to the starting line-up for the first time in over a month after the veteran recovered from injury.

Agencies