Real Madrid takes on Athletic Bilbao in arguably the team’s biggest challenge yet.

Madrid enters the Wednesday matchup two points behind Barcelona who likely have a chance to put together three points against Celta Vigo.

For Madrid San Mames is not a friendly place as the team has struggled there over the years. The team lost there at the end of the 2014-15 season by the score of 1-0. In 2013-14 it was a 1-1 draw. A year before it was a 3-0 win for Los Blancos as was also the case a year earlier.

So the news is not all bad for Los Blancos, but they must be wary of a team that defends home well and seems to find its stride against top teams.

Just ask Barcelona which endured a shocking 4-0 loss at San Mames in the Spanish Super Cup despite facing an Athletic side missing a handful of key players. Or ask Barcelona about the 1-1 draw it had to endure at home in the second leg and then the 1-0 win that it had to grind out against Bilbao in the first match of La Liga this season.

This team is going to ask questions of Madrid that no team has yet to ask. Granada, the team’s latest conquest, asked some tough questions, and Madrid barely answered them. Facing a team that it destroyed 9-1 a few months earlier, Los Blancos only managed a 1-0 win thanks to a strike from Karim Benzema. Cristiano Ronaldo saw his efforts stopped and will likely look to get back on the scoring track after failing to bring his goal total up.

Madrid will enter this clash without a number of key stars including Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez, essentially leaving the team with the same set up as Saturday’s game. Isco will need more confidence in the heart of the midfield while Toni Kroos will need a better game than the one he had at home this past weekend.

Ronaldo will be looking for goal number 500 and probably two more after that to vault past Raul as Madrid’s all-time scoring leader. He has 14 goals in his career against Bilbao, the team that ranks sixth highest on the list teams he loves to score against. He scored three goals in a 5-0 win at home over the club. Of course the “at home” is the key phrase to hone in on there. It has not been as easy at Bilbao, though Ronaldo does have four goals at San Mames. He also landed a red card there a few seasons back.

Prediction: Madrid wins 2-0.