How Real Madrid Have Fared over the Past 5 Seasons vs. Newly Promoted Teams

Real Madrid play their third LaLiga game of the season this weekend and face their first test against a newly promoted team, with Osasuna the visitors to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Along with Deportivo Alaves and Leganes, Osasuna came up from the Segunda Division last term, earning themselves a crack at the top flight and the chance to face such giants as Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid—contrasting somewhat with their fixtures of a year ago, against the likes of Llagostera, Mirandes and Almeria.

Real Madrid, of course, will be expected to swipe aside all newcomers to LaLiga with ease, being a team that regularly clocks up around 90 points across the league season. But it hasn't always been the case that wins against promoted teams come easily for the Bernabeu club.

In a league campaign where the smallest of margins can prove decisive at the end of the season—as shown by last year's final league table—Zinedine Zidane and his men can ill-afford any slip-ups, even at this early stage of the season.

So how have Los Blancos fared of late against the new boys of LaLiga, and what can they take from last season?

2011/12: A Perfect 18

CRISTINA QUICLER/Getty Images

Promoted teams: Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Granada

Real Madrid manager: Jose Mourinho

Los Blancos came into the season full of expectation and didn't disappoint, with Jose Mourinho the master on the touchlines and Cristiano Ronaldo swatting teams aside with regularity. The Portugal international finished the season with 60 goals in all competitions, a whopping 46 of them in LaLiga.

The fates—or at least the league board which decides fixtures—handed Real Madrid home matches against each of the promoted sides in the first half of the season, and Mourinho's men were in no mood to let that advantage slip; they beat the newcomers by a total scoreline of 15-4 across the three matches. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Rayo, Gonzalo Higuain did the same to Betis and both were on the scoresheet against Granada.

It all looked very comfortable as Real won 12 of the 13 matches which were bookended by facing Rayo and Granada, but the away games were a different story—yet with the same ending.

Three games, three wins—but each time only by one goal, and once with a very late comeback win.

The match at Granada, on the penultimate day of the season, saw Real trailing 1-0 heading into the last 10 minutes, yet they ended up winning 2-1 with Granada having two players sent off and scoring a last-minute own goal for the three points. The league title was all but sealed, but that late win eventually helped Real reach 100 points for the season.

2012/13: Close Calls, but Wins Keep Rolling

MIGUEL RIOPA/Getty Images

Promoted teams: Deportivo La Coruna, Celta Vigo, Real Valladolid

Real Madrid manager: Jose Mourinho

Less happy was Mourinho's final year at the club, which saw in-fighting, media rumours and only a second-place finish in LaLiga spell the end of his tenure in Madrid.

Once more Ronaldo helped himself to a hat-trick against newly promoted opposition, this time doing the damage against Depor, who were dispatched 5-1. Celta proved more difficult but were eventually overcome. A late Mesut Ozil intervention was needed to see off Valladolid 3-2 after Madrid twice came from behind.

Late goals proved critical to Madrid in the second half of the season, and twice that was the case against those sides enjoying their first season back in the top flight—but another perfect set of six wins from six was recorded.

Higuain completed a comeback win over Depor after Kaka had equalised and before Angel Di Maria was sent off, while Ronaldo needed a brace, including a late penalty, to help overcome Celta at Balaidos.

A crazy back-and-forth win over Valladolid in May meant Real had gone 12 games without defeat, 11 of them wins, but Barcelona were already well out of sight.

Mourinho's men finished the season 15 points adrift of the title winners, but it wasn't for a lack of ability at beating the league's smaller sides.

2013/14: Perfect Streak Ended in Costly Fashion

JOSE JORDAN/Getty Images

Promoted teams: Elche, Villarreal, Almeria

Real Madrid manager: Carlo Ancelotti

With Mourinho gone and Carlo Ancelotti in place, Real Madrid went on to win the UEFA Champions League but fell short in LaLiga.

Finishing third and three points off the top, six draws cost Real Madrid a chance at the title—infuriatingly, more than once against minor opposition, including a newly promoted team.

In fairness, while the usual crop of promoted sides flail around the bottom half or are the typical yo-yo teams of Spain—Levante, Almeria and so on—the club which ended the two-year streak of perfect six-from-six wins against new sides was a far better outfit, Villarreal.

The Yellow Submarine ended their first season back in the top flight in sixth place, holding Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw early on in the season thanks to Cani and Giovani dos Santos scoring either side of Gareth Bale and Ronaldo for Ancelotti's side.

Just two games later, it took a hugely controversial moment to stop Real repeating the trick. Into the 90th minute, they were drawing 1-1 at Elche, before a handily timed red card for Carlos Sanchez led to Ronaldo lashing in a winning penalty.

Almeria presented no such problems, with Real netting nine without reply across the two fixtures, and more convincing wins against the other two sides in the first half of the season only made that draw at El Madrigal all the more frustrating.

Just like draws against Osasuna and Real Valladolid, the points dropped helped cost Madrid the title.

2014/15: No Errors but Still Not Enough

Steve Bardens/Getty Images

Promoted teams: Eibar, Deportivo La Coruna, Cordoba

Real Madrid manager: Carlo Ancelotti

It all started in fine fashion, but how could it not? Real's first game of the season was at home to Cordoba, who had won the play-off final in Segunda Division despite finishing seventh—outside the play-off spots.

With third-place Barcelona B ineligible for promotion, Cordoba took their chance but were miles off the pace in the top flight—and it was apparent very early on.

A 2-0 win was easy, even at half-pace, but it took a much more nervous, late win in the return fixture for the points to be sealed. Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off at Cordoba, and Gareth Bale had to net a last-minute penalty to seal a 2-1 win.

Against the other promoted sides, Ancelotti's men recorded rather more comfortable wins away than at home.

Depor presented no opposition at all as Madrid won 8-2 at the Estadio Riazor, while Eibar were hit for four. Los Blancos won nine of their last 10, but they still fell short in the title race—by just two points.

2015/16: Dropped Points Cost a Job...and a Title

Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Promoted teams: Real Betis, Sporting Gijon, Las Palmas

Real Madrid managers: Rafael Benitez, Zinedine Zidane

A slow start can end a title challenge in LaLiga in its infancy, and it was certainly an uphill battle for Rafael Benitez in his first season after he began his time in charge of Real Madrid by drawing at newly promoted Sporting Gijon.

The knives were out for the Spaniard even before that, but although Real went unbeaten in LaLiga until November, that draw was enough for the sneering to begin. Benitez and his team saw off Real Betis 5-0 shortly after, and Las Palmas were dispatched 3-1 before the year's end, but the former Liverpool manager was fired shortly after.

His replacement, Zinedine Zidane, went on to win the UEFA Champions League—but before those celebrations, there were plenty more frustrating days to witness, including against two of the promoted sides.

While Sporting were soundly beaten 5-1 in Zidane's second game, Real Betis held Madrid to a 1-1 draw and should have won, with Karim Benzema's equaliser coming from an offside position. Later in the season, Las Palmas did more than enough to warrant a draw, but the unlikely figure of Casemiro snared a last-minute 2-1 win for Madrid in the Canary Islands.

Real finished just two points off the pace behind Barcelona, and once more those draws against lower sides ended up costing dearly. Win both those games instead of draw them, and Zidane would have been looking at a double in his first eight months in charge.

It's certainly a possibility for the upcoming season, and Osasuna are the first promoted side to stand in Madrid's path this year. Los Blancos' form over the last few years suggests they'll beat the new teams more often than not—but it might take a little effort and a lot of patience to do so, especially early in the season.

Follow @karlmatchett