Madrid: The 31st round of matches in La Liga sees the battle to qualify for Europa and also to avoid the drop intensify with several key matches.
The weekend begins with two Andalusian derbies with fourth-placed Sevilla at home to fifth from bottom Granada on Friday night.
Sevilla’s 1-0 defeat to Barcelona effectively ended their title hopes and extended their winless game to four games in which they have taken just three points to pile the pressure on coach Julen Lopetegui.
Saturday’s first match sees a vastly improved Cadiz at home to fifth-placed Betis.
The arrival of Sergio Gonzalez at Cadiz has seen them claim 14 points in 10 matches, with just two defeats in that time, to lift them out of the bottom three, although they are still only two points above the drop zone.
Betis, meanwhile, need a win to move to within a point of Sevilla and have a chance of playing in next season’s Champions League.
League leaders Real Madrid entertain Getafe on Saturday, and Carlo Ancelotti’s men have recovered their morale after a 3-1 win away to Chelsea in the Champions League. Karim Benzema once again showed how important he is with a hat-trick in midweek and with a 12-point lead over Barcelona and Sevilla, Ancelotti must be tempted to rest Benzema and others against a rival six points clear of the bottom three.
Atletico Madrid prepare for next week’s Champions League quarter-final return leg at home to Manchester City with a visit to Mallorca, who are now coached by former Atletico boss Javier Aguirre.
Atletico have won their last six league matches, while Mallorca have lost their last seven, despite improving in defense in Aguirre’s last weekend in Getafe.
Europe is very much on the agenda when seventh-placed Villarreal take on eighth-placed Athletic Club Bilbao in the Estadio de la Ceramica, reports Xinhua.
Villarreal were excellent in their 1-0 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, but with little recovery time and the return in Germany next Tuesday, coach Unai Emery will have to consider serious squad rotations (especially without the suspended Pau Torres) and Villarreal’s record on either side of European games shows they tend to drop league points when also playing midweek European football.
Second-placed Barcelona travel to Levante, who climbed off the bottom of the table last weekend with an impressive 2-0 win at home to Villarreal. Barcelona have to recover from Thursday’s Europa League visit to Frankfurt, while Levante will once again look to some magic from captain Jose Luis Morales to try and keep their slim survival hopes alive.
Julio Velazquez became Alaves’ third coach of the season following Jose Luis Mendilibar’s sacking earlier this week and he makes his debut with La Liga’s bottom club with a short trip to play an Osasuna side that needs to improve after last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing by Betis.
Espanyol entertain Celta in a mid-table clash between two sides with little to play for before Elche take on Real Sociedad.
Elche’s 2-1 defeat in Bilbao last weekend means they still have work to do to secure their top-flight striker and they will be without top-scorer Lucas Boye to receive the side currently sixth in the table.
The last game of the round is on Monday night when Rayo Vallecano entertain Valencia, with the home side looking to end a run of 11 league games without a win.
(IANS)
