La Liga Fixtures 2014 Week 3: Schedule, Live Stream Info, Picks and Key Players
Week 3 of the 2014-15 La Liga will see last year's top-four teams go head-to-head on Saturday, the headline of what should be another great week of Spanish football.
Barcelona will host Athletic Bilbao before Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid resume their cross-town rivalry, pitting the top-two teams from the 2013-14 season against each other for the first time since the Spanish Super Cup.
Seven teams are still winless, but with a number of battles between teams at the bottom of the standings taking place this week, that number should drop significantly. Here's the schedule for Week 3 of La Liga action, complete with live stream info:
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| September 12 | 8 p.m. BST/3 p.m. ET | Almeria | Cordoba | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 1-0 |
| September 13 | 3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET | Barcelona | Bilbao | Bein Sports Connect | 2-1 |
| September 13 | 5 p.m. BST/Noon ET | Malaga | Levante | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 4-0 |
| September 13 | 7 p.m. BST/2 p.m. ET | Real Madrid | Atletico | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 1-1 |
| September 13 | 9 p.m. BST/4 p.m. ET | Celta Vigo | Sociedad | Bein Sports Connect | 1-2 |
| September 14 | 11 a.m. BST/6 a.m. ET | Rayo Vallecano | Elche | Bein Sports Connect | 1-0 |
| September 14 | 4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET | Valencia | Espanyol | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 2-0 |
| September 14 | 6 p.m. BST/1 p.m. ET | Sevilla | Getafe | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 3-1 |
| September 14 | 8 p.m. BST/3 p.m. ET | Granada | Villarreal | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 1-1 |
| September 15 | 7.45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET | Eibar | Deportivo | Bein Sports Connect/Sky Go | 0-0 |
Key Players
Lionel Messi
It seems almost too easy to choose Lionel Messi for this category, but the Argentine forward will have a chance to make history on Saturday.
As reported by the Daily Mail's Richard Arrowsmith, Messi is just two goals short of taking his career mark to 400, a spectacular number. The pint-sized forward has had much success against the Basques in the past, as shared by BarcaStat:
A fierce competitor, Messi hardly needs any added motivation on the pitch. But the chance to score his 400th career goal by bagging a brace against Bilbao will be too good to pass up, so fans should expect to see Messi at his finest on Saturday.
The Argentina international will start, according to RAC1 (h/t to Barcastuff):
"Lionel Messi, recovering from a thigh muscle injury, will in principle start the Liga game against Athletic on Saturday. #fcblive [rac1]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) September 9, 2014"
Barcelona's start to the 2014-15 season has been excellent, and even if Messi performs under expectations, the Blaugrana have the quality to overcome a strong Bilbao squad.
But the four-time Ballon d'Or winner was absolutely sensational against Elche in Barcelona's La Liga opener, and recovered from a thigh injury that saw him drop out of Argentina's friendly against Germany, expect him to wipe out any lingering doubts about his form.
Iker Muniain
Still just 21 years old, Bilbao's Iker Muniain has long been touted as one of Spain's most exciting talents. It must have been particularly difficult for the youngster to watch Barcelona's Munir El Haddadi make his national team debut, while he was forced to watch from home.
As shared by AS English, he plans to use it as motivation:
Muniain has been in fine form for Bilbao, who have won their last three matches after dropping their La Liga opener to Malaga. With El Haddadi taking up all of the headlines, expect him to be lively from the very first minute in order to show Vicente Del Bosque he made a mistake not calling him up.
The Catalans are yet to concede in 2014-15, and their defence has hardly given opposing teams any looks on goal. Muniain will have to be sharp in front of goal for Bilbao to have any chance of upsetting the league leaders.
Toni Kroos
It's not easy being Toni Kroos right now. Tasked with making up for the huge defensive hole that was left in midfield by the departure of Xabi Alonso, the German has the weight of Madrid's expectations on his shoulders.
He's a phenomenal passer with excellent vision, but he's never played with as much defensive responsibilities as Carlo Ancelotti is suddenly giving him. The pressure to perform is on, and it won't be easy against the reigning Spanish champions.
Real have incredible quality and depth in the attacking third and an experienced back four. The key to beating Atletico will lie in midfield, and if Kroos can take care of his defensive duties, Luka Modric will have more opportunity as a distributor to find a way through the Atleti wall.
If Kroos fails to break down the visitors' quick counter attacks in time, Real will be forced to commit more bodies to the centre of the pitch, in turn giving Atletico more breathing space.
Real can't afford to start the season with two losses in their first three matches, so the pressure will be on the entire starting XI to step up.
Miranda
Miranda looked very solid for Brazil in their two friendly matches during the international break, and he'll hope to carry that form into Atletico's clash with their city rivals.
The Brazilian centre-back recently told AS (h/t to Goal, for BeIN Sports) he returned to the Spanish capital because he believes Atletico has the quality to repeat their successes of last season:
"I think Atletico can battle to win all of the competitions they are in this season.
We’ll do what we can to bring more silverware to the club. Up until now I’ve been able to be a part of many of the team’s successes and I’m very grateful to the club for that.
We are going to try to emulate all of the successes from last season.
I don’t think we will struggle after the departures of Thibaut Courtois, Diego Costa and Filipe Luis. The club has brought in some great replacements.
"
Most pundits expect the Atleti to take a step back in 2014-15, but the defender obviously sees things differently. He should, but in order to challenge the best for silverware, the club will have to be able to obtain results against their top rivals.
Real Madrid will press high and attack the visitors' goal for 90 minutes, and with their arsenal of capable forwards, the slightest mistake can be deadly.
Miranda will be tasked with leading the Atletico defence once again, and he'll need to have another monster performance in order to prevent the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema running riot around the Atletico box.
