Storylines to Follow in La Liga This Weekend: Real Madrid Can Revamp Title Fight
Following a busy international break, club focus regains centre stage this coming weekend. Over in Spain, another pivotal round of matches will take place in La Liga.
This regular feature looks at each game and assesses where the key matchups, personnel or victories that would change the shape of the league table could come as we head into the final 10 games of the campaign.
Here are the storylines to watch this weekend, beginning with the two teams fighting for the league title.
Title Fight: Barcelona at Celta, a Pivotal Game in 1st Half of Season
1 of 6
The race for the Primera Liga title took a big swing in Barcelona's favour last time out, as they won El Clasico to go four points clear of Real Madrid. However, there are still 30 points to play for—it's far from over just yet.
Real will face a comparatively quiet weekend with a minimum-fuss home match against 19th-placed Granada. Nothing but a routine three points is expected there. It won't answer critics or see a sudden surge in belief, perhaps barring a 7-0 win or similar, but three points is all that matters to keep the title bid alive.
Barcelona, on the other hand, are away to Celta Vigo.
In the first half of the campaign, it was a watershed fixture for both teams. Celta played extremely well, won 1-0 at Camp Nou and then went on a three-month long run without a win, losing eight of their 10 league games in that time and not scoring for seven games in a row; for Barcelona, it meant back-to-back defeats.
Celta have since recovered and turned things around, with four wins and two draws in their last eight, and they should go into the game fairly confident they'll finish in the top half.
Barca, in contrast, went on an eight-match winning streak. Indeed, they have played 31 matches since the Celta defeat and won an incredible 28 of them.
That run has taken Barça top and on course for a treble, but they must push on and get another positive result to continue that dominance.
Sevilla vs. Athletic, 2 of the Most in-Form Teams in La Liga
2 of 6
Two of the league's in-form teams clash at the weekend, with Sevilla hosting Athletic Bilbao.
The Andalusian side have won three games in a row, including against fellow Europa League challengers Villarreal, and they currently sit comfortably in fifth with a six-point buffer to the Yellow Submarine. They are the last remaining Liga side with an unbeaten home record this season and have conceded fewer goals at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium than any other team at home.
On Saturday, they face a resurgent Athletic Bilbao, who have won five in a row to move up to eighth place, with only the teams in the top five having won more games on the road than the Basques.
It should be a titanic battle—one that could push either side closer to their aims for the season. However, neither should suffer a huge drop in confidence if they do taste defeat for the first time in a while.
A Twist in the 3rd-Place Race?
3 of 6
The battle for third place and an automatic Champions League group-stage berth is one we have been keeping an eye on in this series, correctly predicting when Valencia would leapfrog Atletico into the position. We also noted that there would be further changes before the end of the campaign.
This coming weekend presents another such opportunity for Atleti to overtake Los Che.
Diego Simeone's team should take an easy three points away to bottom club Cordoba, who have lost nine in a row going into the game and changed managers yet again. Valencia, on the other hand, will need to put in another another impressive display to see off Villarreal, who now have nothing to play for but league points.
Our prediction is that the Mestalla match could end in a draw, which would see Atletico bounce back up into third—for now.
The Relegation 6-Pointer
4 of 6
Down at the bottom, every point is vital at this stage.
None of the sides from 12th place downward has won a match in the last two game weeks, so Saturday's head-to-head between Almeria and Levante, 17th and 18th respectively, could have a massive say on who makes the leap to safety before the end of the season.
Just three points separate Eibar in 14th from Levante, so even draws can alter the landscape of the relegation zone, but when playing against direct opponents, it becomes doubly important to pick up wins.
The form guide perhaps has this match just about in Levante's favour, as they have won twice in the past five games against similarly struggling opponents, but both of those were at home, and they have won just once on the road all season. That said, Almeria have been equally bad at home, recording just one victory at the Juegos Mediterraneos all season.
Can La Real's Improvement Extend to Disastrous Away Form?
5 of 6
Real Sociedad, as well as Athletic Bilbao, have made a resurgence in the second half of the season to move into the top half and give La Liga a happier look for the Basque sides.
Four wins in their last five leave La Real in ninth, three points off rivals Athletic, but only one of those victories came away from home. Indeed, that was David Moyes' team's only away win of the entire league campaign—they have scored just nine goals on the road in 13 matches.
The improvement in the final third over the past six weeks is undeniable, but can they translate that to away fixtures? They play at Malaga on Saturday.
Alberto Bueno, the Top-Scoring Spaniard in La Liga
6 of 6
The Spain national team have taken a bit of flak once again during this international break after only narrowly beating Ukraine 1-0 in a Euro 2016 qualifier before failing to score in a 2-0 friendly defeat to the Netherlands.
The striking selections by Vicente del Bosque were fairly straightforward; with Diego Costa out injured, Alvaro Morata and Juanmi were picked. Neither was tremendous, but both did fairly well on a rare opportunity to shine with La Seleccion, with the likes of Paco Alcacer, Rodrigo, Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Torres presumably overlooked for form reasons.
Perhaps, then, it is a little surprising that Alberto Bueno was not looked at. The top-scoring Spaniard in La Liga this season, Bueno has notched 15 goals for mid-table Rayo Vallecano, playing from his usual position just off a more natural striker.
He is a confident and composed attacker capable of linking play and attacking from deep with intelligent late runs—seemingly a good fit for the Spanish style at present, though not, of course, a genuinely top-level player.
Even so, if he continues to perform and score, he will surely get his chance if the likes of Vitolo and Juanmi have caught the eye. Rayo play at Eibar on Friday night, providing a good opportunity for Bueno to continue his great recent form, which has seen him score eight times since mid-February.
