Ultimate Guide to La Liga Weekend: Zidane Honeymoon over and Key Winter Signings
Zinedine Zidane was appointed as Real Madrid head coach in early January, and by common consent, he had a relatively straightforward introduction into management.
His first five fixtures were all to be against modest opposition, but that run of games is now over and the serious inquisition into how he has affected the squad—mentally as well as tactically—will begin this weekend.
Athletic Club Bilbao are the first opposition of note for the Frenchman, and they will be quickly followed by AS Roma and Atletico Madrid in the coming weeks.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
And, for a club always in the media spotlight and never far from crisis, the four wins and a draw Zidane has captured so far will be quickly forgotten if his team doesn't continue its upward trajectory from this point on.
A few discernible patterns and tendencies have emerged over the last five weeks, with the likes of Isco and Dani Carvajal coming back into favour, a set 4-3-3 in place every match and certain squad members looking far more on the fringes than they had been under Rafa Benitez.
With games beginning to come more quickly once European football kicks off again, and the matches themselves inevitably meaning more as the season moves toward talk of winning titles, that selection policy will come under greater scrutiny, too.
Everything has largely been positive for Zidane so far—headlines, goals scored and results—and he'll be grateful for the fluid introduction he has had to top-tier management.
Sooner or later, though, he'll find out the other side of the coin as the face of one of the world's most high-profile clubs. Any criticism of the team generally lands at his door first and foremost.
Arguably the worst first defeat he could hope for would be in his first "big" game—though subjective discourse will determine whether fans, pundits and neutrals determine whether Athletic or Roma count as that.
Zidane needs to show he has his team set up to not just swat aside an out-of-form Deportivo La Coruna and a relegation-threatened Espanyol but also clubs who claim to be fighting for European spots and trophies.
That's what the fans want, that's what the fans demand.
Zidane, more than most, will be prepared for the expectations and confident that he can live up to them—he will also know his time in charge of Real Madrid starts now.
Jornada 24 (kick-off times per Soccerway)
Friday
Sporting Gijon vs. Rayo Vallecano
Saturday
Real Madrid vs. Athletic Club Bilbao
Villarreal vs. Malaga
Valencia vs. Espanyol
Deportivo La Coruna vs. Real Betis
Sunday
Real Sociedad vs. Granada
Sevilla vs. Las Palmas
Eibar vs. Levante
Getafe vs. Atletico Madrid
Barcelona vs. Celta Vigo
What to Watch Out for this Weekend
Part 1: Chance to escape the battle at the bottom
Friday night's game sees the two in-form sides in the relegation scrap come together, with Sporting Gijon hosting Rayo Vallecano at the Estadio El Molinon.
Sporting are unbeaten in three and Rayo have gone one better, both teams escaping the bottom three in the past couple of weeks and within a win of reaching the pack of teams above them in the 11th to 14th grouping, rather than being in the bottom six who are all fighting the drop.
Sporting's home form this season makes them the favourites to extend their unbeaten run and pick up an invaluable win, but no points are won easily in the relegation scrap.
Whoever does take the spoils can probably watch on with satisfaction over the rest of the weekend; Granada, Las Palmas and Espanyol all have to be favourites to suffer defeat during the forthcoming Jornada, and it could lead to a concertina effect at the foot of the table.
Part 2: Winter signings starting to show their worth
After a few weeks settling in for some, La Liga's winter transfer window additions are beginning to display the odd flash of why their new teams identified them as players who could make a difference—at either end of the table.
Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal have long since begun to play their part at Barcelona, while Charly Musonda and Martin Montoya impressed on their debuts for Real Betis. Valencia have had a few changes and will hope Denis Cheryshev in particular can make an impact, while Matias Kranevitter may now see a chance at Atletico Madrid due to injuries.
Celta's Claudio Beauvue has already impacted, Marcelo Diaz should be close to a recovery and Malaga's various squad additions are coming into an in-form side on the rise.
Elsewhere, there is Giuseppe Rossi at Levante, Aras Ozbiliz at Rayo and David Barral at Granada to closely watch as they look to impact in the final third and help win their team enough points to avoid relegation.
Liga clubs didn't spend a huge amount combined this winter, but their choices look well-made for the most part and should contribute a lot to Spain's top flight over the coming months.
Player to Watch: Mat Ryan, VAL
Valencia have now gone 97 days since they last won in La Liga and 104 since they kept a clean sheet.
Saturday presents them with yet another big opportunity to bring an end to those horrendous runs, with the match at Mestalla against Espanyol, who are on a terrible run of their own, without a win in nine and with only five goals scored in that time.
Keeping goal for Valencia will be Mat Ryan for a fifth Liga game in a row, and despite some good individual performances, he has been let down continually by an error-strewn defence, plenty of changes in the back four and a team with zero self-belief.
Ryan might have to withstand a barrage of chances for Espanyol at some point this weekend, but he must remain firm and showcase his abilities—and hope his attacking team-mates do the same at the other end this time.
Game of the Weekend: Barcelona vs. Celta Vigo
It seems a long time ago that Barcelona last lost a match, but when Luis Enrique's side tasted defeat against Sevilla in October, it marked back-to-back losses in La Liga, with Celta Vigo being the other team to beat them.
The 4-1 win for Celta was the first time Barca had lost by three goals or more in La Liga since a 4-1 reversal at the Santiago Bernabeu...back in 2008.
Needless to say, the response from Neymar and Co. since that loss has been rather spectacular, with Barcelona this week breaking the club record for consecutive matches unbeaten.
Fast-paced passing, lots of movement off the ball and a willingness to press high upfield—that's the description of how both clubs will look to play, and it's the reason Celta hammered Barca last time they met. Their counter-attacks were deadly, Iago Aspas and Nolito were in top form and the stretched defensive lines of the Catalan outfit simply couldn't cope.
Fourteen games on from his last appearance, Nolito is still out injured and won't feature in the match against the team who were interested in his signature during the January window.
Barcelona's own attack is in ridiculously strong form, especially Luis Suarez, and it's not difficult to envisage a similar amount of goals going in at the Camp Nou as they did at the Estadio Municipal de Balaidos...though the way the scoreline sends the points could end up rather different.
Predictions and Tips
- Home wins for Sporting, Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Barcelona
- Away wins for Levante and Atletico Madrid
- Both teams to score in RMA-ATH, DEP-BET, FCB-CEL
