Ultimate Guide to La Liga Weekend: Atletico and Real Madrid on the Title Hunt
A month ago, the title was done in La Liga, with Barcelona seven points clear and on an unbeaten run stretching back to October, and nobody was ready to consider an alternative scenario.
Unless, of course, you regularly tune into our Ultimate Guide—and foresaw a tricky upcoming run would lead to bumps along the way.
Even so, not winning any of the last three league games was unprecedented, as a series of errors in judgement from Luis Enrique combined with Lionel Messi and Co. going off the boil has seen the lead at the top decimated—by the time Barca kick off on Sunday night against Valencia, Real Madrid could be just a point behind and Atletico Madrid could be level.
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The two capital-city clubs are in good form and good spirits, with both qualifying for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in rather epic style during midweek.
"The @ChampionsLeague semifinals are set! Will we see a repeat Madrid Derby final?? pic.twitter.com/WPwTodsqxM
— KICK (@KICK) April 15, 2016"
For now it's back to the improbable hunt for a domestic title—and aside from the fact that they are marginally closer, it's probably Atleti who have the best chance of overhauling Barcelona and doing so. Their mentality, their togetherness, cohesive structure and well-defined game plan can make the difference in all sorts of matches and, of course, they love the underdog approach, coming from behind to unexpectedly triumph.
This weekend sees Real and Atletico take on out-of-form sides battling relegation, an obvious incentive to cause an upset for those smaller sides—but suddenly turning it on against Europe's finest, never mind just La Liga's, is no easy task.
It's not an absolute given that Zinedine Zidane and Diego Simeone's teams will take three points, but you'd certainly wager a hefty amount that, given the opportunity to pile pressure on Barcelona if they do win, both will emerge from the weekend triumphant.
Barcelona's task gets no easier against Valencia: Los Che are not entirely safe just yet, many of their players are playing for their futures and they racked up an impressive first win under Pako Ayesteran last time out in beating Sevilla.
Four in a row over March and April which were always going to decide if Barcelona won the title easily or not, but the run has gone so badly for the Catalan outfit that the fourth one needs a huge reaction and performance—or face the prospect of losing their grip on the league title just a few days after their European one was wrested from them.
Jornada 33 (kick-off times via Soccerway)
Friday
Levante vs. Espanyol
Saturday
Getafe vs. Real Madrid
Las Palmas vs. Sporting Gijon
Eibar vs. Real Sociedad
Celta Vigo vs. Real Betis
Sunday
Malaga vs. Athletic Club
Rayo Vallecano vs. Villarreal
Atletico Madrid vs. Granada
Barcelona vs. Valencia
What to Watch Out for this Weekend
Getafe press the panic button late on
Levante, Las Palmas, Valencia, Valencia again...and now Getafe—all have changed their managers over the course of the season as they bid to battle relegation, with the small club from outside Madrid parting ways with Fran Escriba last week.
The new man in charge is Juan Esnaider, a former forward with the likes of Atletico, Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza. Six games, six finals and, well, three victories, is how Marca rather oddly describe his tenure and objectives as requiring. So not quite finals, then.
He has a tremendously tough job: Getafe are 12 games without a win, two points from safety and—after the obvious difficulty of facing Real Madrid in Esnaider's first fixture—only face one of the sides around the bottom five in the new manager's last handful of games. That's the penultimate weekend, against Sporting Gijon, so he desperately needs to find at least one win from somewhere before then.
This weekend in the race to survive, we'd put our money on Levante to beat Espanyol on Friday night.
La Liga Stat Watch
- The top Spanish goalscorers all have 17 goals: Aritz Aduriz, Ruben Castro and Borja Baston.
- Real Madrid have won six in a row, the best current streak.
- If Levante win on Friday, the bottom three teams will head into the weekend all level on 28 points.
- Barcelona are three Liga games without a win. They haven't gone four without a win since May 2009.
- Atletico Madrid have conceded just seven goals at home in 15 games, the lowest in La Liga.
- The current worst losing streak belongs to Sevilla, who have three defeats on the bounce.
Player to Watch: Fernando Torres, ATM
He has endured an up-and-down season inside the penalty box, but Fernando Torres is a man right in form of late.
"Since scoring his 100th goal for @atletienglish on Feb 6, @Torres has strike rate of 1 every 92 mins in La Liga #ATM pic.twitter.com/4ZUu37ELGz
— Karl Matchett (@karlmatchett) April 11, 2016"
He's playing for a new contract and hoping to stay at the club, but he is also leading the line with genuine quality and aggression, experience and directness—everything Simeone demands and the team requires.
Atletico put in an awful lot of effort in midweek to beat Barcelona, and there will doubtless be some still feeling the effects of that game, which makes any fresh legs coming back into the side pivotal. Torres, suspended for the second leg in Europe, is as much a certainty to start as anyone—and with Granada's defence somewhat accommodating on the road, conceding an average of two per game, he is the one who can take advantage.
A win leaves Atletico level on points with Barcelona at the top of the table before the Catalan side play straight after—the pressure can really mount up.
Game of the Weekend: Barcelona vs. Valencia
Everything rests on this. Barcelona's fixtures get notably easier from this point to the end of the season, and even if they lose here they can still win La Liga by being victorious everywhere else, but the uncertainty and lack of confidence that would surround another loss would leave Barca's players mentally shattered.
They need a big response, while Valencia themselves need victories to get moving back up the table and into the top half. It has been an awful season for them all round, with not even 10 league victories to sing about all year long.
That said, Los Che often give Barca a hard time and will sense they can certainly get a result this time—Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid have laid down the blueprint for the performance.
Predictions and Tips
- Home wins for Levante, Las Palmas, Sevilla, Atletico
- Away wins for Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Villarreal
- Over 2.5 goals in GET-RMA, RAY-VIL, ATM-GRA
