Ultimate Guide to La Liga Weekend: Real Madrid's Tricky Test, Celta for Europe
Week after week, from now until the end of the season in La Liga, it will be a case of who blinks first in the race for the title.
Once again, we head into a weekend round of fixtures with the potential to witness three changes of leadership in a single day. Barcelona remain top, but the order of play again allows Real Madrid to jump two spots with a win, Atletico Madrid to follow them with the next match and Barca to reclaim their top spot before the close of play.
Quite apart from the usual characteristics of technical quality and tactical acumen required to win football matches, this season in particular is demanding huge reserves of mental strength from the three sides involved, knowing that it has taken a formidable effort from the two Madrid clubs to get back into the title race late on and from the Catalan side in knowing they cannot afford another single slip.
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This time out, though, there is perhaps one side facing a greater challenge than the other two: Real, travelling to Anoeta to face Real Sociedad.
La Real's season is over for the most part, and they are marooned in mid-table after recovering, to an extent, from the dismal David Moyes spell earlier in the season. They have only won two from their last 10—but predictably saved those for the big occasion, beating Sevilla away and Barcelona at home. They also held Villarreal to a draw at El Madrigal a week ago.
Real Madrid might be the better side, but Sociedad have long been able to raise their game and the atmosphere at home for these occasions; Zinedine Zidane's side are also balancing themselves between two UEFA Champions League semi-final legs. They need to rotate one or two to bring freshness and impetus to the team, but the delicate situation at the top means it's still all or nothing every time they take to the pitch.
This might turn out to be the weekend that three become two in the title fight.
Jornada 36 (kick-off times via Soccerway)
Friday
Sporting Gijon vs. Eibar
Saturday
Real Sociedad vs. Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecano
Real Betis vs. Barcelona
Granada vs. Las Palmas
Sunday
Athletic Club Bilbao vs. Celta Vigo
Espanyol vs. Sevilla
Deportivo La Coruna vs. Getafe
Valencia vs. Villarreal
Monday
Malaga vs. Levante
What to Watch out for this Weekend
Part 1: Race for European spots
The top three are out on their own, but fourth place still isn't quite wrapped up, and a further three sides are doing battle for two UEFA Europa League spots.
Villarreal still have a four-point lead above fifth-placed Celta Vigo, but the Yellow Submarine are in a similar position to Real Madrid: the toughest game of the weekend in their mini-league and sandwiched between two semi-final legs in Europe.
More rotations are probable from Villarreal manager Marcelino, and there's every chance Los Che, improved of late, will take the points.
That means all eyes on the Athletic-Celta fixture, sixth vs. fifth, as the winner could jump right into the battle for the Champions League next term.
Celta have the best away record in La Liga outside the top three and have won almost as many games on the road as Athletic have at San Mames.
Sevilla boss Unai Emery has been making noises about finishing fifth this term, but his confidence after a dire derby win over Real Betis next week ignores the fact his side still haven't won away this season.
Their latest chance to break that awful record comes at Espanyol this weekend, and without three points, forget about fifth and possibly any kind of European football at all next season ... unless, of course, they go on and complete an amazing third consecutive Europa League triumph.
Part 2: La Liga Stat Watch
- Real Madrid have the best current win streak, standing at nine consecutive victories
- Atletico Madrid haven't conceded a goal in their last three in La Liga and have 22 clean sheets in total from 35 games
- Real Betis have scored exactly one goal in a match the most times this season: 18
- Top scorer Luis Suarez has more goals (34) than the bottom two teams, Getafe and Levante (both 33)
- Over the last 10 matches, Real and Atletico Madrid lead the way for points gained—but third is Las Palmas, with seven wins in that time.
- Getafe are bottom and Eibar and Deportivo are also in the bottom three for the same spell
- Real Madrid have scored 18 goals from set pieces, more than any other side
- Granada take the highest percentage of shots from outside the box, a huge 49 percent
- Luis Suarez (15), Koke (13) and Leo Messi (13) lead the way for assists, but Neymar (3.0), Jonathan Viera (2.3) and Messi (2.3) lead the way for chances created per match
Part 3: Player to Watch: Diego Reyes, RSO
Since we've picked Real Sociedad to cause an upset against Real Madrid, we best explain partly why: Eusebio Sacristan has been changing his players' roles around somewhat to try to figure out who he'll rely on for next year and how to strike a balance between being more offensive, but remaining defensively secure.
One of the switches of late has been to push Diego Reyes up from centre-back to playing as the deepest of three central midfielders, affording the back four good protection with his aerial dominance and defensive acumen, but also taking advantage of his excellent on-the-ball qualities.
The Mexican is a fantastic passer of the ball and has no fear striding forward into space, making him an ideal starting point for La Real's possession from deep.
With Asier Illarramendi and another midfielder ahead, it gives the team more energy to close down and cover the pitch, though they have struggled to make ground into the final third with numbers at times as a downside.
Reyes has been back in extremely good form, and he could be the one to frustrate the life out of Real's attack.
Game of the Weekend: Athletic vs. Celta
The battle for fifth spot ensues, but the winner could also be gunning for Villarreal.
A loss for the Yellow Submarine means Celta could be just one point behind their rivals if they manage to beat Athletic, and they know that finishing level on points with Villarreal is perfectly fine—as it's Celta themselves who have the better head-to-head record.
Athletic can go two points off Villarreal if they take the win at San Mames, but they have a worse head-to-head record against the current fourth-placed team.
The match could go either way, but Celta's recent form has been good. They showed spirit to come back and win against Granada last time out after conceding an equaliser, and the front three—Nolito, Iago Aspas and John Guidetti—have been linking extremely well.
Then again, after picking Sevilla-Betis as our game to watch last weekend and being "rewarded" with the worst tie of the weekend, perhaps we should just steer clear of this one, too...
Predictions and Tips
- Home wins for Sporting, Atletico, Depor, Valencia, Malaga
- Away wins for Barcelona, Las Palmas, Celta
- Over 2.5 goals in BET-FCB, GRA-LPA, ATH-CEL, VAL-VIL
