Spanish La Liga Saturday Match Previews: Sept. 25, 2010

Sporting Gijon vs. Valencia

Sporting are not a bad side by any means. Their start to the season has been distinctly average—at least this is how it looks on the surface. They have had a particularly difficult start to this season having to face both Atletico and Barcelona.

It is a testament to the team's abilities that they have managed to pick up points whenever they have a reasonable opportunity to do so and it goes to show that they have every chance of having a decent season.

Will they beat Valencia? The answer is probably not, but if they can stay tight the way Atletico did, they have every chance of holding them to a draw.

Valencia’s perfect start to the season was ended last weekend when they drew against Atletico.

As it stands, Spain’s eternal understudies—or the best of the rest—are on level peggings with Real Madrid, something which they will be eager to continue with for as long as possible.

Miguel, who has just retired from international football (and plays for Valencia), admitted that Real and Barcelona are of another class to the rest of the league, but he still sees a real opportunity to edge Valencia ever closer to breaking down those barriers. If they continue with the way they have started the season it’s certainly possible.

Levante vs. Real Madrid

Levante managed to pick up their first few points this week against Almeria, which doesn’t really say a lot. It’s more of a case of who played worse as opposed to who played better.

There is no way that they will be relishing the match with Real, who seem to be getting better as the season progresses.

The best that they can hope for is a draw and a realistic stance on the match is going to be to damage limitations, and a loss with some dignity might not be a terrible option.

Real are expected to walk through this match scoring every five seconds and in all honesty they could probably win this match comfortably with their reserve side.

The man to watch is as always Real Madrid’s golden boy Ronaldo, who has finally managed to make his way onto the score sheet this season.

There is only one way this match could realistically end, and that is with a convincing win to the away side. Anything else would certainly be interesting albeit unlikely.

Bilbao vs.  Barcelona

Bilbao are a good side, Barcelona have been slipping up, and this might not be the open and shut case that everybody thought it would be.

The hosts will be nervous and with them leaking goals at the back, not drastically but enough for Barca to capitalise, they have something to worry about.

Going forward they are looking pretty good: Seven goals from four matches isn’t a bad average, but will this strike force be enough to break down the champions?

Barcelona do look a little bit worse for wear without Messi; they struggled in their last match and were saved by a goal from Villa. We all know that Barcelona are not a one-man side by any means, but Messi is irreplaceable in any side.

On paper the away side are by far the better team, but Barcelona have proven that they are not infallible already this season, and this is sure to give Athletic Bilbao some sort of optimism.

Barcelona needs all three points here, and there is absolutely no way a draw will suffice. Falling behind Real Madrid will inevitably cause them some big problems further down the line.

Joe - livescoredaily.com - live scores and live sports