Mouthwatering Clash At The Top Of La Liga This Weekend!

Mestalla magic

Nowhere else to start than with the clash of the season so far.

After a Madrid derby draw last weekend, this top-two clash has an incredible amount riding on it. Los Che will be refreshed after a whole week to get ready for the fixture, whereas Barca had their draining trip to Juve to contend with.

A win for the hosts brings them to within a point of the Blaugrana but if Ernesto Valverde’s men maintain the status quo, they’ll go seven ahead at the top – not quite an unassailable lead at this early stage but a massive confidence boost.

Simone Zaza is playing through the pain at the moment and Marcelino can ill afford to leave his top scorer out in this one. However, the longer the club leave it before treating his injury, the worse it could be for them in the long run.

Whether the striker makes the starting XI or not, there are guaranteed fireworks here, as the likes of Kondogbia and Guedes et al go toe-to-toe with Messi, Suarez and Iniesta.

Barca have to lose sometime and after 8 wins in a row for Valencia, there’ll not be too many raised eyebrows if the visitors are downed here.

Mouth-watering.

Los Blancos back to their best

Scoring six goals against APOEL shouldn’t be underplayed. Zinedine Zidane’s side needed to get amongst the goals, and for Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular, that performance should help to kick-start their season.

Malaga have, for all intents and purposes, been the whipping boys of La Liga this season, and don’t let a battling win last time out fool you. Los Boquerones will be like lambs to the slaughter at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Though it’s an occasion where Zidane can theoretically utilise his renowned rotation policy, given that a big win and a dominant 90 minutes is required, expect to see a full-strength Real taking absolutely no prisoners in this one.

Even Sergio Ramos, broken nose and all, will be leading by example as usual. This is the game for last season’s champions to begin to repair the relationship with their supporters and get them back on side again.

Malaga’s manager, and former Real player, Michel, could find himself out of a job if the score goes high enough.

Atletico to drop more points

If there’s one game that Diego Simeone could’ve done without, it’s a trip to Levante.

Though the hosts are having a fairly nondescript season, they have a real Indian sign over the Rojiblancos.

The season before last, Fernando Torres put Cholo’s side ahead and with one game left of the campaign after that match, Atleti were still in with a shout of winning the title.

Levante were rock bottom of the division but managed to come back and take the game 2-1 thanks to a last-minute winner, denying their opponents the chance at domestic silverware.

In 2015, Atleti could only stumble to a 2-2 draw and in their La Liga winning season a year before that, the mattress makers lost again at Levante by 2-0.

With Antoine Griezmann woefully out of form, goals have been hard to come by, and he’ll draw another blank here, as things go from bad to worse for the club.

Sevilla on the rampage

After it became apparent that Eduardo Berizzo had told his Sevilla side he had prostate cancer at half-time of their Champions League tie against Liverpool, they promptly went out and turned the Reds’ 3-0 lead into a 3-3 draw.

As team talks go, that one turned out to be a master stroke by the manager, but one can’t make light of his methods of trying to inject some urgency into his team’s play.

His group have always given everything for the cause, as their home record shows, but now, more than ever, they’ll have the bit between their teeth.

Villarreal are just one point and one place behind them in the league, so an away win is by no means a foregone conclusion, however, Sevilla’s players will be moving heaven and earth to ensure that by close of play, they’re in with a shout of the top four.

With no injuries to key players to speak of, the visitors will be up for the battle, with Ever Banega’s brush strokes proving to be the difference.

Girona continue flying high

In the early part of this season, Quique Setien was winning all of the plaudits for Real Betis, just as he had done at the same stage of the last campaign for Las Palmas.

A win at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid merely underscored just how well his charges had adapted to his methodology.

However, that high point has long-since disappeared over the horizon to be replaced by horribly disjointed performances, culminating in a shocking 5-0 reverse against Eibar last time out.

To give that result some perspective, Los Armeros had only scored six in 11 games to that point!

Girona’s manager, Pablo Machin, has been similarly lauded, but the difference is that his team are still very much on the up in their first La Liga season.

Real Sociedad, Atletico and Real Madrid have all failed to beat them at Montilivi and Barcelona were made to work hard, but even away from home comforts they’ve done incredibly well, remaining unbeaten against Leganes, Celta Vigo, Depor and Levante.

In fact, the only away game they’ve lost all season was their first, at Athletic Club. In Pablo Maffeo they have one of the stars of the season so far, and after keeping both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at bay, the right-back will enjoy this one.