La Liga Week 36 Preview

It has been an historic week for La Liga’s big 2 and not all of that history has been good. After Real managed to come good in the Clasico both they and Barca seemed set fair to win their second leg Cmampions League semi-finals but instead the admirable Bayern Munich and Chelsea spoiled the dream of yet another Clasico showdown in Munich. Real look set to gain their first La Liga title since 2008 and it could be secured as early as mid-week if results go their way. The other bits of historic news were when Pep Guardiola decided to bring down the curtain on one of the most memorable Managerial reigns ever seen, that saw Barcelona scale the greatest heights in their history and then for Messi and Ronaldo to each reach the new mark of 43 La Liga goals in a season. Neither of them is finished for the season either! This week the most fascinating aspect of the fixtures is for the race for 3rd and fourth. Here is a preview of all the action. Get your teams submitted by 11am tomorrow.

Though there are 3 games scheduled for Tuesday we will first have a look at the head of the table and so jump ahead to the very attractive fixture of Athletic Bilbao v Real Madrid. Los Blancos will know whether the possibility exists that victory at San Mames would actually secure the Championship for them as Barcelona’s fixture will be over by then. Presuming that Barca will do them no favours it is evident that Bilbao represents one of the trickiest away fixtures of the whole season for Jose Mourinho’s men. However we suspect that the lure of that title will spur Real onward and they do have a fantastic record against Athletic Bilbao. They have won the last 4 meetings by an aggregate of 17 goals to 2. Bilbao had a happier time in European club competition last week compared to Real. Their fantastic 3-1 defeat of Sporting Lisbon secured them a place in next months Europa League final in Bucharest against Real’s local rivals- Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid are a tougher proposition for Marcelo Bielsa’s men but Bilbao have another motivation- to qualify again for the Europa League, regardless of the result in Romania. This could well be a score draw and should be a great game. The odds for the draw are up to 17/5.

The team Real expect to supplant at the summit of Spanish football is Barcelona and they play the wealthy and progressive Malaga at Camp Nou. Barcelona recovered quickly from their Chelsea induced upset by destroying Rayo 7-0 and their main pre-occupation now will be to delay Real Madrid’s celebrations and to see if Messi can beat Ronaldo in the most amazing personal duel ever seen for Pichichi. They each have 43 goals. Guardiola will probably rotate and rest a few players but Messi is not expected to be one of them. Though Malaga are one of Spain’s best teams they are nowhere near Barca’s level and the Blaugrana will be especially keen to record a morale boosting home win after very painful and costly successive home failures at the hands of Real Madrid and Chelsea. Malaga will be mangled in what may be Pep’s penultimate home fixture. All Barca players and fans will want to deliver the Copa Del Rey for Pep as a a parting gift to this fantastic coach and footballing philosopher.

Valencia hold onto third place by the skin of their teeth. They must beat Osasuna at the Mestalla to keep the likes of Levante and Malaga at bay for that precious Champions League berth. Unai Emery’s side have been third virtually all season but the gap has been healthier earlier on for Los Che than it is now. They have been unconvincing for several weeks and were turned over in the Europa Semis by 5-2 by Atletico and beaten again by Malaga at the weekend so confidence and form may be a bit low. Valencia will hope that Barcelona will do them a favour by beating Malaga at Camp Nou.Valencia’s own business will not be so easy as they face Osasuna and have had some problem with the Pamplonans in recent meetings. The visitors will have their own European dreams which they have not given up on and they could be a real banana skin for the out of form Valencia. Osasuna can be backed at 7/1 which has some appeal as does the 3/1 or better for the draw.

One of the most interesting games of the lot is Real Zaragoza v Levante on Wednesday. Manolo Jimenez’ side are making a late and unlikely bid for survival with 5 wins in their last 8 including notable victories over Valencia, Atletico Madrid and yesterday, over Athletic Bilbao. They are one of the form teams in the division and they will feel that they still get 41 or even 43 points which would probably ensure survival. Even 39 would probably be enough. Levante need to be careful. A draw or defeat would leave them vulnerable to Bilbao or Atletico but they still remain in fifth and if they could win, their hand would be very strong for the last 2 games. It could be a great game. There couldn’t be much more at stake and it’s too hard to call.

Another cracking match the same day is the Sevillan derby between Sevilla and Real Betis. It’s been 3 years since the last derbi Sevillano which Betis managed to win but over the years is’s Sevilla that has enjoyed more success in what has occasionally been a fixture marred by violence. The Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium should be packed to capacity. Sevilla hold a 3 point advantage that could be wiped out with victory for Betis. This would otherwise be a mid table and mediocre affair but local passions and age old rivalries ensure this derby should be a highly charged affair.

The earliest game on Tuesday is Getafe v relegated Racing Santander and it has little to interest the neutral. Getafe should win. Racing have been a long way short of La Liga this season and have only 4 wins to show for their season. Granada v Espanyol is another indifferent affair that has little appeal. Granada need another 1 or 2 points to be absolutely safe and they will be nervous of either Zaragoza or Sporting Gijon finishing with 3 wins. A win over Espanyol would sooth their worries. The aforementioned Sporting Gijon have still got a lifeline if they can beat Villarreal at home. Only 4 points separate the teams and Sorting have won 3 of their last 4 so they have the form to get the 3 points. Villarreal must avoid defeat or the spectre of relegation will loom large with just 2 games to go. If the Yellow Submarines win they will have probably condemned Sporting to the Segunda. So it’s another huge match. Mallorca host Rayo Vallecano who cannot do worse than in their weekend match Finally Atletico Madrid badly need the points against Real Sociedad to keep their European bid going and they should get the win. They have beaten Sociedad by 4-0 , 3-0 and 4-2 in the last 3 clashes and as Sociedad are safe Atletico have no excuses.

April 30, 2012 at 6:02 pm | La Liga