La Liga Weekend Preview: Round 28

Saturday 15 March 2008 (all times local)
20:00 Betis - Athletic
20:00 Recreativo - Murcia
20:00 Deportivo - Real Madrid
22:00 Valencia - Sevilla
Sunday 16 March
17:00 Villarreal - Zaragoza
17:00 Valladolid - Osasuna
17:00 Getafe - Racing
17:00 Espanyol - Mallorca
19:00 Almeria - Barcelona
21:00 Atletico - Levante

Real Betis Balompié - Athletic Club Bilbao

Betis' decent run of form came to a sudden end with a 3-0 thrashing in Santander last week, but Paco Chaparro will have warned his troops that a repeat performance at home won't be tolerated.

The players will know that, of course - the passionate Betico fanbase is never shy about expressing such things.

Athletic, meanwhile, have their own die-hard fanbase back home, and that's helped them towards something resembling mid-table security so far this season.

Away from home, they find the going much tougher, having lost over half their road fixtures. What's more, they lost this fixture 3-0 last season...

Recreativo Huelva - Real Murcia

Recre, meanwhile, are reeling after a 7-1 loss to Mallorca last week. It was very much a humiliating evneing, but they have a chance to make amends here against Murcia.

Indeed, despite that calamitous result, the Huelvans can lord it up over the Pimentoneros, who haven't won since their January 6 victory over Osasuna at home.

They've been victim of some poor refereeing at times, but their problems are also of their own making: low confidence and uninventive play have seen them slip to eight points off the safety zone.

Recre, meanwhile, are also in the relegation zone, albeit six ahead of Murcia. They'll hope that the Javier Clemente-inspired fightback - that Murcia feel will be around any day now - is a bit longer in coming, because defeat at home could change things drastically.

Deportivo La Coruña - Real Madrid

Speaking of home wins, it's been seventeen years since Madrid managed to overturn Depor at the Riazor, with the A Coruña men having in fact won the last four meetings there.

It doesn't really bode well for Bernd Schuster's men heading into this one - even the manager himself lost out there last season with Getafe.

Depor, for their part, are more than psyched up for the encounter, with midfielder Jonathan De Guzman promising to go without sex should his team pick up a favourable result.

Teammate Sergio, meanwhile, is content simply to try his best to avoid relegation, an eventuality that Depor are two points clear of.

Valencia CF - Sevilla FC

Valencia are in trouble. Again.

President Juan Soler has just stepped down - whether that constitutes "trouble" is in the eye of the beholder, of course - and things are once again poor on the pitch. After a brief revival, Los Che have now gone five games without winning, four of them in the Liga.

Sevilla, meanwhile, ground out a win over Levante last week, and are just two points off the Champions League spots.

However, this week has seen them beset by speculation regarding a managerial change and a summer exodus of star players. Both revelations have been vehemently denied by president Del Nido, but we'll see how it goes.

Villarreal CF - Real Zaragoza

Zaragoza, meanwhile, are in high spirits as they travel to meet Villarreal. They're now three, count 'em, three points clear of relegation after their win over Atleti last week.

Sure, it's not exactly their top-six challenge of last year, but it'll do as the new boss finds his feet.

Villarreal, meanwhile, are themselves on cloud nine after their brave win at Camp Nou to severely dent Barcelona's title hopes while strengthening their own Champions League ambitions.

It now does seem as though Manuel Pellegrini has his charges back on track, and just in time, too: they're just four points off second place now.

Real Valladolid - CA Osasuna

Valladolid fell to 17th after their 2-0 loss at Athletic last week, and they're just two points off relegation. Still, the Pucela can leapfrog Osasuna if they pummel the Pamplonans here.

The rojillos, however, do not pose a massive threat on their travels, having hit just eight away goals all season - only Levante have fared worse - with eight points to go with them.

The two haven't met here in La Liga since 2003-04, when the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The season before that, though, Osasuna picked up a fine 2-0 win away from home in week 36 to help seal a place one point above their hosts.

Now, as then, both teams are eager to break the 45 point barrier to virtually guarantee survival.

Getafe CF - Real Racing Club

Getafe will be preening after their 1-0 home win over Benfica midweek, a result that sees them through to the last eight of the UEFA Cup.

That's a feat that no other Spanish side has managed this season, but the Azulones cannot rest on their laurels. For not only are they not yet safe from relegation, but they also need to keep an eye on the Santander side.

Racing lost out 3-1 here in the Copa first leg, but will be out for revenge, as well as a massive psychological boost for their match with Geta at the Sardinero midweek in the return leg.

They'll be sick of the sight of each other by next Thursday...

RCD Espanyol - RCD Mallorca

Next up, Espanyol will attempt to get over their disappointment of defeat to Real Madrid next week with a home match against Mallorca.

The Pericos have fallen way out of the Champions League places, and are now only on the fringes of European football as they occupy the Intertoto Cup spot - something of a fall from a team that so nearly topped the table earlier in the season.

Mallorca picked up that fantastic 7-1 win over Recre last week with all sorts of fine performances. They did it without Pereyra, too, which is jsut as well, for the Argentine was this week sold off to Lokomotiv Moscow.

In any case, the two sides managed a 2-2 draw at San Moix earlier in the season - that would no doubt suit the visitors more than the hosts.

UD Almería - FC Barcelona

Moving on to early evening, and Barcelona must get on track if they're to keep their Liga challenge on the front burner.

The blaugrana could potentially be eleven points behind by this juncture - alternatively, they could make it five by the end of the evening. So much depends on how Real Madrid fare, after all.

But that's no cause for keeping one's eye off the ball. After all, Almeria beat the champions 2-0 here earlier in the season, and remain the highest-places of all the newly-promoted sides.

They may not score any, but their record of just eight goals conceded at home is the best in the Liga, an accolade shared with Racing and, of course, Barcelona.

Club Atlético de Madrid - Levante UD

Finally, Atleti will look to put last week's disaster in Zaragoza behind them with what should be a routine win over Levante.

It should be, but Levante have shown that they're not out of it yet. Sure, they're twelve points off safety, but they have "only" lost three of their last seven, and ran Sevilla close last week.

Atletico, meanwhile, won the fixture at the Ciutat de Valencia earlier in the season, and in front of an expectant home crowd, must surely manage the same again.

By this time on Sunday they could potentially be in seventh place, too, so the onus may be on them to win in order to claw back a top-four place.