Liga Weekend Preview: Depor Host Real, Barca Visit Racing
Deportivo host Real Madrid at the Riazor on Saturday night in a huge game for both teams.
Deportivo host Real Madrid at the Riazor on Saturday night in a huge game for both teams.
In normal circumstances this would be a top three encounter but at present both find themselves five points behind leaders Real Sociedad and off the Liga pace.
Were it not for the goals of Roy MaKaay Javier Irureta's side would be somewhat worse off than they are in both competitions. Few Depor supporters would have predicted that the Dutchman could have such an impact on the team's season, but it's fair to say that along with Filippo Inzaghi, he is Europe's in-form striker.
Real may have qualified for the next round of Europe on Wednesday but the club have hit a major slump in form. The likes of Vicente Del Bosque, Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Carlos have been quick to dispel talk of a crisis but the stats say that since Ronaldo arrived in town, the club have won just one of six matches. Not that it would be fair to put the Merengues' problems down to the Brazilian, but there have certainly been teething troubles since his arrival.
Valencia travel to Espanyol this weekend in the very match that saved Rafa Benitez' job last season.
His side were trailing 2-0 but came back to win 3-2. Prior to that clash the Ches were really struggling and Benitez was on the brink. Ten months on, how glad the Valencia board must be that they kept faith. He's transformed the team into one of the slickest units in Europe, and much of the smart money is on them retaining their Liga title. Especially in the light of Real Madrid's current woes.
On Wednesday, Valencia showed Liverpool exactly how far they have to go before they can mix it with the continent's best. It really was another lesson in the wiles of European football. Liverpool had their chances but Gerard Houllier admitted his side had been beaten by a good team.
Espanyol, meanwhile, have won a couple of games back-to-back and confidence will be high. Last week they came from 3-1 down to win for 4-3 at Malaga. Not many do that against such a strong outfit as the islanders.
Barcelona travel to Racing Santander on Sunday looking to continue their recent good form. Louis Van Gaal's men made it five wins out of five in Europe this week when beating Club Bruges 1-0 thanks to a Juan Riquelme effort. Perhaps this will persuade Van Gaal to give the Argentine the sustained run in the side that he surely deserves.
Racing went down to a last minute penalty from Francisco De Pedro at Sociedad last week and will have their work cut out against a Barca side still on a high after the 6-1 mauling of Alaves.
Celta Vigo were involved in one of the most tedious affairs of the season last week when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Atletico Madrid at the Balaidos. Without the injured Alexandre Mostovoi for 80 minutes, they lacked any kind of invention. The Galicians all but booked their place in the next round of the Uefa Cup on Wednesday, though, when they saw off Viking 3-0 thanks to goals from Jose Ignacio, Edu and Benni McCarthy. This week they face an Athletic Bilbao side still reeling from that 5-1 hammering at Valencia.
Leaders Real Sociedad travel to Villarreal looking to keep their amazing run going. They currently sit three points clear at the top and beat Racing last week thanks to a Darko Kovacevic strike, and that penalty from De Pedro who made a huge impact after coming on as a substitute. In Sander Westerveld, Gabriel Schurrer, Xabi Alonso, Nihat and Kovacevic they have a terrific spine to the team and it would be no surprise to see them still there or thereabouts by Christmas.
Villarreal held Real to a superb 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu last week and will be confident of taking at least a point from this game.
Atletico will be bidding for just their second win of the season when they host Rayo Vallecano in a Madrid derby. Atletico fleetingly looked dangerous against Celta last week, but on the whole a draw was a fair result. Fernando Torres, though, once again showed his huge potential with a number of nifty pieces of footwork. In truth he was the only player who really looked like creating anything from either side.
Elsewhere, Betis host Malaga in an intriguing game at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, Alaves entertain Sevilla having drawn 1-1 in the Uefa Cup with Besiktas this week, Mallorca visit Valladolid and Osasuna play Recreativo.