Madrid: There is no halt to La Liga in this intense start to the football season in Spain, with Matchday 11 kicking off just a day after the 10th round of games came to an end on Thursday night.
Rayo Vallecano and Cadiz get the ball rolling on Saturday lunchtime, with Rayo aiming to build on their 1-1 draw away to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, while Cadiz need to stretch their unbeaten run to six games to have a chance of getting out of the relegation zone.
Real Sociedad take an eight-match winning streak, which has lifted them up to third in the table, to Valladolid on Saturday afternoon.
Real Sociedad’s coach Imanol Alguacil has the luxury of knowing his team has already assured a place in the knockout stage of the Europa League and will be able to field his strongest side, although he is still without injured forwards Mikel Oyarzabal, Omar Sadiq and Ali Cho.
Valencia are at home to Mallorca after draws against Elche and Sevilla and club captain Jose Luis Gaya can be assured of a good reception after signing a new contract on Wednesday, just hours after he missed an injury-time penalty in Seville, reports Xinhua.
Sevilla have a difficult visit to league leaders Real Madrid to round off Saturday’s action and it will be a balancing act for coach Jorge Sampaoli with a vital European match at home to Copenhagen next week.
Real Madrid cruised past Elche on Wednesday and the morale is sky-high in their camp. Carlo Ancelotti will continue with his squad rotations but is likely to field something close to his strongest starting 11 against a rival that has plenty of firepower, despite a poor start to the campaign.
The big game on Sunday sees FC Barcelona at home to Athletic Club Bilbao, with Xavi Hernandez’s side aiming to repeat the much-improved display of Thursday’s 3-0 win at home to Villarreal.
Barca coach Xavi will have to consider some squad rotations given the short recovery time between games and Hector Bellerin could return at right-back and Raphinha on the right in the Barca attack.
The game sees former Barca coach Ernesto Valverde return to face the club that sacked him two and a half years ago, and with the pace of the Williams brothers in attack, Athletic will be more aggressive than Villarreal were.
Sunday also has an attractive match between fifth-placed Betis and fourth-placed Atletico Madrid. Betis are handicapped by the loss of Sergio Canales through suspension, while Atletico are without Koke, Thomas Lemar, and Marcos Llorente, while goalkeeper Jan Oblak is still doubtful with a shoulder injury.
Elsewhere, bottom-of-the-table Elche are looking for their first win of the season away to Espanyol, whose season is being sustained by the seven goals scored so far this season by striker Joselu.
A run of four defeats from five games has seen Girona drop into the bottom three after a bright start to the campaign and coach Michel needs to shore up a defense that has started to ship too many goals (11 in five games).
Villarreal felt disappointed in Camp Nou but have the chance to bounce back when they entertain Almeria. But injuries to players such as Gerard Moreno, Geo Lo Celso, Juan Foyth, Etienne Capoue, Francis Coquelin, and Alfonso Padreza have not helped Villarreal’s cause in recent weeks.
The last game of matchday 11 is on Monday when Celta Vigo entertain Getafe.
–IANS