La Liga Preview: Atletico and Barcelona continue Champions League battle with tricky derbies

There is a capital city clash between Atlético de Madrid and Getafe CF on Saturday night at the beautiful Estadio Wanda Metropolitano before the RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona Catalan derby at the RCDE Stadium takes centre stage 24 hours later.

Title contenders Real Madrid and Sevilla are in for a very difficult time this weekend as Matchday 24 in LaLiga Santander throws up several interesting and exciting fixtures in the Spanish first division.

It is second-placed Sevilla who get the ball rolling this weekend as they welcome an in-form Elche CF to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.

Elche have been flying under their new coach Francisco and have taken 14 points from his eight matches in charge.

Only five teams have accumulated more points than Francisco’s Franjiverdes since he arrived at the start of December, so this certainly won’t be an easy one for Sevilla.

Cádiz CF are another team with a new coach, and they kick off the action on Saturday. Their performances have improved under new manager Sergio González, although the results haven’t always followed.

Against RC Celta they’ll hope that this is the weekend when they finally secure their first home victory of the season.

The leaders are in action on Saturday at 4.15 pm Nigerian time and it’s a difficult one for Real Madrid as they pay a visit to Samuel Chukwueze's Villarreal CF.

Although the Yellow Submarines have been hot and cold this season, they are a team that tend to save their best for the biggest occasions and there are few occasions bigger than a visit from the league leaders.

It was a goalless draw when they met at the Bernabéu earlier this campaign and Unai Emery’s side will hope to take more points off Los Blancos this weekend.

LaLiga Santander stays in the capital for Saturday night, starting with Rayo Vallecano vs CA Osasuna in Vallecas, as the two mid-table sides look to push for a top-half finish.

Then comes Atlético de Madrid vs Getafe CF at the Wanda Metropolitano, a match which sees former Atleti coach Quique Sánchez Flores and his in-form Geta side making the short trip across the capital.

Diego Simeone has never lost to Getafe during his time in charge of the Rojiblancos, but he did lose his most recent duel with Sánchez Flores back when the Spaniard was in charge of RCD Espanyol.

D. Alavés vs Valencia CF kicks off Sunday’s action, with José Bordalás returning to the club he coached to promotion in 2015/16. Valencia will come up against two players they loaned out to the Basque side in January, Jason and Manu Vallejo, so they’ll be extra wary of them.

Levante UD vs Real Betis is next up and with the home side bottom and the visitors third this might seem like a mismatch.

But Levante have won each of their past three home games against Betis, scoring four goals on each occasion (4-0 in 2018/19, 4-2 in 2019/20 and 4-3 in 2020/21). This could be a more difficult one for Manuel Pellegrini’s side than many think.

On Sunday evening, Real Sociedad are home again and they face Granada CF, with the Basque outfit still hopeful of qualifying for Europe next season. La Real’s squad is starting to get healthy again and they’ll be aiming to put on a show at the Reale Arena.

A Catalan derby then concludes Sunday’s slate of LaLiga Santander matches, with RCD Espanyol taking on FC Barcelona.

Xavi’s first match as Barça coach was the first derby between these two sides earlier in the season and his side eked out a 1-0 win, but they have improved since then and will travel across the city full of confidence.

There will, however, be a fiery atmosphere awaiting Xavi’s charges at the RCDE Stadium, so this one is certainly worth tuning in for.