Madrid derby, Sevilla vs Williams brothers & the Reale Super Eagles war

Early pacesetters FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, who are tied on 19 points after seven matches, go into matchday 8 in search of momentum ahead of their ElClasico showdown next weekend.

This weekend, the Catalan outfit hosts a dangerous RC Celta side while Los Blancos make the short trip to Getafe CF’s Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, a stadium where Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost last season in Madrid.

There are several other evenly-matched contests in Matchday 8 too, starting with CA Osasuna vs Valencia CF on Friday night.

Two clubs with aspirations to qualify for Europe will kick start a long weekend of activities in LaLiga when Osasuna hosts Los Che. It’s a clash between the teams sitting sixth and ninth in the standings, who have enjoyed some success so far this season in their 4-3-3 set-ups. So, it should be a very intriguing match in every sense.

The first of Saturday’s games is a duel between two clubs whose primary objective this season is to avoid relegation, but who are experiencing very different levels of success so far.

UD Almería, desperate to bounce back after a run of four consecutive defeats, welcomes Rayo Vallecano in the first game on Saturday. Rayo will go into the game high on confidence after Unai López’s spectacular 95th-minute winner last time out against Elche ended a run of two consecutive wins.

This game is particularly intriguing because, in the last meetings between these teams, the host has gone on to lose by a lone goal.

Coming off the back of a poor outing in Europe, Atlético Madrid switches attention to the LaLiga where it will host a side they’d probably rather avoid.

Newly promoted Girona FC will return to the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, where it has an impressive history against Atleti, having drawn five and lost just one of their six meetings against the capital city side.

Los Colchoneros have frustrating memories of facing their visitors on Saturday but will hope the firepower of Álvaro Morata, Antoine Griezmann and João Félix would be enough this time around to see off the stubborn side.

Two teams currently in the LaLiga title race have difficult away fixtures on Saturday evening. Firstly, third-placed Athletic Club and their brilliant Willams brothers, Inaki and Nico visit Estadio Ramon Sanchez to take on Sevilla FC.

The Andalusian side is struggling at the moment and finds itself in a serious relegation battle after four defeats in seven matches have seen them just a point above the red zone. This poor start to the season has also led to the sack of manager Julen lopetegui after a second defeat in the Champions League.

But despite their current problems, Sevilla will still be one of the toughest tests so far for Ernesto Valverde and his in-form side led by the Williams brothers as the home side has come out winners in the last two meetings between the sides.

Champions, Real Madrid, are on the road too on Saturday night, although only a few kilometres to the south of Madrid. They’ll visit Getafe CF, aware that on their last visit they lost 1-0 to an Enes Ünal goal last season.

Carlo Ancelotti's men will be keen to bounce back from last weekend’s draw with CA Osasuna and to build up some positive momentum ahead of ElClasico next week, Los Blancos will look to turn in a solid performance and take the three points.

There are several more interesting match-ups on Sunday, starting with Real Valladolid’s home match against Real Betis.

Although these teams have very different objectives for this season, it’s Valladolid that comes into this duel on the back of a win while Real Betis suffered a loss last weekend. In front of their home fans, Pucela will aim to secure another positive result. 

That’s what Cádiz CF will hope for too when they take on RCD Espanyol. After losing each of their first five games of the season, Cádiz has now collected four points from their past two matches and sits just one point behind this weekend’s opponents in the LaLiga Santander table. It’s also two consecutive clean sheets for Cádiz’s goalkeeper Jeremías Ledesma, who’ll set out for a third in a row.

Next comes a huge match in the quest to finish in the Champions League positions, as Real Sociedad take on Villarreal CF at the Reale Arena.

This fascinating tactical battle between former teammates Imanol Alguacil and Unai Emery has been robbed of its Super Eagles flavour no thanks to the unfortunate injury to Sociedad's new signing Umar Sadiq.

However, while Sadiq cheers his teammates from the sideline, his compatriot Samuel Chukwueze will be looking to help Villarreal take all three points on the road.

These teams beat each other once each last season, with the host dropping all three points, which is something that also makes this an exciting fixture on matchday 8.

League leaders FC Barcelona are in action on Sunday night kick-off and, like title rivals Real Madrid, they’ll hope to take victory because of the importance of the three points and so that they can maintain momentum ahead of ElClasico.

RC Celta will be the visitors at Camp Nou, so it’ll be a shootout between Robert Lewandowski and Iago Aspas, two of the top scorers in the competition at this early stage.

There’s one more Matchday 8 game on Monday night, with Elche CF kicking off the post-Francisco era at home to RCD Mallorca. With Los Franjiverdes bottom of the table, they have decided to change coach and will hope for a reaction against the islanders in what is already a crucial match for the bottom-placed side.