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For Spanish football gourmets - a long-awaited day. Tonight, the "La Liga" championship returns, which had to be "closed" due to the coronavirus since the beginning of March. After three months of waiting, on Thursday, the first championship matches can be seen. The "La Liga" leaders made efforts to make the return not boring - two Seville teams will face each other. Although the atmosphere that characterizes matches between "Sevilla" and "Real Betis" will not be at the "Sanchez Pizjuan" stadium, there should be no shortage of excitement on the field. Spanish championship battles can be watched for eight consecutive days from this Thursday. "EuroFootball.com" reviewed the remaining 2019-20 season highlights in the "La Liga" championship.
The fight for the title is more than clear - this year the trophies will be raised by either "Barcelona" or Madrid's "Real". What could have been lacking in recent years, was not missing this season - competition and a constant rotation in the leader's position. The Madrid "Real" club stood in the first place for a longer time, but "Barcelona" took advantage of the stoppage of the championship just before the break and took over the leader's position. Two unresolved points currently separate these giants. "Barcelona" will face "Mallorca" on Saturday, while "Real" will play against "Eibar". Experts say that both Spanish giants will have an advantage over other teams this season, as they have a longer and higher quality bench.
Predicting the form of the teams is difficult, but both "Barca" and "Real" have good chances to mark their return to the championship with victories. Both teams still have to play 10 matches. "Barca" has a formally more difficult schedule - they still have to compete with Madrid's "Atletico" and "Sevilla", while "Real" has played twice against "Barca" and "Atletico" already. "Atletico's" course. Madrid's "Atletico" team has found themselves in stormy waters this season - highly unstable play and an unexpected position in the league standings. Usually, Diego Simeone's team plays more draws (12) than wins (11) at this stage of the season. This has led to "Atletico" currently ranking in sixth place. "Atletico" lags behind the leaders by a 13-point difference, so there is practically no hope of fighting for top positions. However, the main goal of this season is to finish in the top four. If "Atletico" unexpectedly fails to finish in the top four places, they could be saved by a triumph in the UEFA Champions League.
A fierce battle for European tickets. This season in Spain, competition for the title winner is not the only one - there is also competition for which teams will compete in European tournaments next season. Only 5 points separate the 3-7 positions in the "La Liga" standings, so as the season draws to a close, there are more questions than answers. The most stable team from the aforementioned list is "Sevilla", who have been holding onto the third position for a long time with 47 points. "Real Sociedad" and "Getafe" have 46 points each, while "Atletico" has 45, and "Valencia" has 42.
The favorites to maintain their position next season in the Champions League are considered to be the "Sevilla" and "Atletico" clubs, supporting "Real" and "Barcelona" teams. However, underestimating "Real Sociedad" and "Getafe" would be a huge mistake, but there may be problems with the latter team's performance - the newly assembled team needed time to adjust at the beginning of the season. "Espanyol": playing with fire. Barcelona's "Espanyol" club, who played in the UEFA Europa League this season, is now on the verge of a precipice - the last position in the league standings. The Catalonia club, which has dropped to a lower division only three times in its long history, has been playing in the top division for 26 years without interruption, so relegation to "Segunda" would be a tragedy for the whole club. "Espanyol" is 6 points behind the safe 17th position, but finishing in the top positions in the country's championship does not seem easy, as they will face Madrid's "Real", "Barcelona", "Real Sociedad", "Getafe", and "Valencia".
The Barcelona team, who have already changed two coaches this season, will aim to avoid the worst, but the chances of maintaining their position in the "La Liga" championship are not very high.
A special task. Barcelona star Lionel Messi's goal - another champion title, but this should not be his only goal. L. Messi has triumphed in the "Golden Shoe" race for the last three years, so he was considered a favorite this season. It will be difficult to win the 7th "Golden Shoe" - at the moment L. Messi has 19 goals, while the leader Robert Lewandowski has already scored 30. However, there are still 4 rounds left in the "Bundesliga" season for the Polish player, while L. Messi is waiting for another 10 matches. The Argentine star is currently not in the top-rated list of goal scorers. He is also behind Cristiano Ronaldo (21), Erling Braut Haaland (26), Timo Werner (25), and Ciro Immobile (27).
