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This weekend in Spain, the 16th round of matches of the "La Liga" will be played. Undoubtedly, the central match of the round will take place at the Madrid "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium, where "Real" will meet with one of the tournament leaders, the footballers of Pamplona's "Osasuna."
Also, a very intriguing match will take place on Saturday in Vigo, where "Celta" will host the footballers of La Coruna's "Deportivo."
Vigo - La Coruna
In the Galician derby, both teams will have one of their strongest line-ups: "Celta" will be able to rely on all players, while "Deportivo" will be missing the injured forward Sebastien Taborda, who has only scored once this season.
Both teams will have almost the same line-ups as last week, except for the return of Enrique Romero in the safe line of "Deportivo" after his injury. The pair of center-backs Juanma and Jorge Andrade, who played excellently against "Cadiz," will retain their place in the starting line-up, meaning that Argentine national team defender Fabrizio Coloccini will be on the bench. However, this Saturday's match will be a big test for these defenders, as they will have to stop "Celta's" attacking leader, Brazilian Fernando Baiano, who has already scored seven goals this season.
Bilbao - Seville
The match between the bottom teams of the tournament table promises to be intriguing, especially since no one believes that these teams will fight for survival at the end of the season. The difference between these teams is that "Betis" has only secured three draws in their last seven matches, while "Athletic," after recently changing their coach, has secured a win and three draws in the same number of matches.
In the "Betis" team, we will not see the forward Ricardo Oliveiros, who is out for the whole season due to injury, but there are no other major absences in both teams.
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Even without their leader, Brazilian Ronaldinho, "Barcelona" will be the favorite in this match. The best player in Europe and Brazilian national team full-back did not recover in time from the flu, so he will miss this match. Meanwhile, the full-backs Deco and Rafael Marquez and full-back Thiago Motta, who have recovered from a calf muscle injury, will return to the team. The Spanish sports newspaper predicts that "Barca" will play with a different tactic in this match, 4-4-2. The strikers will be Cameroonian S.Eto'o and Swede H.Larsson, the young prodigy L.Messi will probably play on the left flank of the attack, while Edmilson will play on the right, and Deco and A.Iniesta will make up the central midfield. "Marca" also predicts the following back four: Sylvinho (left side), Marquez, Puyol, Oleguer.
Meanwhile, "Cadiz" will play with their strongest line-up in this match, and the team's coach stated before the match that his players will "play as always and fight for all three points."
Sunday
- Madrid
In the UEFA Champions League quarterfinalists, "Villarreal" will not have three important players in this match: defender Alessio Tacchinardi, midfielder Javi Venta, and forward Luciano Figueroa. However, the latter, according to the club's doctors, has a slight chance of appearing in the Sunday match, but the other two will definitely not play due to injuries.
These two teams have only faced each other twice in the Spanish league, and both matches ended in "Villarreal" victories: last season, the "Yellow Submarine" won 1-2 away and crushed the Madrid footballers 4-0 at home.
Before this match, "Getafe" coach Bernd Schuster stated that the reason for his team's deteriorating performance is that too much hope was placed on them after a great start to the season when they were even leading the Spanish league.
Vitoria -
The fans of the Valencia club hope for an easy victory for their supported team against the bottom team "Alaves". "Valencia," who played a friendly match in Saudi Arabia midweek, will likely not have Argentine national team midfielder Pablo Aimar, who suffered a back injury, and defender Roberto Fabiano Ayala, also an Argentine national team member, who injured his knee on Thursday.
Madrid - Pamplona
A victory, or at least a draw, at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium would allow the Pamplona footballers to prove to the skeptics that their leadership in the Spanish league is not accidental.
These matches will be the first at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium for the interim coach of "Real," Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. Last week in Malaga, the footballers under his leadership secured a 2-0 victory, but "Osasuna," who have won six of their last seven matches, will be a much tougher nut to crack. For this reason, Caro made extra training sessions this week.
"I'm not afraid of unpopular decisions," commented Lopez Caro on the announcement of extra training sessions. "I've been at the club for five years, and no one has ever told me what to do. If someone is not fully dedicated, they won't play. There are no untouchables. Players earn their places on the field during training."
In the "Real" team, we will once again see the English national team captain David Beckham, who missed last weekend's match due to suspension, but French midfielder Zinedine Zidane will likely not be able to play against "Osasuna."
Meanwhile, there will be no major absences in the opponents' camp for this match.
- San Sebastian
Barcelona -
- Madrid
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