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This weekend in Spain, the matches of the 19th round of "La Liga" are being played, attracting special attention. Two matches will take place on Saturday, while the remaining eight will be on Sunday.
After the Christmas break, "Sevilla" started the year with a convincing victory against a third-division team in the King's Cup. The president of Sevilla joked when asked if his team had fallen into a crisis.
"This crisis worries us, but we are leading the Spanish championship, we made it to the quarterfinals of the King's Cup, and we are still fighting in the UEFA Cup, which we won last year," said Jose Maria del Nido.
"We have not reached our zenith yet. We believe that we still have room for improvement and we ask the fans to support us. We are just not used to losing," said the president of Sevilla.
This year, Sevilla has not won in the Spanish championship and not only failed to take advantage of the failures of other teams but also squandered their lead.
On the other hand, recently "Villarreal" has not pleased their fans with excellent results - the team started the year with a defeat at home against "Valencia" and then lost twice in the King's Cup to the second division's "Valladolid" team. Although in between cup matches they celebrated a rare victory away against Bilbao "Athletic", it was an infrequent win.
In the next five matches, following the coach's decision, "Villarreal" will not see Argentine national team defender Juan Roman Riquelme, whose relationship with the club continues to deteriorate. Due to injuries, not only will Nihat, Robert Pires, and Gonzalo Rodriguez, who will not return to the field for a long time, but also Guillermo Franco, Javi Venta, and Jose Mari, be unable to play.
Meanwhile, the only loss for Sevilla is attacking midfielder Jesus Navas, who missed several team practices due to injury.
Real" suffered a small injury in the King's Cup match against "Betis". With Brazilian players Roberto Carlos and Marcelo already injured, if Raul Bravo does not recover by Sunday's match against "Mallorca," he may have to be replaced by the youth team's right-back defender Miguel Torres.
Meanwhile, "Real" coach Fabio Capello softened his tone towards David Beckham. Earlier, he had said that the former captain of the England national team, who will move to the US in the summer, would no longer step on the field wearing Real's jersey. Now the Italian hinted that the situation could change. However, on their website, "Real" announced that D. Beckham had strained a muscle.
After six months of recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, Danish forward Morten Skoubo was finally included in the squad of San Sebastiano "Real Sociedad." Also included in the squad for Sunday's match against the excellent form "Valencia" show are the team's newcomers Brazilian Savio and the Argentines German Herrera and Victor Lopez.
In Sunday's match, the Basque team could have a very difficult time as "Valencia," who dropped out of the King's Cup on Wednesday, will seek to restore their reputation.
"It's a shame that we dropped out, but it was an accident. Now the most important thing is to focus on the Spanish championship and the Champion's League," said Valencia coach Quique Flores after losing to "Getafe."
Having won five consecutive games in the Spanish championship, Valencia players are now only four points behind leaders Sevilla.
Barcelona is only two points behind the leaders, with one game in hand. Although they have only won one game in their last five matches in the Spanish championship and suffered a 3-1 defeat against "Espanyol" in the Barcelona derby last weekend, Barcelona will face Taragona's "Gimnastic" on Sunday - currently in the last place in the Spanish championship.
19th round of "La Liga" matches
Saturday
Madrid's "Atletico" - Pamplona's "Osasuna"
"Villarreal" - "Sevilla"
Sunday
La Coruna's "Deportivo" - Barcelona's "Espanyol"
Madrid's "Getafe" - Vigo's "Celta"
Valencia's "Levante" - Bilbao's "Athletic"
Seville's "Betis" - Santander's "Racing"
San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" - "Valencia"
"Zaragoza" - Huelva's "Recreativo"
"Barcelona" - Taragona's "Gimnastic"
"Mallorca" - Madrid's "Real"
