La Liga is back after the international break with Matchday 27 which kicks off the final bend of the 2022/23 season.
Before the league paused, Barcelona had opened up a 12-point gap between themselves and rivals Real Madrid in second. Atletico Madrid had extended their unbeaten run in the league to five, and Sevilla had sacked manager Jorge Sampaoli to try and save their season.
Now, the league is back with 10 matches to be played starting tonight and all through the weekend until Monday evening. Tonight, Real Mallorca will host Osasuna at the Son Moix in what could be an interesting match. Mallorca are 11th on the table and a win will help them break into the top half whereas three points for Osasuna will take them to seventh. Both clubs have only got one victory in the last five matches.
Tomorrow, Sevilla, who fired Sampaoli a few weeks ago will travel to Cadiz in a relegation battle fixture. Both clubs have the same number of points (28) from 26 matches but Sevilla are 14th only because of a superior goal deference. Whoever wins this match will improve their chances of survival.
League leaders Barcelona will make the trip to bottom-placed Elche and expect to get nothing but three points on the road. Barcelona only need to win eight of the remaining 12 matches to be crowned La Liga champions for the first time since 2018.
The Catalan giants have won four of their last five league matches including a 2-1 El Clasico, and will take advantage of Elche’s leaky defence. Elche have conceded the most goals in this campaign while Barcelona have scored the second most goals so it could rain goals in this fixture.
On Sunday, Real Madrid will host another relegation-threatened side Real Valladolid at Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos are playing catch-up to rivals Barcelona while Valladolid are fighting the cut as they are just one point away from safety.
Although overturning a 12-point lead is a big ask for Real Madrid at this stage of the competition, they want to collect as many points as possible from the remaining matches and see where that leads them at the end of the season.
Atletico Madrid in third, hosting Real Betis in 5th is also another interesting match to look out for but most eyes will be on how Valencia performs when they host Rayo Vallecano on Monday night in the last match of Matchday 27. Valencia are currently 18th and find themselves involved in a fierce relegation battle after misfiring in plenty of matches this season registering only seven victories in 26 matches.
Here are the fixtures
Today, March 31
Mallorca vs Osasuna
Saturday, April 1
Girona vs Espanyol
Athletic Club vs Getafe
Cádiz vs Sevilla
Elche vs Barcelona
Sunday, April 2
Celta Vigo vs Almería
Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid
Villarreal vs Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid vs Real Betis
Monday, April 3
Valencia vs Rayo Vallecano.
