Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid continue battle for La Liga

FC Barcelona were comfortably at the summit of the Liga table weeks ago until they slumped to three consecutive defeats which made the title race wide open. Both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid looked to have given up on the race for the title but their hopes were rekindled after Barça saw their worst run in the league over more than a decade.
The Catalan giants are still top of the table on goal-difference, with Atletico Madrid is second spot while Real Madrid are one point behind them in 3rd place. All three teams will be in action on Saturday (tomorrow) in tricky games. It’s very clear that at this point of the season, no game is considered easy as teams are fighting for survival, qualifications and to stay as high up the table as possible.
There are three games left to play but this weekend will see Barcelona travel to Andalusia to take on Real Betis at the Villamarin after Atletico Madrid host neighbours Rayo Vallecano at the Calderon and Real Madrid visit the Anoeta to take on Real Sociedad. All of these three games are tricky fixtures and there’s a huge possibility the big names drop points.
REAL SOCIEDAD VS REAL MADRID
Missing key man Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid put up an unconvincing performance in their 0-0 CL draw against Manchester City on Tuesday, they will be hosted by Real Sociedad at the Anoeta in the early Saturday kickoff, a stadium they lost at last season and one which FC Barcelona lost at weeks ago. They will be without both Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema for the tie which makes it even harder considering they still have Wednesday’s return leg against Man City in mind. The game kicks off at 3:00pm (4:00pm CET).
ATLETICO MADRID VS RAYO VALLECANO
Rayo Vallecano were close to pulling off an historic win last week against Real Madrid when they went 2-0 up after quarter of an hour, however, they surrendered their lead to lose 2-3. Atletico Madrid come into the game knowing they will suffer three days later against Bayern Munich in Germany so there’s a possibility Simeone rests some stars in this one, but there’s also a possibility he doesn’t as he wouldn’t want to take chances against a Vallecano side who are very attack-minded. The game kicks off at 5:15pm (6:15pm CET).
REAL BETIS VS FC BARCELONA
After three consecutive losses, FC Barcelona woke up in their next two games by scoring 14 goals and conceding none, they won 8-0 and 6-0 respectively with Luis Suarez scoring four times in both games to get 8 goals in 2 games. Real Betis are a side that will always provide trouble, they already took points from Real Madrid this season and although they aren’t playing for anything, they’d want to hurt Barça. Barcelona, however, have an advantage as they no longer play in the CL which means fatigue and rests won’t play a big role but still, anything can happen. The game kicks off at 7:30pm (8:30pm CET).
3 games to go, Barcelona still top on 82 points, Atletico Madrid behind on goal-difference with 82 points as well while Real Madrid sit third on 81 points. Note that if the season ends with all three teams level on points then Barcelona will be crowned champions as they have a better head-to-head record over the other two, Atletico Madrid will be second as they have a better head-to-head record over Real Madrid.
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