The upcoming week of La Liga football, is the last set of fixtures of the year, and as we look at the league standings, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are still at the top of the table each with 43 points, while Real Madrid with 38 are just knocking on their doors eagerly waiting to grab the top spot.
Could this be the week that Atletico claims the top spot? Or could Real Madrid rally enough points to make them much closer to the leaders? Here are the teams’ upcoming fixtures and their players that are certain to miss the match.
Up first is Atletico Madrid lead by Diego Costa. They will be up against Levante currently standing 11th at the table. For Atletico, there are no casualties that are certain to miss the match up. This could mean that they have the advantage over Levante for securing the three points. Levante would be missing the services of Aloys Nong with a hamstring injury in his left leg, which he suffered in a Copa Del Ray match. According to the club he would be out for three weeks with an expected return of early January.
Next on the list is La Liga giant FC Barcelona going up against Getafe FC. For the Catalan side, a lot would be out for the last match of the year. Attacking duo Neymar and Messi would not feature in the match because of a suspension and a hamstring injury respectively. Neymar received his 5thyellow card of the season in the previous match against Villareal, which automatically gave him a one game suspension. Also not available for Barca is goalkeeper Victor Valdes (calf injury), and young skipper Jonathan dos Santos (cruciate ligament injury) with expected returns of early January and late April respectively. Unlike the Catalan side, Levante only has one player in the side line which is Ciprian Marica with some stomach problems, but he is most likely to return in a few days.
Last up is Real Madrid visiting Valencia. Los Blancos would want to secure as many points as they can because they don’t want to see their league rivals and city rivals ahead of them in the table. Unfortunately, Sami Khedira won’t be able to help in this match or any other fixture as he is already ruled out for the season due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Indeed this would be an interesting weekend for La Liga. Atletico might finally claim the solo lead and put Barcelona in second place, as Real Madrid needs the three points to be in third.
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