MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Girona FC will visit Getafe CF this Saturday (6:30 p.m.) with the aim of achieving a victory that will allow them to continue putting pressure on the leader Real Madrid and finish matchday 29 in second position, while Athletic Club will face off in San Mamés Deportivo Alavés (9:00 p.m.) in a Basque derby that, if resolved with a local victory, would help the rojiblancos take fourth place.
Girona will face that match at the Coliseum with the need to once again show a competitive image at home, the great Achilles heel of Míchel Sánchez’s team since the year 2024 began. And the fact is that the Girona team has only achieved one victory in their last five league games away from Montilivi, stringing together three defeats in the last three.
Furthermore, the Coliseum test aims to be one of the most complicated in the remainder of the season, since José Bordalás’ team has only lost one game at home since the coach took charge of the bench in the final stretch of last season. season; It was against Real Madrid, not counting the defeat against Rayo because Getafe played at home at the Metropolitano. Added to this is that, in the three games that both teams have played in the First Division, none of them ended in a visitor victory, with two losing for the local side and another in a draw.
A Getafe whose results in recent days have only added two of the last 12 points at stake, has left them in a bit of no man’s land in the standings, being seven points behind the seventh position occupied by Betis, which could give access to the Conference League in the event that Athletic Club won the Copa del Rey. Furthermore, added to the poor streak of results is the terrible news that their best player and top scorer this season, Borja Mayoral, will be in dry dock for the remainder of the season.
In addition, Míchel will not be able to count on the injured Tsygankov, David López and Yangel Herrera, so Portu and Juanpe are targeted as starters. For his part, Bordalás has the entire squad available with the exception of the aforementioned, Borja Mayoral, and Arambarri, with Latasa being the main candidate to replace the Spanish forward in the eleven.
On the other hand, in San Mamés, Athletic and Alavés will face each other in a derby in which the rojiblancos could place themselves in fourth position in LaLiga EA Sports, at least momentarily. To do this, Ernesto Valverde’s men need to win, a common result in front of his fans this season, since he has won seven of his last eight league games and has gone 16 games without losing in front of his fans.
Thus, the ‘lions’ have not lost a derby in San Mamés against Alavés since 2005. Since then, the balance is four wins and three draws. And if they beat the babazorro team, they would achieve their sixth consecutive victory at home in a Basque derby, a regional duel in which they have not been defeated at home since December 2020.
For its part, Alavés will arrive at San Mamés without the requirement of classification, since with 32 points with 10 days remaining they are 10 points above the relegation places. Despite this, Luis García’s men want to achieve the 40 points as soon as possible that would virtually mean salvation, and to do so they need to achieve an away victory that has eluded them in their last two away games, in which they lost against Osasuna at El Sadar (1-0) and tied against Betis at Villamarín (0-0).
In the casualties section, Valverde recovers Ander Herrera, although he will not be able to count on the suspended Aitor Paredes, for whom Yeray would enter the eleven, nor Yuri Berchiche, who would be replaced by Lekue in the left-handed lane. In the Vitorian team, Luis García will have the entire squad at his disposal with the exception of the long-term injured Aleksandar Sedlar.
Finally, Mallorca will open Saturday’s matchday by hosting a needy Granada in Son Moix (2:00 p.m.), in what will be the penultimate test for Javier Aguirre’s team before facing the Copa del Rey final against Athletic. A duel in which the Balearic Islands need to score points if they do not want to be pressured by the teams fighting to avoid relegation, from which they could end the day separated by only two points.
His rival will experience one of the 10 finals in Mallorca that he needs to win if he wants to at least have some chance of saving the category. However, the results obtained throughout the season away from Los Cármenes are not very encouraging, where he has only added two of the 39 possible points, not achieving any victory in the League since his return to the First Division. Of course, in Granada’s favor are their good results in Mallorca, where they have not lost in their last five visits, in which they have emerged victorious in three of them.
Aguirre will not be able to count on the suspended Samu Costa, for whom Antonio Sánchez would enter the eleven, nor with the injured Valjent. For his part, ‘Cacique’ Medina will have at his disposal Uzuni, who has finally recovered from an eye contusion, although he loses Sergio Ruiz, who is in the yellow season.
–PROGRAM FOR DAY 29 IN LALIGA EA SPORTS.
-Saturday 16.
Mallorca – Granada. From Burgos Bengoechea (C.Vasco) 14.00.
Osasuna – Real Madrid. Martínez Munuera (C.Valenciano) 16.15.
Getafe – Girona. Munuera Montero (C. Andaluz) 18.30.
Athletic Club – Alavés. Muñiz Ruiz (C. Gallego) 21.00.