Sevilla and Celta, now led by Claudio Giráldez, face their needs
Las Palmas receives bottom team Almería, with Pepe Mel on the bench
MADRID, 16 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Betis seeks this Sunday against a worried Rayo in Vallecas (6:30 p.m.), in the twenty-ninth matchday of LaLiga EA Sports, to get closer to European positions, which Valencia also aspires to enter, which visits a Villarreal injured by its continental elimination (4:15 p.m.), while Sevilla and Celta, the latter with Claudio Giráldez on the bench, face their needs (2:00 p.m.) and Las Palmas hopes to break their losing streak against bottom team Almería (4:15 p.m.), where Pepe makes his debut Mel.
The two consecutive defeats against Atlético de Madrid (2-1) and, above all, against Villarreal (2-3) the previous day displaced the Betic team from sixth place, where it had been installed for weeks and which now holds the Real society.
Even so, with 42 points, they are four behind the San Sebastian team – who have one more game -, but with Valencia (40) and other teams such as UD Las Palmas (37) and Osasuna (36) attentive to any setback to try to get on the European train.
Meanwhile, Rayo Vallecano still has not won since the arrival of Iñigo Pérez. In fact, the team has already gone nine league games without winning -six defeats and three draws-, four with the Navarrese coach on the bench, and the outlook is increasingly darker.
The relegation places are only four units below the 26 that the Madrid team has, which last week aggravated its crisis by falling in Mendizorrotza (1-0) against a, a priori, direct rival like Deportivo Alavés. Diego Méndez will be the only certain absence in the local team, with Álvaro García in doubt.
For his part, the Betis coach, Manuel Pellegrini, will recover a key player like Isco for the duel; The injured Youssouf Sabaly, Héctor Bellerín, Cédric Bakambu, Marc Roca, Marc Bartra and the suspended ‘Chimy’ Ávila, sent off against Villarreal, will not be safe.
Precisely, the Castellón players also play this Sunday, in which they will try to hold on to that league victory against the Verdiblancos and leave behind their tough elimination from the Europa League against Olympique de Marseille, against whom they were about to come back from 4-0 in the trip to French lands. Goals from Capoue, Sörloth and Mosquera gave hope to Marcelino García Toral’s team, but Clauss’ goal in added time put an end to it (3-1).
Now out of continental competition, the ‘Yellow Submarine’ must focus on LaLiga, where, with 35 points, they are 11 away from sixth place thanks to a streak of eight consecutive scoring days and three consecutive wins against Real Sociedad (1-3) , Granada (5-1) and Betis (2-3).
Much closer to the privileged zone, six points away, is Valencia (40), who wants to take advantage of the Valencian Community derby to strengthen their European objective. In recent weeks, they solved their matches against Sevilla (0-0) and Real Madrid (2-2) with draws and beat Getafe (1-0) last weekend.
The ‘groguet’ team will miss Alberto Moreno, due to suspension, and Raúl Albiol, Yeremy Pino, Denis Suárez, Alfonso Pedraza and Ramón Terrats, due to injury, while Pepe Reina, Juan Foyth and Eric Bailly are doubtful due to discomfort. The ‘che’ team, for its part, will not be able to count on the long-term injured Mouctar Diakhaby or Hugo Guillamón, due to an accumulation of warnings.
At the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Sevilla FC and RC Celta, both involved in the fight to avoid relegation, are looking for a victory that will allow them to avoid problems. The Nervionenses, who after visiting the Bernabéu beat Real Sociedad (3-2) but did not go beyond a draw against bottom team Almería (2-2), aspire to find consistency.
With the help of Quique Sánchez Flores, the Sevilla team managed to move away from the danger zone, now six points below their 28. Without the injured Loïc Badé, the team will be able to have Juanlu Sánchez and Youssef En-Nesyri, who has I have overcome the discomfort I felt since the game against the Almeria team.
The Galicians, for their part, have a new coach, Claudio Giráldez, after the dismissal of Rafa Benítez a few days after the defeat suffered against the leader Real Madrid (4-0). They have only won one game in the last five in the domestic competition, and with 24 points they mark salvation with only two points ahead of Cádiz.
The Porriñés coach will regret the absences of the injured Renato Tapia, Carlos Dotor, Joseph Aidoo and Mihailo Ristic and Williot Swedberg, who have been joined by Luca de la Torre, who was injured during training on Saturday.
Finally, Las Palmas receives bottom team Almería at the Gran Canaria Stadium with the aim of taking another step in its aspirations, all despite its recent poor results, with four consecutive games without winning -two defeats and two draws-. With 37 points, the yellow team has sixth place at nine.
Up front, the Andalusians have entrusted themselves to Pepe Mel after dismissing Gaizka Garitano, all with the aim of adding their first victory of the championship and staying alive in the fight for permanence. However, the safety spots are far away, 14 points above their 10.
Saúl Coco, due to an accumulation of cards, and Cristian Herrera and Daley Sinkgraven will miss the duel in the Canarian team, while in Almería Édgar González and Dion Lopy will not be available, after both seeing the fifth yellow, nor the injured Luis Suárez, and Ibrahima Kone is a doubt.
–SUNDAY PROGRAM AT LALIGA EA SPORTS.
Seville – Celta. Hernández Maeso (C.Extremeño) 14.00.
Las Palmas – Almeria. García Verdura (Catalan) 16.15.
Villarreal – Valencia. Figueroa Vázquez (C.Andaluz) 16.15.
Rayo Vallecano – Betis. Pulido Santana (C.Las Palmas) 18.30.
Atlético – Barcelona. Sánchez Martínez (C.Murciano) 21.00.