Liga fixtures tonight

comment by United_Mike (U1170)
posted 5 minutes ago
Really think goal difference is a better way to decide a league than head to head records.

The whole point of a league table is to decide who has been the best team over the full season.
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Think there are positives and negatives to both. Smashing a couple of teams with nothing to play for in the last couple of games could win a tied title race, for example.

Think if the top two teams are level on points at the end of the season then they should have a one off game. Head to head or goal difference - neither is the perfect way to decide who is champion.

Tonight's opponents:

Even though Deportivo are in no-man's land on 38 points, 9 clear of relegation, they've been uncomfortable opponents for Barça recently, having drawn their last 2 meetings, both 2-2 at the Camp Nou. However, they haven't beaten the Catalans at Riazor since 2008, and haven't even scraped a point since 2009.

Madrid's visitors Villarreal currently sit 4th in the race for the final CL berth (60 points), with a 6-point cushion, precisely over Athletic Bilbao, who host Atlético.

Earlier this season, Villarreal beat Madrid 1-0 at El Madrigal, and managed a 1-1 draw last season at th Bernabéu.

Bilbao is generally regarded as a tough place fo the tops teams to visit, but Athletic have only beaten Atlético once and drawn once in their 9 meetings (all comps) since their 3-0 defeat in the 2012 Europa League final. Their home record this season reads 9-4-3, including narrow losses to Madrid (1-2) and Barça (0-1).

No Bobby, 38 games, same as the PL.

Harlequin, I still make Barça favourites. As much as their confidence must have been badly shaken in the past few weeks, they've got what looks like the easiest run in out of the 3 and can now focus solely on La Liga.

Mike, I agree with DJ, there are arguments both for and against.

DJ, any idea whether they still play tie-breakers in Italy when teams are drawn on points at the end of the season? I know they used to do it, at least until fairly recently.

No mate.

Thanks Admin
DJ

Harlequin, predos? Here's what I wrote a couple of days ago on La Liga thread. (Feels like I'm spamming my own article )



"So, who does everyone think is going to win La Liga?

Suddenly, none of Barça's games look as easy as they did a few weeks ago, but they remain clear favourites for me: still top of the table, h2h advantage in any two- or three-way tie and no CL distractions, and to cap it all, what looks like the most straightforward run-in:
Depor away (their season all but done and dusted)
Home to Sporting - in a relegation battle, but have won once only since the two teams last met.
Away to Betis - another side with little to nothing to play for
Home vs Espanyol - possibly the toughest game left; Espanyol would just love to ruin Barça's title hopes, much more so after the bad blood created in this season's league and cup fixtures
Granada away - te Andalusians might be relegted, safe or battling relegation. Any which way, I doubt they'd be able to stand in Barça's way if it all boiled down to this game for the title


Atleti:
tough trip to Bilbao on Wednesday, but looking easier thereafter:
Malaga home - have caused the big teams the occasional upset, but don't appear to have much at stake
Rayo home - in theory can beat anyone on their day, but 9 times out of 10 aginst the big boys they just beat themselves - with a particularly large stick
Levante away - fighting to stay up, they might prove a toughie, but you'd imagine Atleti's disciplined approach will handle them with relative ease.
Finally, home to Celta. May depend on what the latter have at stake - they may still be involved in a fight for the European spoils. If they are, it could be a real cliffhanger. Worth remembering Celta already shocked Atleti at the Calderón in the cup this year.
CL distraction, perhaps not so bad, with their Bayern fixtures sandwiched between the home games vs Malaga and Rayo and the game away to Levante.

Madrid clearly seem to have the trickiest run in of all.
First up, home to a competent Villarreal intent on nailing down 4th as soon as possible.
Away to Rayo - 3 points in their trip to Vallecas before flying out to Manchester should be made easy by Rayo's defence
Away to Real Sociedad - the journey up to Anoeta is traditionally one of the toughtest for Spain's big two. Just ask Barça
Home vs Valencia - would've seemed nailed on a week or two ago, but with GNev's good work finally paying off there, they could turn out to be the unexpected judgs of the league.
Also, the CL semi second leg is bang in the middle of those two games.
Away to Deportivo to finih the season. Formerly an impossible ground for them but a fixture that nowadays should not stand in the way of a potential Liga title if it came to it.

In short, whoever's top going into the final game should lift the title, with Barça the most likely to do so."

ioag

Just realized today that we could actually scrap a top 8 finish. Still unsure whether we could get a Europa spot if we did though. Any info on that

Haven't checked, but I don't think 8th can get EL, Wump.

If I'm not mistaken, EL berths are for 5th & 6th in the league plus the Copa del Rey winner. I'm not sure who the cup berth goes to if the Copa champion also qualifies for the CL (or EL) via the league, but either way, only 7th in La Liga would be high enough to get it.

Again, if I'm not mistaken, if we have 5 CL teams we lose the EL berth the 5th CL side might have otherwise held.

Our only original entrants this year were Athletic and Villarreal. Sevilla and Valencia were both bumped down from the CL.

Yes, if a nation has 5 in the CL it only has 2 in the EL.

Barca 1 up.

oh okay, seems like we're fecked then