Football
Sid Lowe, Spain writer 7y

Valencia vs. Barca, Sevilla vs. Atletico, Real vs. Bilbao: La Liga's big weekend

Between them, they have won the last 16 league titles and 80 of the 85 in Spanish football history. They account for the last 10 Copa del Rey winners and 18 of the last 20 finalists, only Getafe getting in there with them eight long years ago. They have won the last three Champions Leagues and the last three Europa League too. In fact, they account for five of the last six Champions League finalists as well five of the last seven and eight of the last thirteen UEFA Cup/Europa League winners. Five of them make up the top six, separated by just three points.

And this weekend they play each other. Oh, and there's a Galician derby, too.

Valencia vs. Barcelona, Sevilla vs. Atlético, Real Madrid vs. Athletic. In the middle of it all, Celta de Vigo versus Deportivo de La Coruna, plus even an intriguing clash in Guipúzcoa, where Alaves and Real Sociedad play. It's some weekend in Spain, that's for sure.

Last time out, those first six sides scored two, six, three, seven, six and three goals respectively and all of them won, but this is different; something has to give. Somehow, they will emerge from Sunday as changed teams with shifting expectations; unless they all draw, the table will reflect that too. There's got to be a break of some sort. Even beyond results, there has to be: this is a week to condition what comes next and to define it too. "It's going to be a test of where we really are: this weekend will show us," Sevilla striker Luciano Vietto said, pretty much speaking for them all.

Atlético, in first place, go to third-place Sevilla. Barcelona, in fourth, go to Mestalla. And Real Madrid, who are level with Atlético on points in second, face sixth-placed Athletic at the Bernabéu: this is becoming the most repeated league game of all between two of only three sides to have spent their entire history in primera.

Valencia vs. Barcelona, Saturday

If Valencia looked like they don't entirely fit this "Super Saturday and Super Sunday" stuff, they still do. Champions in 2002 and 2004, they were 12th last season but top six in six of the previous seven years. Last weekend, they defeated Sporting Gijón to pull themselves out of the relegation zone and afterwards the manager, taking charge for his first game, was asked if they could claim a Champions League place. If Cesare Prandelli didn't know they were demanding, he does now.

"I came for the challenge," he said, which is probably a good job. The first may well be to keep a clean sheet -- the last time Valencia did that was in April. That was the last time Barcelona failed to score too. But this won't be easy, Barcelona know.

Valencia started last season with Nuno in charge; he never got to face Barcelona but others did: three different managers took charge against Luis Enrique's side. Well, four. There was a 7-0 defeat in the Copa del Rey that marked Gary Neville's spell at the club but in the league, it finished 1-1 at Mestalla under the aptly named Salvador "Saviour" Voro, the greatest manager they have ever had but wished they'd never had, and Gary's brother Phil. And then, at the Camp Nou under Pako Ayesteran, Valencia defeated Barcelona 2-1. Now it's Prandelli's turn: his first game in charge at Mestalla.

"They're the strongest team in the world, but our moment will come," he said. "If we're united, anything can happen," Nani insisted.

Another note: the game's on Saturday afternoon. "We'd have preferred more rest," admitted Sergio Busquets after Wednesday night's Champions League win against Manchester City. They would certainly have preferred not to be without Gerard Piqué, the league's (and perhaps Europe's) best defender over the past two years, who suffered a sprained ankle against City. He will miss trips to Mestalla, Manchester and Sevilla and his absence will be felt. He won't be the only one missing this weekend: Jordi Alba will be out for a fortnight and it's unlikely that Luis Enrique will leave his midfield untouched. He virtually never does. Andres Iniesta in particular tends to be protected, almost never playing three in a row.

His forward line is another matter, which would mean Messi starts after his hat-trick against City. Paco Alcacer, who produced a hat-trick of missed sitters last weekend from a combined distance of about eight yards, will have to listen to Mestalla whistling him from the bench. Suárez, who just picked up his second Golden Shoe, is top scorer but he didn't get any in midweek. Messi, on the other hand did. "My son asked why I didn't score, but his neighbour got three so he's happy," Suárez said.

Real Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao, Sunday

After four draws in a row, Madrid's response against Betis pleased Zidane. Isco returned and scored twice; in midweek, it was Asensio was returned and he did too. The variety Madrid have is extraordinary -- they've had 14 different goalscorers in La Liga already this season -- but the Betis game also helped to underlined that while the focus quite naturally fell on the absence of injured Casemiro, Marcelo mattered too, probably more than people realised. Arriving from deeper, he is a skilful full-back who doesn't just travel the usual outside track up the line but can come in as well. His unpredictability gives Madrid something that, even with all that talent, they lack without him.

Madrid have now scored 11 goals in their last two games and are unbeaten this season, but that four-game winless run still lingers, particularly as two of them were at home (against Villarreal and Eibar) and there's still a sense that they still don't have a clear pattern or identity.

Meanwhile their opponents impressed in beating Real Sociedad in the Basque derby last weekend, with a goal each for long, lost Iker Muniain and Aritz Aduriz and Inaki Williams. They've recovered from a doubtful start to rack up four wins in a row, including a 3-1 victory over Sevilla (the only side to beat them). But if Aduriz is not fully fit, they will miss him as much as any club anywhere missed any player anywhere, and they were badly beaten on Thursday night.

"We cannot lose like this," Raúl García said after the 2-0 defeat at Genk. "We were no good in defence, no good in attack and when you don't do things well, this happens."

Sevilla vs. Atlético, Sunday

Then there's the Pizjuán. There's something about Sevilla and Atlético, this time more than ever. The Pizjuán will be packed and noisy, too.

Just one point separates these two teams, both of whom achieved narrow victories in midweek that really shouldn't have been so narrow at all, while Sevilla won away last week. So what? After all, it was against Leganés, the side who have never, ever won a first division game at home. But it was also their first away win in over a year and while Jorge Sampaoli rightly insisted that the run was inherited and that his team's away record was not so bad (two draws and a defeat since he arrived in the summer), it played on their minds. "It's natural that players start to fear that they will never win away again," he said.

But then here's the thing: if a team can go an entire season without winning away and still finish seventh, despite effectively giving up on the league as they focused on Europe, if they can go abroad six times in Europe and win none of them but still end the season as Europa League champions, it can only mean one thing: they might be bad away but they're pretty damn good at home. They have won four out if four so far this season in Seville, although the truth is that they have not always convinced.

Of the four victories, three were by a single goal and two of them with last-minute winners, against Las Palmas and Alavés. But there is talent, and a lot of it, even if it is not yet clear exactly which talented players will start. "We're still getting to know each other and we've relied a bit on individual moments," Vietto admits.

Embracing Sampaoli's style is one thing; perfecting it is another. "This is a process," he admits, "but it helps to have good results in the meantime."

It certainly does. Not only that, but there are glimpses of them gaining the control that has evaded them. Especially from Samir Nasri, drifting deeper and ever more in contact with the ball. "When he has the ball, the team breathes," Sampaoli said last week after they beat Leganés. On Wednesday night, the Frenchman set a new Champions League record for the number of touches in a game.

"I knew I would be flying in Spain," he said in Leganés; after the victory in Zagreb he insisted that he has always preferred to be a pivote, the piece upon which the team hinges, a deep playmaker. Nasri never wanted to be a winger, anyway.

Sevilla have lost just once and are unbeaten at home. But then the team facing them are Atlético Madrid. This Atletico Madrid. And that Atlético Madrid, too. The side that has conceded just three all season -- just like they always did, only better -- and the side that, more offensive than ever before, stung by that stunted start to the season in which they got a single point from two games, is also scoring more than ever before.

With Koke inside, not out, a central midfielder at last. With Yannick Carrasco and Angel Correa outside, not on the bench, and with Kevin Gameiro zooming past defenders. With Filipe Luis flying. And, of course, with Antoine Griezmann everywhere and everything.

With all of that, Atlético are no longer just the best defensive team in Spain; they may also be the best team, full stop. And that's who Sevilla face.

"This weekend will show us where we are and how far we can really go," Vietto said.

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