LaLiga closes the first round with Real Madrid leading and between contagions

Madrid, Dec 30 (EFE) .- LaLiga Santander closes its first round this weekend with a large part of the teams depleted by the massive contagion of covid, with a reduction of capacity again to 75% and with Real Madrid in everything high to be crowned winter champion.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team, which already played the game before Christmas and the advance of matchday 21 with Athletic with casualties due to the pandemic, recovers several troops, but loses others such as the Brazilian Vinicius and the goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to visit the Getafe.

With one game more than the rest, the whites score 8 points from Sevilla, which is second, 13 from Betis, third, and 16 from Rayo Vallecano, fourth. Atlético de Madrid and Real Sociedad appear next in the table with 29 points, 17 ahead, followed by Barcelona and Valencia with 28, an unimaginable distance in other seasons at this stage of the championship.

With that advantage and despite the fact that the draw with Cádiz (0-0) ended a streak of ten consecutive victories, the whites, now with one more game after winning (1-2) the advance of the day 21 with the Ahtletic visit a rival who has just come out of relegation.

The team of Quique Sánchez Flores, once a Madrid player, receives them after defeating Osasuna in his last match; with what he left the red zone after 16 days and extended his streak of games to five without losing.

The azulones add 15 points, the same as Elche and Alavés, which is the one that opens the descent, where Cádiz and Levante are.

Sevilla, who added their 13th victory by defeating Atlético (2-1) and then drew with Barça (1-1) in the postponement of Matchday 4, will travel with second place assured to Cádiz, where the team from Álvaro Cervera has not yet won and is beginning to be in a borderline situation.

Third place will be at stake in the Betis-Celta and Atlético de Madrid-Rayo Vallecano matches, with the obligation to react for the reigning champion, the Argentine team of Diego Pablo Simeone, who has just completed ten years on the rojiblanco bench.

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After falling in Seville and also against Real Madrid and Mallorca, the Atléticos have conceded three consecutive defeats in the League for the first time since 2011.

The rojiblancos will face Rayo, who will defend their privileged “Champions” place months after returning to the First Division and who can boast of remaining undefeated in their stadium after beating Alavés a week ago and sentencing Javi Calleja.

Chilean Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis is the one who will defend his third position, with the endorsement of his results at home, where he has only lost two games, against a rival like Celta, who has had to use the subsidiary to prepare the duel and that is 13 points behind the Sevillians.

In competition for the other European places, Real Sociedad will visit Alavés, Barcelona will visit Mallorca, Valencia will host Espanyol and Villarreal will host Levante.

The Reale Arena clash will also mean the return of José Luis Mendilibar to the First benches as a replacement for Javi Calleja, who was dismissed after the defeat against Rayo (2-0) with which the team is in relegation positions, with 15 points, like Elche and Getafe, but these are permanent.

The donostiarras seek to change a dynamic that has made them add only one point out of the last 15 possible and fall to sixth place after being leaders.

Barcelona, ​​very affected by the number of casualties, will try to maintain in Mallorca the course it is trying to channel and that it achieved in part on the last day with a victory against Elche (3-2). In front of him will have the team of Luis García Plaza, which boasts of effectiveness at home. He has only lost one game and has a margin of 5 points away (20) with the dangerous positions.

Valencia and Espanyol will play tomorrow the only game ahead of the New Year’s Eve date, to which José Bordalás’s men arrive with recent infections after beating Levante (3-4) and Vicente Moreno’s team after falling in Vigo (3-4). 1) and still without winning at home.

Villarreal, who successfully beat Real Sociedad (1-3) in a great game by Gerard Moreno, awaits Levante, with Roberto Soldado sanctioned in addition to other casualties. The Valencian team continues without adding a victory, each time more sunk in the table, bottom, 6 points behind Cádiz that precedes it.

With weight also in the lower part, Elche-GranadaElche-Granada and Osasuna-Athletic will be played.

Those of Marcelino had found themselves with the victory after eight days in the last by beating Betis, after five draws and three defeats, but they stumbled again in the advance against Real Madrid, and Osasuna still has not won at home . The Navarrese could not with Getafe. They have a margin in the middle of the table (22 points), but they have nine games without adding the three points, with five draws and four defeats.

At Martínez Valero, Elche is playing more than three points, due to the triple draw with Getafe and Alavés and the descent on the prowl, where Granada will appear in clear progression, seven points from relegation after beating Mallorca (4-1 ) with a triplet by Jorge Molina, the oldest who has achieved it in the Spanish League.

== LaLiga Santander (matchday 19)

. Friday, Dec 31

16.15 Valencia-Spanish

. Sunday, Jan 2

14.00 Getafe-Real Madrid

16.15 Atlético de Madrid-Rayo Vallecano

16.15 Elche-Granada

18.30 Alavés-Real Sociedad

18.30 Betis-Celta de Vigo

21.00 Mallorca-Barcelona

. Monday 3-Jan

19.00 Villarreal-Levante

21.00 Osasuna-Athletic Club

21.15 Cádiz-Seville.

(c) EFE Agency

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