Who goes down, who stays up, when will football in La Liga start up?
There’s three legitimate questions and there’s no definitive answer for any of them.
Except, I think I have one and, if you trust this SBOBET writer, you will consider the La Liga betting odds and tip the current bottom three to go down when football finally resumes.
With around a quarter of the season remaining, that may seem bold.
Yet I do not think any of those three can get themselves out of it.
In truth, any team from 15th place and below cannot consider themselves safe – that’s Real Valladolid, Eibar, Celta Vigo, and the three sides currently in the drop zone, Mallorca, Leganes and Espanyol.
Looking at the table, if the latter – six points from safety – seem a bit adrift, no-one can feel secure for sure.
Let’s take a closer look.
Real Valladolid have been a yo-yo club for the past 15 years and are about where most expected them to be. 16th last season, they should have enough to survive again.
Likewise Eibar, now enjoying top flight football for a sixth successive season, appear to possess the astuteness to maintain their place.
Of all the clubs I have mentioned, Celta Vigo are the surprise package with many used to them being at other end of the table.
Europa League semi-finalists three years ago, draws have been their problem this term with 11 drawn league matches of the 27 they had played when Covid-19 brought football to a halt.
However, with Iago Aspas in their ranks, they should have sufficient wriggle room and have already shown their ability to upset the top clubs.
So that leaves three sides.
For Mallorca, it’s been quite a whirlwind – in fact, since they were relegated in 2013 they have even spent a season in the third tier. They will probably slip away.
Equally, after two escapes and a respectable 13th position last term, I fully expect Leganes to lose their status this time around.
That Espanyol are bottom, after finishing seventh last season, thus returning to the Europa League for the first time since their final run in 2007, is a shock.
At Christmas, Abelardo Fernández became their third manager of the season and he has overseen an improvement to give them a fighting chance, winning three and drawing four of the matches under his stewardship.
Nine points separates the bottom six but some battles seem too much and Espanyol will have pulled off one of the great escapes if they survive from this position.
What about life at the other end of the table and La Liga generally?
Well there remains hope that a month from now (June 12), football can make a spectacular return in Spain with Sevilla v Betis.
To restart in such attractive fashion with a Seville derby in the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan would be something to look forward to.
It’s now accepted that there will be no fans in stadiums when, and if, football returns, but from a purely footballing perspective, such a matchup would do wonders to whet the appetite of fans across Spain.
Perhaps the oddest thing for me this week was the sight of Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane donning a mask. It was a shock and showed that even those regarded as superhumans on the football pitch are susceptible to this virus.
Yet the fact that Madrid first-team players are back at Valdebebas, since the return to the facility was authorised, is a sign that perhaps June 12 is a realistic date for when competitive action can get back underway.
Once again, the players trained while maintaining a safe distance and they followed the La Liga protocols.
Across the city, Atletico Madid – involved in the last major match in Europe before the lockdown – have completed a number of training sessions after returning to work last Saturday.
Oscar ‘Profe’ Ortega and the rest of the coaching staff oversaw the players working out individually. Although they are yet to be allowed to work in groups, players are gradually returning to normality by training on the pitches at Atletico’s training complex.
After two months of having to train within the confines of their own homes, without the ball and without doing anything collectively, Atletico understand that the return to training should be treated like the measures used during pre-season in the summer.
As such, Los Rojiblancos’ players are having medical checks to check that everything is in optimal condition.
And what of the champions, Barcelona, who are two points clear of Real at the top of the table with 11 rounds of matches remaining.
Well, they have returned to training too, even if star defender Gerard Pique thinks it’s a little premature to be going at the “speed of a plane.”
As part of the four-phase plan to lift the country’s stringent lockdown, the centre-back has been vocal in claiming that a June 12 return date could be too ambitious, as he feels players need more time to get back to full fitness.
In contrast, La Liga president Javier Tebas insists coronavirus tests will mean “practically zero” risk to players during games, even if the league confirmed on Sunday that five players had tested positive across Spain’s top two divisions.
Either way, training has resumed and the chances of playing matches behind closed doors appear to increase as cases reduce in what was one of the worst hit countries in Europe.
Tebas believes Spain’s second division will restart at the same time and that national competitions would need to be completed by 31 July, with European competitions finished in August.
Realistic? Just maybe it is!
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