Football is making a comeback in Europe’s top leagues, and after the Bundesliga made a successful restart, La Liga is next in line.
The Primera and Segunda divisions have returned to full-contact training today for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic stopped football on March 12th.
Now that the rate of infection has slowed in Spain, league bosses announced that La Liga is set to resume on 11th June, opening with the Seville derby.
Officials hope the season will be finished by mid-July, dependant on how the spread of the virus evolves. There are 110 fixtures left to play, and with matches every day of the week, the season could conclude as early as the 19th.
Last week, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave the green light for elite sport to restart, and so the race for the title between Barcelona and Real Madrid is back on.
The Catalans are two points ahead and the La Liga 2020 betting odds back them for a third successive triumph. Meanwhile, Barca’s talisman Lionel Messi will return in pursuit of his 11th league title, and there is only one team which can stop him.
Los Blancos are fit and ready for the run-in
While Messi leads the race for the Golden Boot, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema has been carrying the scoring burden for his club on his own shoulders this season. He’s bagged 14 to keep Real’s title challenge alive, but help is on its way.
Real Madrid made the marquee signing of Eden Hazard last summer and he could well be fit again, having suffered an injury-plagued first season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
He hasn’t played since February but is confident of returning in two weeks time. And while Luis Suarez has also recovered from his knee operation to return alongside Messi at Barca, Hazard could make all the difference for Los Blancos.
The Bernabeu fans have only seen a glimpse of the Belgian’s talents, but if he can recapture his Premier League form, then they are in for a treat.
The Whites will have an even better chance if they can get a tune out of Gareth Bale. The Welshman has become increasingly unpopular in Madrid and he says he can’t understand why.
Well, he spent most of last summer trying to move to China, and he celebrated Wales’ qualification for Euro 2020 by displaying a banner which read ‘Wales, Golf, Madrid. In that Order’!
That may lead you to think he may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but there is a wonderful player in there, and if Los Blancos are to wrestle the title away from Catalonia, they need to be united and at full strength.
Who will call Saul?
Across the road at the Wanda Metropolitano, Atletico Madrid fans are not amused at the moment. Midfield ace Saul Niguez has hinted he’s on the way out, using Twitter to post that he will soon announce his new club. He’s been linked with a move to Manchester United for some time and all might become clear later this week.
The 25-year-old is a key player for Los Rojiblancos, playing 37 games this season and fans will be distraught if he leaves.
It’s not the first time they have had to watch a hero preempt a move through the media. Two years ago, Antoinne Griezmann produced a 30-minute monologue, aired on Spanish TV, musing whether he should stay at the club or leave.
If Saul is to leave, then the club has said it will be for 150m Euros, the figure stated in the release clause of his nine-year contract signed in 2017. If he is Premier League-bound, English fans know all about Saul, especially on Merseyside as he scored the goal which gave Atleti a lead over Liverpool in the Champions League.
The fact that he helped dump their local rivals out of Europe would make Saul very popular at Old Trafford!
Take your pick for relegation
There is going to be an almighty scrap for survival in La Liga over the next few weeks.
Any three teams from the bottom half of the league could go down.
With 11 games to go, the bottom three of Espanyol, Leganes and Mallorca all have plenty of time to escape, and any team up to Osasuna in 11th place could get dragged into the scuffle.
The La Liga 2020 results will start rolling back in within two weeks, so check out the SBOBET odds next week and prepare for a summer of football!
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