Idman.biz
An unusual situation has arisen in the Spanish La Liga: although the championship calendar is officially in the XV round, two matches of the XIX round will be held now.
According to Idman.Biz, the reason is simple - "Barcelona", "Atletico", "Athletic" and Madrid "Real" will participate in the Spanish Super Cup in January, so the games of these teams were removed from the calendar in advance.
This makes the upcoming meetings especially interesting: they already affect the tournament table, although the situation of the teams will have completely changed by January. These matches can also be considered as a kind of "training" on the eve of the Super Cup.
"Barcelona" - "Atletico" (December 2, 23:59 Baku time)
After the XIV round, "Barcelona" rose to the lead with 34 points and took advantage of "Real"'s loss of points. "Atletico" is in fourth place with 31 points. The Catalans have a serious personnel problem: ter Stegen, Araujo, Gavi and Fermin Lopes are injured - this has seriously affected both defense and midfield. Marcos Llorente will not be able to play for "Atletico", and Robin Le Norman's participation is questionable.
Hansi Flick admitted at the press conference that there are ups and downs in the team's game and emphasized the importance of achieving stability, especially in defense. He called the upcoming match a chance to strengthen the lead.
Diego Simeone, on the contrary, showered a lot of praise on "Barcelona", especially noting the team's "incredible attack" and strong individual qualities. At the same time, he emphasized that "Atletico" is in good shape and will try to "direct the game in a way that suits them."
"Athletic" - "Real" (December 3, 22:00 Baku time)
Last weekend, Xabi Alonso's team lost the lead by drawing (1:1) with "Girona", one of the outsiders. This is the third consecutive draw for the Madrid team and shows that the team is not in ideal form. "Athletic", "Garabagh"'s former opponent, is in eighth place with 20 points and is strong enough to compete with any grand.
There is good news for the Basques regarding the squad: Galarreta and Laporte are ready for the game, while Yuri's condition is uncertain.
In "Real", the defense line is also gradually recovering - Rudiger and Militao have returned to training. However, the Spanish media reports that the team is still experiencing a squad depth problem. This is even more noticeable against the background of a busy game schedule and consecutive trips.
Xabi Alonso emphasizes that the team is united in its goal and intends to fight for all titles until the end of the season. After the game with "Girona", he admitted that "Real" lacked precision in the realization of episodes and noted the importance of the team returning to a winning streak.
Teymur Tushiyev
