La Liga
Matchday 8
The eighth round of matches in the 2018/19 La Liga season is headlined by a clash between struggling Valencia and log leaders Barcelona, while Mubaraka Wakaso’s Deportivo Alaves will test themselves against Real Madrid.
The weekend’s action begins on Friday night at San Mames when Athletic Bilbao look to break a five-game winless streak in the league when they host a Real Sociedad side which has lost three of their last five outings.
The pick of the games on Saturday is Alaves at home to Real Madrid. Featuring Ghanaian winger Wakaso as a regular, the Babazorros have been one of the surprise packages of the Spanish top flight thus far. However, after picking up just one point from their last two outings, there is a sense that their early-season momentum is running out, and the visit of Los Blancos may be coming at just the wrong time for coach Abelardo and his team.
Saturday opens with Yassine Bounou and Seydou Doumbia’s Girona at home to Papakouli Diop’s Eibar, and also features Amath Ndiaye’s Getafe hosting Levante – who can call on Emmanuel Boateng, Moses Simon and Raphael Dwamena in their attack – at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, and Nabil El Zhar’s Leganes chasing their second win when they welcome Gael Kakuta’s Rayo Vallecano to Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Sunday’s action begins at midday with Real Valladolid at home to Huesca and is followed by the prospect of Thomas Partey coming up against Ryad Boudebouz in the midfield battle for Atletico Madrid v Real Betis at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.
Karl Toko Ekambi will look for another La Liga goal for Villarreal when they head to Espanyol, before Sevilla – who are on a four-game winning streak across all competitions and have scored a whopping 17 goals in the sequence – welcome Sofiane Boufal’s Celta de Vigo to Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The round wraps up on Sunday night with the marquee match between Valencia and Barcelona at Estadio de Mestalla. The hosts shrugged off a run of four winless games across all competitions when they defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 away from last week, with a goal from Kevin Gameiro.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have picked up just two points from the last nine up for grabs in La Liga. Last weekend they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao, needing a late equaliser from Munir El Haddadi – a Spanish-born forward of Moroccan descent.
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Key match stats:
Valencia v Barcelona – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 58
Valencia wins 12
Barcelona wins 31
Draws 15
Atletico Madrid v Real Betis – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 43
Atletico wins 19
Betis wins 11
Draws 13
Deportivo Alaves v Real Madrid – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 16
Alaves wins 1
Madrid wins 13
Draws 2
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