As the football world comes to terms with the news that Luis Enrique is set to leave Barcelona at the end of the season, La Liga action returns to our screens once again starting with Real Sociedad’s trip to Real Betis on Friday evening. The team from San Sebastian will be looking to return to winning ways against a Betis side who have won just once in their previous 8 matches. This run included notable home draws against Barcelona and Valencia.
It has been 20 years since Johan Cruyff left Barcelona, and the ten managers since him have all come and gone with varying degrees of success, from Van Gaal to Rijkaard to Guardiola. Saturday sees Celta Vigo travel to the Nou Camp in what will be Barca’s first game since Enrique’s announcement. He has cited fatigue as his reason for stepping down saying: “The reason is I my work is my life and it gives me little time to rest. I’ll need a rest and that’s the main reason. I’d like to thank the Club for the confidence they’ve shown in me over my time here.”
We have seen previously with the likes of Manuel Pellegrini (Man City), Mark Warburton (Brentford), Alex McLeish and Walter Smith (both Rangers) announcing mid-season that they will leave their respective clubs at the end of the season and how league form then suffers as a result. The timing is certainly questionable, with all the talk now of a replacement rather than what should be another title push for a manager who won the Treble in his first season in charge.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Zinedine Zidane and his Real Madrid chargers play host to Eibar, as they look to heap even more pressure on Luis Enrique. Los Blancos are currently 1 point behind Barcelona and have played one match fewer. They are in fine goal-scoring form having netted 18 goals in their last 7 games in the league and will be looking to build on that momentum ahead of the Clasico on April 23
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Sunday sees what is set to be the game of the weekend as two strong teams go head-to-head when Atletico Madrid take on Valencia. Both teams have had a mixed season but will look to this game to restore some much needed pride. Later on, Bilbao and Malaga will also clash horns in another highly anticipated clash.
Sevilla will be looking to build on a run of four straight victories when the final game of the weekend kicks off on Monday night as they make their way to 11
th placed Alaves.
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