MADRID, March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Rayo Vallecano and CA Osasuna will seek this Saturday to take a giant step towards permanence that entails consolidating the European dream in their respective visits to two needy rivals such as Celta and Valencia, while at the Martínez Valero Stadium there will be a tense duel direct between Elche and Valladolid, in matches corresponding to the twenty-fifth day of LaLiga Santander 2022-2023.
At the Balaídos Stadium (6:30 p.m.), Celta will try to take advantage of Rayo Vallecano’s irregular moment to add three important points that will allow them to distance themselves from the relegation zone of the table.
The Galician team added a valuable point last Monday at El Sadar to reach 28, but only three above the ‘cut’ currently set by UD Almería, so they know they should not fail at home against a much stronger rival. calm thanks to its 35 points.
Those of Carlos Carvalhal are little by little more solid, but they need more victories to avoid difficulties in their objective of permanence. In Balaídos they have only managed four this season, two in their last three home games, against Athletic Club (1-0) and Valladolid (3-0), a good example of improvement, especially defensively.
For its part, Andoni Iraola’s team arrives in Vigo with the mission of adding in search of closing as soon as possible the primary objective of permanence, which has five points, although right now it has two points for sixth place that gives place to the Conference League.
However, the franjirrojos are not in a good moment of results and at an offensive level, since, after a goalless draw at home against Athletic Club, they accumulate four games without winning and only two goals scored, although with only one defeat to their credit , suffered in the Nuevo Mirandilla de Cádiz (1-0).
Due to suspension, Carvalhal will not be able to count on captain Hugo Mallo, who will be honored for his 300 games as a ‘celeste’, nor on midfielder Renato Tapia, nor on Óscar Mingueza due to injury, so Kevin would be the right-back, while Iraola He has all his players available and recovers central Catena for his eleven, sanctioned last weekend.
MESTALLA LIVES ANOTHER FINAL
In Mestalla (9:00 p.m.), Valencia will try to become strong again to try to get out of some relegation places in which they are immersed after their defeat at the Spotify Camp Nou, although they will face an always dangerous Osasuna at home and with less emergencies.
The ‘che’ team competed against the leader, before whom they fell by the minimum, a result that left them penultimate in place with 23 points and again with a burden that they will have to handle well against the ‘rojillos’, eighth with 34 points and who want to close salvation as soon as possible to focus all their efforts on the Copa del Rey.
Rubén Baraja’s hand seems to be noticing something in the Valencian players, somewhat better defensively, but they are still quite denied in front of goal, missing Edinson Cavani, who will be out again. Thus, in his last seven league games, two goals have been scored, one of them an own goal and which gave him the necessary victory against Real Sociedad in his last game at home.
Valencia, with the city immersed in Las Fallas, hopes to repeat this victory against Jagoba Arrasate’s team, lately very solid at home since they have accumulated six outings without losing and conceding very little. Only in his last game as a visitor did he receive more than one goal, but that did not prevent him from winning 2-3 at another difficult fiefdom like Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, a warning for his rival.
The ‘rojillos’ have in favor that they have less ‘pressure’, which makes them more dangerous, and they arrive in the capital of Turia after chaining, Cup included, three games without losing and with the hope of scratching at a good level at not having had a game during the week. In addition, they won on their last visit to Mestalla (1-2).
Baraja has the good news of the return of captain José Luis Gayá and midfielder Nico González, out for all of 2023, while Arrasate recovers Rubén García and does not foresee major changes in his most usual eleven.
VITAL DIRECT DUEL AT MARTÍNEZ VALERO
Finally, at the Estadio Martínez Valero (4:15 p.m.), they will face off in a direct duel between Elche, bottom with 12 points, and Valladolid, fourteenth with 27, a new ‘final’ for the Franjiverdes who need not to fail.
Pablo Machín’s team got the three points last weekend in their visit to Palma de Mallorca thanks to a late goal from Lucas Boyé and, with the permanence at 13, they know they are obliged to take this game, ‘special’ for the return of José Rojo, ‘Pacheta’, rival coach and who was the one who led the last promotion.
The Elche team has given a feeling of improvement in recent games and hopes to ratify it again before their fans, against whom they beat Villarreal with authority (3-1) and came close to surprising Betis (2-3). The short-term calendar does not favor him excessively and winning would be the best reinforcement to face it.
For its part, Valladolid cannot relax too much either because it has no margin on relegation, from which it is currently out thanks to the ‘average’ because it is tied on points with Almería, which marks the cut, and Sevilla.
The team from Valladolid, which if they did not lose would win the particular match against Elche thanks to their victory in the first round (2-1), also arrives encouraged thanks to their good victory at home against Espanyol (2-1), but now they also need to get everything possible away from home, something that has resisted them this season, with only seven points out of 36 possible and with a tough 3-0 victory in their last outing in Vigo.
Machín recovers for this match Enzo Roco and Lisandro Magallán, absent against Mallorca due to suspension, and hopes to have Pere Milla ready to have more offensive power with a Lucas Boyé who sees the door again, and Pacheta has the casualties of Jordi Masip, Selim Amallah and Luis Pérez, but it seems that they will be able to count on a key player in attack like Darwin Machís again.
–SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY OF LALIGA SANTANDER DAY 25
Real Madrid – RCD Espanyol. Figueroa Vázquez (C. Andalusian) 14.00.
Elche-Valladolid. Díaz de Mera Escuderos (C. Cast-manchego) 16.15.
Celtic – Rayo Vallecano. Polished Santana (C. Las Palmas) 18.30.
Valencia – Osasuna. Villanueva Churches (C. Gallego) 21.00.