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MADRID, Jan. 19 -- The second half of the Spanish Liga Santander season begins this weekend with Barcelona nine points clear but lots of questioned still to be answered in the 20th round of matches.
1. Can Betis test Barca's ability to bounce back?
Wednesday saw FC Barcelona fall to their first defeat in 30 games when they were beaten 1-0 away to local rivals, Espanyol in the King's Cup, meaning that Ernesto Valverde's side need to bounce back away to Betis.
Barca travel with a nine-point lead at the top of the table, but without the injured Ousmane Dembele, Paco Alcacer and Phillipe Coutinho, while Paulinho and Andres Iniesta are both doubtful.
Betis meanwhile are on a high after two consecutive wins and the confidence has returned to their attacking football under Quique Setien.
60,000 fans will be in the Benito Villamarin Stadium hoping to see Betis take the game to their rivals and Sunday will see a real test of Barca's character.
2. Real Madrid's crisis to continue?
Real Madrid took a big step towards the semi-finals of the King's Cup on Thursday, but it took several moments of luck and a moment of magic from Marco Asensio to give them a 1-0 win away to Leganes and the press are unanimous in stating the win was by no means a return to form for Zinedine Zidane's men.
Real Madrid now entertain third from bottom Deportivo la Coruna on Sunday afternoon with the aim of ending a run of two consecutive home defeats. Zidane will welcome Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema back into his side, but the fact is he not only needs a win, he needs his side to convince in order to lift the pressure.
Will a struggling Deportivo be just what the doctor ordered for Madrid or will the visitors only serve to deepen the crisis?
3. Atletico Madrid to make home comforts count?
Thanks to the work being done on their Wanda Metropolitano Stadium at the start of the season, Atletico Madrid kicked off the campaign with three away games. Now we are in the second half of the campaign they have three consecutive home games against: Girona, Las Palmas and Valencia.
Atletico will view these three matches as the chance to take nine points and keep the pressure on FC Barcelona at the top of the table.
Saturday's rivals, Girona drew 2-2 with Atletico in their first meeting and last week defeated Las Palmas 6-0, and will be no pushover, but if they are to have a chance of the title, Atletico, who welcome back Diego Costa, Gabi and Stefan Savic, have to take all three points.
4. Moment of truth for Jemez and Las Palmas
Paco Jemez was brought in as Las Palmas' fifth coach of the season to stop the side leaking goals and to inject some spirit into the team, but after four games in charge the change doesn't seem to be working.
Las Palmas may have drawn 1-1 at home to Valencia in the Cup, but they lost the away leg 4-0, while Jemez lost his league debut 2-1 at home to Eibar before crashing to a 6-0 defeat in Girona.
This week saw the club president openly criticize the players, while top scorer Loric Remy, who Jemez has said he doesn't want at the club, accused the coach of treating him like dirt. All in all it doesn't paint a picture of a happy club and Valencia's visit on Saturday could make things even worse: Indeed you wonder if another heavy defeat could have Las Palmas looking for their sixth coach of a catastrophic campaign.
MADRID, Jan. 19 -- The second half of the Spanish Liga Santander season begins this weekend with Barcelona nine points clear but lots of questioned still to be answered in the 20th round of matches.
1. Can Betis test Barca's ability to bounce back?
Wednesday saw FC Barcelona fall to their first defeat in 30 games when they were beaten 1-0 away to local rivals, Espanyol in the King's Cup, meaning that Ernesto Valverde's side need to bounce back away to Betis.
Barca travel with a nine-point lead at the top of the table, but without the injured Ousmane Dembele, Paco Alcacer and Phillipe Coutinho, while Paulinho and Andres Iniesta are both doubtful.
Betis meanwhile are on a high after two consecutive wins and the confidence has returned to their attacking football under Quique Setien.
60,000 fans will be in the Benito Villamarin Stadium hoping to see Betis take the game to their rivals and Sunday will see a real test of Barca's character.
2. Real Madrid's crisis to continue?
Real Madrid took a big step towards the semi-finals of the King's Cup on Thursday, but it took several moments of luck and a moment of magic from Marco Asensio to give them a 1-0 win away to Leganes and the press are unanimous in stating the win was by no means a return to form for Zinedine Zidane's men.
Real Madrid now entertain third from bottom Deportivo la Coruna on Sunday afternoon with the aim of ending a run of two consecutive home defeats. Zidane will welcome Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema back into his side, but the fact is he not only needs a win, he needs his side to convince in order to lift the pressure.
Will a struggling Deportivo be just what the doctor ordered for Madrid or will the visitors only serve to deepen the crisis?
3. Atletico Madrid to make home comforts count?
Thanks to the work being done on their Wanda Metropolitano Stadium at the start of the season, Atletico Madrid kicked off the campaign with three away games. Now we are in the second half of the campaign they have three consecutive home games against: Girona, Las Palmas and Valencia.
Atletico will view these three matches as the chance to take nine points and keep the pressure on FC Barcelona at the top of the table.
Saturday's rivals, Girona drew 2-2 with Atletico in their first meeting and last week defeated Las Palmas 6-0, and will be no pushover, but if they are to have a chance of the title, Atletico, who welcome back Diego Costa, Gabi and Stefan Savic, have to take all three points.
4. Moment of truth for Jemez and Las Palmas
Paco Jemez was brought in as Las Palmas' fifth coach of the season to stop the side leaking goals and to inject some spirit into the team, but after four games in charge the change doesn't seem to be working.
Las Palmas may have drawn 1-1 at home to Valencia in the Cup, but they lost the away leg 4-0, while Jemez lost his league debut 2-1 at home to Eibar before crashing to a 6-0 defeat in Girona.
This week saw the club president openly criticize the players, while top scorer Loric Remy, who Jemez has said he doesn't want at the club, accused the coach of treating him like dirt. All in all it doesn't paint a picture of a happy club and Valencia's visit on Saturday could make things even worse: Indeed you wonder if another heavy defeat could have Las Palmas looking for their sixth coach of a catastrophic campaign.
