MADRID, 15 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
This Sunday, Real Betis seeks to establish itself in European positions against UD Almería (9:00 p.m.), the same objective that Real Sociedad is pursuing in Balaídos (2:00 p.m.), in a ninth day of LaLiga Santander in which RCD Espanyol and Real Valladolid expect keep moving away from the danger zone (6:30 p.m.).
Manuel Pellegrini’s team, who started the day fifth with the same points (16) as the team from Donostia and Atlético, arrive euphoric at the meeting after tying their ticket to the Europa League qualifiers with a draw on Thursday against Roma ( 1-1).
In the domestic competition, on the other hand, they have not won for three dates, after losing to Celta (1-0) and drawing with Valladolid (0-0). Now, he will try to interrupt the losing streak without the suspended Germán Pezzella or the injured Juanmi, Nabil Fekir and Víctor Camarasa.
The Almerienses (7), who are separated by a single point from the relegation places, seem to have pulled out their heads with their victory against Rayo Vallecano (3-1), which ended with a series of four consecutive defeats. Rubi will have to make up for the casualties of Adrián Embarba, sent off against the Madrid team, and of Iván Martos, Juanjo Nieto, Marko Milovanovic, Álex Centelles and Carlos Rojas, due to injury.
For its part, Real Sociedad visit Vigo in enviable form, after achieving their place in the round of 32 of the Europa League with their sixth win in a row in all competitions against Sheriff Tiraspol (3-0).
In LaLiga, Imanol Alguacil’s team has risen to sixth place thanks to their victories against Espanyol (2-1), Girona (3-5) and Villarreal (1-0), and now hopes to prolong their success in a duel in who will not be able to count on Martín Merquelanz, Mikel Oyarzabal, Mohamed-Ali Cho, Umar Sadiq, Ander Martín and Álex Sola.
Opposite, Celta (10), six units from the European zone and four above the relegation zone, needs to regain regularity after three defeats in the last four games. With the infirmary empty, the main novelty this Sunday was the return of ‘Chacho’ Coudet after several days in his country for personal reasons.
Lastly, at the RCDE Stadium, Espanyol and Valladolid face off in search of a jump up the standings to ward off danger. The Catalans mark the salvation with six points after four days in which they have harvested only two units out of a possible 12, thanks to their last two draws against Valencia (2-2) and Cádiz (2-2).
The blanquivioleta team, which has scored on the two previous dates against Getafe (2-3) and Betis (0-0), has eight points, two more than the burning zone. Martin Braithwaite, Adrià Pedrosa and Rubén Sánchez will be absent from Diego López’s team, which will be pending until the last moment regarding the status of Óscar Gil, Dani Gómez and Nico Melamed; the pucelanos will have the absences of Luis Pérez, Jawad El Yamiq, Kenedy and Anuar.
RC Celta – Royal Society. Cuadra Fernández (Balearic C.) 14.00.
Real Madrid – FC Barcelona. Sánchez Martínez (C.Murciano) 16.15.
RCD Espanyol – Real Valladolid. Mateu Lahoz (C.Valenciano) 18.30.
Real Betis – UD Almeria. Muñiz Ruiz (C. Galician) 21.00.
