La Liga, Week 10: Betis move up to fourth with win over Getafe

Getafe bounced back in the 68th minute, on what looked like a free kick that presented little danger. Paco Alcacer won a lofted ball into the box from nearly 50 yards out and touched to Diego Castro, who finished to level the match at 1-1. Their lead didn’t last long, with Betis quickly turning the match on its head.

Pedro Leon brought Getafe back into the game in the 89th minute on an excellent half-volley finish, assisted by Adrian Colunga with a great chip to the back post. They threw everyone forward in an attempt to find an equalizer and paid for it, giving up a three-on-none break to end the game. Sevilla finished easily with the last kick of the game, adding the exclamation point on the end of Betis’ win.

Today has been close to the polar opposite. Of the five games that have been played so far, the ten teams have combined for six goals--only slightly more than one goal per game. Here’s a run-down of the results:

This was classic Levante and JIM. Sevilla looked like they were dominating, but time and again the Levante defense would send the ball back out. It literally looked like Sevilla was bouncing a ball against a wall as hard as they could--and were getting super frustrated doing it. In other games, JIM’s Levante could have turned that frustration into a goal to snag a tough win--but I think they’ll take the hard-fought goalless draw.

Sevilla hosts Levante to the Estadio Pičuljan in a battle of the 6th and 7th place teams in La Liga.

Juan Ignacio Martinez’s side has turned their season around nicely after a slow start, matching their final position in the table from last season so far. They’ve also been the team with the better form of late. Before their 1-0 loss to Melilla, the Granotes had won four straight, including an impressive 3-0 defeat of Twente in the Europa League. No doubt they’ll be looking to turn the Melilla result in to an inconsequential speed bump.

Malaga didn’t rest any of their stars in anticipation of upcoming Champions League action, and might wish that they would have done so. Rayo midfielder Piti scored twice to hand them their first home loss of the season. With their win, Rayo are now top half, while Malaga have fallen down to fourth place.

Valencia always give a game to even the best sides at the Mestalla, and their home record is great once again this season. They’ve been absolutely horrible on the road, but they’re unbeaten at their own ground.

Los Che will need to put in an excellent performance on Saturday to keep that record intact given the current form of Atletico Madrid and their best player, Radamel Falcao. He’s on an absolutely ridiculous goal-scoring tear, with 19 goals in 16 appearances for club and country since the summer.

Real Madrid injuries and suspensions

Real Zaragoza injuries and suspensions

Celta will be looking to accomplish something they’ve failed to do in eight years...beat Barcelona. The last time Os Celestes managed to win against the Spanish giants was in 2004 when they won 1-0 at home. Like Vilanova, Paco Herrera left several starters out of his club’s match in the mid-week, so he should have plenty of rested players ready to try an pull off a massive upset.

Celta played Real Madrid tough two weeks ago but failed to show any ability to threaten the goal. They’ll have to to find a way to solve that issue or face defeat.

Should be a good test for the once and future kings (of the rest of la Liga).

(16:00 CET, 10:00 AM EST)