La Liga, Week 27: Espanyol Down Racing Santander

For Malaga, the game was a microcosm for their season, besides the fact that they actually ended up with a decent road result. Between the penalty areas, they were as good as Madrid, if not slightly better. Their midfield had a magnificent match and their 53 percent possession at the Bernabeu is, in this case, a stat that does not lie and that does tell us a lot about what happened.

Madrid squandered opportunities for the rest of the match while Willy made a couple of very solid saves. Their one goal appeared to be enough for Madrid, who truly underperformed on the day, but Cazorla went on to grab a goal that many will say produced a result that was just and a better reflection of the play than a Madrid win.

Malaga jumped up to fourth place in Spain at the end of last week’s games, but unlike most of their seemingly infinite rivals for fourth in La Liga, they have yet to travel away to the Santiago Bernabeu. They make that trip on Sunday, and it’s probably not going to be a fun one. Besides the match against Barcelona, Real Madrid haven’t exactly been challenged at home.

Real Madrid are still without Angel di Maria, but Fabio Coentrao has returned. Otherwise, they’re fit. And they’re probably going to score a few goals.

Both Athletic and Valencia are coming off of big Europa League victories, and they appear to be the two biggest favorites to win that competition. They haven’t always looked good in the league games after European matches, however, so neither is likely to be at their best at La Catedral.

Game Date/Time: Sunday, March 17, 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. local

The Blaugranas were the better team throughout the match, but let off the gas a bit after the second goal and didn’t look like they were desperate in the second half to find a third goal.

For more on the Blaugranes, check out FC Barcelona blogs Barca Blaugranes and The Offside Barcelona.

18:00 CET (12:00 PM EST)

Pick: 2-1 to Geta.