Soccer

La Liga, Round 24: Valencia’s trip to Sevilla is the weekend’s best match in Spain

The title race remains tight while the race for fourth is slowly becoming a two-team battle.

Feb 13, 2014, 9:01 PM UTC

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso

An already tight title race got even closer after last round's results. Atlético Madrid surrounded first place back to Barcelona thanks to their loss against Almeria, as all three teams pulled even on points at the top of La Liga.

Barca and Atléti again face busy weeks with both a league match and the first of leg of their respective Champions League Round of 16 ties. Madrid won’t begin UCL play again until the following week so they’ll get their first break in over a month after playing league and Copa del Rey matches on a regular basis. All three teams need and want wins of course, but there’s no doubt Atléti need a positive result more than anyone after a disastrous CDR semifinal thrashing at the hands of Madrid.

Athletic Bilbao expanded their lead in the race for fourth by a point with their draw last round and now face Espanyol. Fifth-placed Villarreal will look to rebound from their loss against Madrid with three points over Celta Vigo. Real Sociedad are in real danger of losing touch with Athletic and the Yellow Submarine and will play struggling Málaga on Monday.

Real Betis remains stuck in last place, falling further and further behind the final safe position. With the two teams in front of them playing title contenders, this might be a chance for Betis to make up some ground if they find a way to get past Granada.

The best match of the round will be a meeting between 7th-place Sevilla and 8th-place Valencia, with both teams needing points to stay close to La Real in the Europa League chase.

Here’s a look at the schedule of games for round 24 in Spain.