Welcome to round 29 of the 2013-14 Spanish Primera División! Ten exciting matches across four days, with plenty of excitement and story lines for all enjoy. Except you don’t want to enjoy them...it’s alright, I get it. You’re just interested in Sunday’s El Clásico.
La Liga, Round 29 preview: El Clásico, and other points of interest
Sunday’s match between Real Madrid and Barcelona is a big one, but it’s not the only quality offering on La Liga’s menu this week.
It's understandable of course, meetings between Real Madrid and Barcelona have become big events over the past few years thanks to a combination of meaningful matches and media-generated excitement. We've actually had far fewer meetings between the two rivals over the past year, which is probably a good thing since some level of scarcity is important when dealing with derbies.
This edition of the Clásico is very important and definitely worth your attention, unless you’re one of those people who are just enemies of fun and you’re refusing to watch these games on some misguided principle. Real Madrid are in first place, four points ahead of Barcelona in the standings, so this match provides a Madrid the chance to effectively eliminate Barca from the title race. A win by Barca would propel them right back into the mix, within a point of Los Blancos. A draw would be disappointing.
There are other games of course worth your attention. Atlético Madrid currently sit in second, three points back of Real Madrid, and face a classic trap game as they travel to last place Real Betis. Real Valladolid faces Rayo Vallecano is a massive relegation six-pointer. Valladolid are three points clear of the drop zone thanks to three straight league wins and could pull further away with the victory.
6th-place Villarreal faces 8th-place Valencia with Los Che desperately trying to find points to climb back into the race for a European place next season.
While El Clásico is a big deal, it’s not the only thing happening in Spain this week, so don’t rob yourself of other potential enjoyment by getting too caught up in the big match on Sunday.
Here’s the full schedule of games from round 29.
Friday, March 21
Celta Vigo vs. Málaga | 4 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CEST
Saturday, March 22
Granada vs. Elche | 11 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. CEST
Real Valladolid vs. Rayo Vallecano | 3 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CEST
Athletic Bilbao vs. Getafe | 5 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. CEST
Sunday, March 23
Real Betis vs. Atlético Madrid | 12 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. CEST
Valencia vs. Villarreal | 2 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CEST
Real Madrid vs. Barcelona | 4 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CEST
Monday, March 24
Almeria vs. Real Sociedad | 5 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. CEST
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