Saturday matches:
Real Madrid – Rayo Vallecano
Betis – Valencia
Villareal – Barcelona
Espanol – Celta
Real Madrid – Rayo Vallecano
This is the first match of this round. Real Madrid showed how great team they have. They expect hard match in CL with Mutd in midweek. They will rest some first team players (Zidane, Makelele, Ivan Helguera). I think they consider that match as oportunity to collect easy points, since Rayo Vallecano is nothing special. They will miss bosnian striker Bolic.
Probable squads:
Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Pavón, Roberto Carlos; Flavio, Cambiasso; Figo, Raúl, Solari; and Ronaldo.
Rayo Vallecano: Segura; Mario, De Quintana, Quevedo, Graff; Julio Alvarez, Azkoitia, Onopko, Iriney, Michel; and Peragón.
I think that Real will try to score in a first half and avoid chasing the result in a second half. That way they can save the players of unnecesary efforts. Beside they briliantly won last five matches in Primera with goal difference 15:3.
My rating:
Real Madrid 51.1 – Rayo Vallecano 19.0
HOME WIN
Betis – Valencia
Both teams are in a very bad form. Valencia, four rounds without win and Betis only two points in last five matches. I don’t know what to expect here. I would like to watch this match because I expect some of those teams to show some improvement of form.
Valencia will save some first team players for CL match. Rufete, Vicente, Killy Gonzales and Juan Sanchez will not play. Valencia will play only with Carew in front. They will try to do something from the right side with Angulo.
On the other side Betis will also be without some important starters (Denilson, Acuncao, Rivas, Alfonso).
Probable squads:
Betis: Prats; Varela, Juanito, Arzu, Luis Fernández; Joaquín, Ito, Benjamín, César; Capi and Fernando.
Valencia: Cañizares; Reveillere, Ayala, Pellegrino, Carboni, Angulo, Baraja, De los Santos, Fabio Aurelio, Aimar and Carew.
My rating:
Betis 25.5 – Valencia 30.5
Anything is possible, but if I need to choose DRAW or AWAY WIN
Villareal – Barcelona
One thing is sure. Barcelona need points to reach some European competition next year. That’s the reason that Barcelonas coach Antic will bring full squad on the Villareals field in Castelon.
Probable squads:
Villarreal: Reina; Belletti, Unai, Ballesteros, Arruabarrena; Medina, Guayre, Josico, Jorge López, Víctor and De Nigris.
Barcelona: Bonano; Reiziger, Puyol, Frank de Boer, Sorín; Mendieta, Xavi, Overmars, Riquelme; Saviola and Kluivert.
Villareal luckuly took a point in San Sebastian in the last round. They will still miss some important first team players like Alvarez and Palermo. I think that Barcelonas manager Antic think that his team could easilly take three points in Castelon. That’s the reason he brought a full squad no matter they expect CL match in midweek.
My rating:
Villareal 23.2 – Barcelona 36.7
AWAY WIN
Espanol – Celta
Both teams are highly motivated and they will go on the ground at a full strenght. After some bad performances of Valencia, Celta is now in the position to fight for CL, fourth position. Espanol is still in a danger zone.
Espanol show a good form recently, especialy at a home ground, where they beat Mallorca and Malaga. But, Celta is always unpleasent oponent.
Here is the probable squads:
Espanyol: Toni; Torricelli, Lopo, Soldevilla, David, Domoraud, De la Peña, Maxi, Roger, Oscar and Tamudo.
Celta: Cavallero, Velasco, Cáceres, Berizzo, Sylvinho, Luccin, José Ignacio, Mostovoi, Edu, G. López and Mido.
I would give advantage to the home team here. I watched Espanol at home and I think they are capable to win this match.
My rating:
Espanol 35,9 – Celta 32,1
HOME WIN or DRAW
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