What each relegation threatened La Liga team needs to stay up on the final day
There are a lot of nerves building for teams down at the bottom of La Liga heading into matchday 38 this weekend.
While the title winners and most of the European qualifiers have been decided, 18th place in Spain’s top flight is still up for grabs and six teams remain at risk of filling the final relegation spot down to the Segunda Division.
Here are the current standings and what each threatened team needs to do to stay up.
|
Position |
Team |
Games Played |
Goal difference |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
13 |
Cadiz |
37 |
-23 |
41 |
|
14 |
Getafe |
37 |
-11 |
41 |
|
15 |
Valencia |
37 |
-3 |
41 |
|
16 |
Almeria |
37 |
-16 |
40 |
|
17 |
Celta Vigo |
37 |
-11 |
40 |
|
18 |
Real Valladolid |
37 |
-30 |
39 |
|
19 |
Espanyol |
37 |
-17 |
36 |
|
20 |
Elche |
37 |
-37 |
24 |
Cadiz are in one of the strongest positions of all the threatened teams. Avoiding defeat against bottom placed Elche will help them remain in La Liga.
Should they lose and Almeria, Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo all win and Valencia earn a draw, Cadiz would drop into the Segunda Division.
Getafe are in a similarly safe position in 14th, though there is still the possibility of the Madrid side dropping down a league.
As long as they avoid defeat at Real Valladolid, Getafe will remain in Spain’s top flight next season. If they lose to their relegation rivals, Getafe will need to avoid being level on points with Almeria if they draw or Valencia if they lose as the Azulones have a worse head-to-head record.
Despite being closer to the bottom three on league ranking than Cadiz and Getafe, Valencia are safer than all their rivals heading into the final matchday.
A point against Real Betis will definitely do the trick. It would take Real Valladolid beating Getafe, Cadiz losing to Elche, champions Barcelona to be defeated by Celta Vigo and Almeria to get something from their clash with Espanyol as well as a Valencia defeat for the 2003/04 La Liga champions to go down.
Almeria are a point behind all of Cadiz, Getafe and Valencia and level with Celta Vigo, who they are ahead of thanks to head-to-head points.
The Andulusian outfit have a kind fixture against already relegated Espanyol, though it is an away game – Almeria have won just once away from Power Horse Stadium in La Liga this campaign. If they lose, Celta Vigo avoid defeat to Barça and Valladolid beat or draw with Getafe, Almeria will be down.
Things get a little more complicated for Celta Vigo when flipping through the relegation permutations. They will only be guaranteed La Liga safety if they beat champions Barcelona.
However, Celta are terribly out of form, having managed only one win since the start of April, when they were as high as ninth in the table.
They will go down if they are locked on points with the following:
That will obviously all be redundant if Valladolid lose their clash with Getafe, but only a win will make it absolutely certain that Celta Vigo play in La Liga next season.
It’s almost win or bust for Real Valladolid. Three points will keep them in the division, while a draw would result in the same outcome if Celta grab a point and Almeria lose.
However, if they lose they’ll drop straight down to the Segunda Division at the first attempt.
There’s no hope for either Espanyol or Elche heading into the final weekend of the La Liga season. Both teams‘ relegations have already been confirmed.
Elche were the first to go in early May on matchday 33 as a loss to Almeria ensured they could no longer escape the bottom three. Espanyol stayed in the fight until the end of the month and were leading relegation rivals Valencia 2-1 until a late Samuel Lino strike confirmed their relegation.