Lionel Messi chased his 11th La Liga title as Spanish football continues
Since the Bundesliga resumed, the home advantage seems to have disappeared. Of the 46 Bundesliga games played, only 10 have beaten the home team, while 22 have been won by the away team.
One twist in the La Liga race is that second-tier Real Madrid will host home games at its 6,000-seat Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium – where the club’s second team plays – as renovations continue at the 81,000-seat Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Who will be the champions?
As the league returns, Barcelona sits at the top of the table with 58 points, two ahead of Real Madrid, while third-placed Sevilla have a nine-point advantage over Los Blancos.
It is one of the few records in La Liga that the Argentine has not yet broken, and it is one that Barcelona fans would undoubtedly like to steal from their arched rival in Madrid.
Real Madrid players, however, will not allow this to happen without a fight – as midfielder Lucas Vazquez recently told Real Madrid TV that his side will treat the rest of the game as if it were a cup final.
“That’s the starting point for those 11 games we have left,” he said. “Eleven finals, we take them that way. We hope to be able to get all the wins and the league title from here to the end.”
Of the two teams, Barcelona certainly have a slightly harder run.
Both El Clasico games have already taken place, but Barcelona still have to face La Liga 2013-14 champions Atletico Madrid, who are alone in the fight to secure one of the four Champions League qualifiers. Diego Simeone’s team is sixth on the table.
Barca, on the other hand, will be strengthened by the return of Luis Suarez, who was supposed to miss the rest of the season after knee surgery, but managed to recover after the league suspension due to the pandemic.
An alternative story
The title fight is not the only La Liga story.
The match on Thursday is a derby from Seville, between Seville and Real Betis.
Sevilla have not qualified for the Champions League for two seasons and will desperately end the season.
He is also fighting for one of the remaining qualifiers, Getafe, a team that never qualified for the Champions League and played in the second division just two years ago.
At the bottom, after finishing seventh last season, Espanyol are currently filling the La Liga table with just 20 points from 27 games.
Relegation would be a disaster for a club that has played in the upper division since 1993.
The relegation zone consists of Leganes with 23 points and Mallorca with 25, and Celta Vigo just one point above.
Fan experience
Given that the matches are played behind closed doors, La Liga has devised a plan that will provide fans with the most authentic possible experience in these circumstances.
“What we decided to do is give these two options about how the viewer wants to see the game: If they want to see it almost with or without sound,” Tebas said.
“We collaborated with a Norwegian company that specializes in virtual audiences and EA Sports and FIFA, because when you play FIFA you hear the real atmosphere of the stadium in every place.
“I think we’ll see good virtual reality, but they [the fans] they will be able to choose what they want. “
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