As the world celebrated Liverpool’s league win after 30 years, in Spain, La Liga Matchday 31 ended yesterday. Since La Liga season 2019/20 restarted after Covid-19 break, it has started with a bang and the teams have started firing all their cylinders right from the beginning. Right now, Real Madrid is sitting on the top of the table with 68 points and their arch-rival FC Barcelona is chasing them with standing on the second position. Barcelona has also acquired 68 points from 31 matches, but Real Madrid are ahead of them based on the Head to Head rule followed in La Liga. Before the break, Barcelona were sitting on the top of the table with 2 points lead after Match Day 27. It was until match 30 when the Catalan giants ended their away match with a 0-0 draw and lost 2 important points. On the other hand, Real Madrid have won all their matches after the restart and has managed to reach at the top after match 30.
While the title race has been a cat and mouse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona this season, the fight for 3rd and 4th position also is a close one and currently,
Atletico Madrid
,
Sevilla
,
Getafe
,
Real Sociedad
and
Villareal
are fighting for those two spots. Each of these teams would like to secure a place in the top 4 as that would guarantee
Uefa Champions League
qualification for them in next season. Although Sevilla and Getafe are currently awaiting their Uefa Europa League match in Round of 16, and they can qualify in next season UCL but it is still a long way and both team will surely try to finish in top 4 of the league table. With their last night defeat against Eibar, Valencia is currently out of the run for top 4 spots and they will try to secure a place at 5th or 6th position to qualify for Uefa Europa League next season.
Let’s have a look on the Top 4 teams after La Liga Matchday 31, check their upcoming matches and find out where they can end up after match 38.
1. Real Madrid
Matches Played : 31 ( W : 20 D : 8 L : 3 ) Points : 68 Position : 1
On La Liga Matchday 31, Real Madrid have snatched a 2-0 victory on Wednesday against 18th position team Mallorca with the help of an early goal from their young brazilian protege Vinicius Jr . followed by a spectacular free-kick goal by captain Sergio Ramos . With that victory, Real Madrid have won all the four matches after La Liga restarted and managed to reclaim top spot. It looks like Zinedine Zidane’s boys are ready to give their all to win the La Liga title but it won’t be an easy job. They have to make sure they don’t lose a single point in their upcoming 7 matches.
Real Madrid will face Espanyol on their upcoming match in away ground, followed by a home game against Getafe. Although Espanyol, who are currently at the bottom of the table and on the verge of relegation, could be an easy opponent for the Madrid boys Getafe can be proved a tough one. After that, Real Madrid also have matches against Athletic Club, Alaves, Granada, Villareal and Leganes. Real Madrid have to give their best to not lose any point and maintain the top position.
Real Madrid is in good form currently winning consecutive four matches, but they have displayed lack of consistency earlier this season. Considering that, we expect Real Madrid can gain at least 18 points. Whether they can win the liga is hard to predict and we have to wait till the last match it seems
2. Barcelona
Matches Played : 31 ( W : 21 D : 5 L : 5 ) Points : 68 Position : 2
A draw against Sevilla on match 30 cost Barcelona two valuable points and they are currently at 2nd position on the table, but they won their last match against Athletic Club with the help of Ivan Rakitic’s goal on the 71th minute on La Liga Matchday 31. To win the Liga, Barcelona must win the rest of their matches and hope their rival Real Madrid to make some mistakes. This may not be an easy task as they have to face 3rd position team Atletico Madrid on next weak. But then again, with Lionel Messi nothing is impossible for Barcelona when it comes to La Liga.
If Barcelona can secure a victory against Atletico Madrid on 31st June, they can gain full points from the rest of the matches as their remaining opponents in Liga are Celta Vigo(next match), Villareal, Espanyol, Valladolid, Osasuna and Alaves. But seven matches is a long run and nothing has been gone predictable in La Liga this season. So you have to wait until match 38 to see if Barcelona can reach the top of the table or not .
3. Atletico Madrid
Matches Played : 31 ( W : 14 D : 13 L : 4 ) Points : 55 Position : 3
Atletico Madrid ‘s performance this season is not quite up to their expectations and they have lost too many points from the beginning. From the number of draws, you can see how many points they have lost. Although Atletico Madrid did quite a business in the summer transfer window at the beginning of this season, and they signed players like Joao Felix, Marco Llorente, Kieren Trippier, Renan Lodi and Mario Hermoso but it is evident that they have missed Antoine Griezmann and suffered from lack of goals. Which of course resulted in many of their matches to finish goalless.
But after the break, they have managed to win their last three matches with only one draw and it looks like Diego Simeone is determined to finish the season at the third position on the table. Also, Atletico Madrid are currently on an unbeaten run in Liga for 9 matches, while their last defeat came against their city rival Real Madrid on February 1, 2020. Before the break, Atletico was on 6th position on the table, but with back to back three victories, they have managed to climb up the ladder and currently sitting on 3rd place after La Liga Matchday 31. The last match they played before Covid-19 break was against Liverpool at Anfield where they defeated the home team by 3-2, shocked the world. It looks like that match supplied a mentality boost to El Cholo’s boys and they want to finish the season with the same mentality.
They will face Alaves on next match followed by a match against Barcelona on next week which will not be easy to win. Their last two matches will be against Getafe and Real Sociedad where they will face a tough fight. With their current form, Atletico Madrid is expected to gain at least 15 points from their rest of the matches to secure the third-place but they will surely face a challenge from Sevilla who are currently right behind them.
4. Sevilla
Matches Played : 31 ( W : 14 D : 11 L : 6 ) Points : 53 Position : 2
At the beginning of the season, Sevilla made a change in their dressing room and introduced former Spanish national team and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui in charge. And so far Lopetegui has done a very well job with all the fire powers in his arsenal. Lopetegui’s team is currently 2 points behind Atletico Madrid and are ready to fight for the 3rd position on the table. So far, Lopetegui has managed to keep his team in top 4 for a long time, and after match 12 they have been there till matchday 22. On Matchday 23, Sevilla was defeated by Celta Vigo and came down to 5th position but on the very next match, they managed to regain their 4th position.
Before the break, they were at 3rd spot, but consecutive three draws in their last three matches brought them down to no. 4 again after La Liga Matchday 31.
Despite everything,
Sevilla is one of those teams who have shown great consistency
this season and have never gone down without a fight. In the rest of their matches, Sevilla will mostly face the lower teams in the table. With the matches again Eibar, Mallorca, Leganes and Valladolid in hand, if Sevilla comes back to their winning run they can manage 16-18 points in their remaining matches and snatch the 3rd position from Atletico Madrid.
Rest of Teams will also be chasing the UCL spot
After the end of La Liga Matchday 31, Getafe(5th), Villareal(6th) and Real Sociedad(7th) are sitting at a one-point difference to each other, but they have a considerable point gap from 4th position Sevilla. Getafe with 49 points, currently have 4 points gap with Sevilla, which won’t be easy to recover. Both Real Sociedad and Getafe have suffered from inconsistency after the break. While Real Sociedad have lost back to back last three matches after the break, which resulted in them to come down from 4th position to 7th position on the table. Sociedad was on a very good run before the Covid-19 break, that helped them to reach Copa Del Rey final and claim a place on the 4th position in La Liga, but since the restart of La Liga, Real Sociedad are struggling to get back to their old form and top 4 looks out of reach now for them. If Real Sociedad doesn’t recover their form and try to win next of their matches they may finish at 8th or 9th position on the table and lose their chance to qualify for UEL as well.
On the other hand, Getafe can still manage to close down the gap of 4 points and try to reach the top 4, but they have to rely on mistakes from Sevilla and Atletico Madrid and try to win rest of their matches.
As we are on the business end of the season and La Liga teams are fighting for the top spots on the table, enjoy the thrill of the game and don’t miss any crucial match. For now, this is all we have after La Liga Matchday 31 update.
What are your opinions on La Liga Matchday 31 results? Let us know in the comment section below.
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