When you talk about La Liga, chances are that your focus rests on the trio of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. That is understandable, given that La Liga isn’t a very deep league! But on the other side of the table, there are nine teams separated by fewer than ten points who are candidates to be relegated to Spain’s second division at the end of this season, and that race may be more entertaining than the one for the title.
With nine teams in legitimate contention for relegation, there are so many unique, unbelievable flaws in these teams to marvel at. Some of the squads can’t score goals, some of them can’t defend, and some can’t score goals or defend. There’s also a former Manchester United manager in La Liga’s relegation battle! Let’s break down all nine clubs hoping to avoid the Segunda Division, from the highest in the standings to the lowest.
Real Sociedad – 12th place, 27 points
Realistically, Sociedad should be in good shape not to get relegated, just because of the sheer number of teams below them that would need to outperform them in the final 13 games of the season. But to count them out would be to count out the managerial prowess, or lack there of, of David Moyes.
Yes, that David Moyes, the one who spent less than one full season as Manchester United manager before flaming out and leaving United out of European competition for this season. That’s the guy Sociedad is counting on to keep them in La Liga, which doesn’t seem like a safe bet at this point.
Sociedad are also the only team in La Liga to have won zero matches on the road to this point in the season. Unfortunately for them, they still have road contests against Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, as well as fellow relegation candidates Getafe and Elche. This could cause some problems for the Moyes Boys down the road.
Eibar – 13th place, 27 points
Eibar have put themselves in the relegation conversation after a decent start to the season, having lost their last six matches. In their last ten matches, they’ve only earned seven points, tied for the worst performance in La Liga in that time period. With all of this in mind, Eibar should be fine as long as they can even things out a bit, but their recent form is cause for concern.
Getafe – 14th place, 26 points
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Getafe is the fact that they used to wear uniforms with a big ol’ Burger King logo on them. That’s not to say that Burger King sponsoring a soccer team in Spain is particularly interesting, but rather that this year’s iteration of Getafe’s team is more bland than that weird ham sandwich that Burger King was pushing a few months ago.
Getafe score about a goal per game, but give up about a goal and a half per contest. They’ve been shut out nine times in La Liga play this season, only have one player (Alvaro Vasquez) with more than five goals this season, and still face road games against Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atleti within their final 13 matches. Getafe are vanilla, but being vanilla may be good enough to keep them in Spain’s top flight.
Deportivo La Coruña – 15th place, 25 points
Now this is where this starts to get really good, as every team from here on out sits within three points or less from being in the relegation zone. Deportivo have scored fewer goals than all but two teams in La Liga, and those two teams are the two at the very bottom of the table. Outside of a game in which they allowed eight goals to Real Madrid, they’ve allowed a not-terrible 31 goals on the season, and will have to lean on their defense to keep them up.
Almeria – 16th place, 24 points
Elche – 17th place, 24 points
These two teams are tied on 24 points, with Almeria ahead of Elche on goal difference. But they may not be even on points for long, as these two teams are set to take part in one of the most exciting events in all of sports on Saturday: the relegation six pointer.
Saturday’s La Liga action will pit Almeria against Elche in a match where the winning side would shoot up to 27 points, greatly improving their chances of avoiding relegation, while the loser is squarely in the danger zone on 24 points. Sure, a draw would give each side a nice bump up to 25 points, but the high stakes nature of going for the win in the relegation six pointer is one of the reasons that the promotion/relegation structure in soccer is so great.
This is not a sarcastic statement: this weekend’s Elche/Almeria match will be one of the most exciting of the season.
Levante – 18th place, 22 points
Now for the clubs in the relegation zone, starting with the worst defensive outfit in La Liga. Levante have allowed a staggering 48 goals through 25 matches, an average of just under two per game, and their goal differential is a La Liga worst -27. Should Levante find themselves in a tie on points, that goal differential means that they’d fall below any team they were tied with. When you’re already in the relegation zone, that’s not good!
The biggest game on Levante’s remaining schedule is their April 29th home match against Cordoba, who sits at the bottom of the table. If Levante wants to sneak out of the relegation zone, they will need three points from that match. With a defense as porous as theirs has been this season, there is no guarantee that they’ll make that happen.
Granada – 19th place, 19 points
Granada have scored a league worst 16 goals this season, including a pathetic seven goals in twelve home matches. Only three players (Youssef El Arabi, Fran Rico, and Jhon Cordoba) have scored more than one goal this season. That’s a unfathomable level of offensive ineptitude in a league that tends to be more open and attack friendly than leagues such as the English Premier League.
They’ve still got six pointers to come against Almeria, Cordoba, Getafe, and Sociedad, but also face upper echelon squads Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, and Valencia as well. With Granada five points away from tying the teams outside of the relegation zone, they will need to win more than one of those six pointers down the stretch to stay in the first division.
Cordoba – 20th place, 18 points
Sitting at the bottom of La Liga, Cordoba is one of two teams in the league to have only won one home match this season. They’ve lost six matches in a row, and look like they’re spinning their wheels heading into La Liga’s stretch run. They will need to win several matches, while hoping the clubs ahead of them drop a ton of points, to get out of the relegation zone. With two of their remaining home matches against Barca and Atleti, it ain’t lookin’ good.