The second consecutive La Liga championship in Madrid is a joy for the city's fans and in the end, that happiness is not for everyone. Either Atletico Madrid, or Real Madrid will stand at the top of La Liga, leaving half as a happy laugh, the other half will be immersed in disappointment.
In 90 minutes, one of the two teams will end the season with two empty hands, because even if they push Barcelona off the racetrack at the decisive moment, at least the Catalan team has won the King's Cup.
After last Sunday's drama of creating a great attraction in matches taking place at the same time, Atletico and Real Madrid will once again put Spanish football fans in a state of holding their breath. While coach Diego Simeone's team visited Real Valladolid, Zinedine Zidane and his students welcomed Villarreal at home.
Atletico are currently two points ahead of their neighbours in the table. If in other tournaments, Los Rojiblancos only need 1 more point to win the championship, because when the two teams have the same number of points, the goal-forward advantage will be taken into account to determine the second place. They are also better than Real Madrid in this aspect (+41 compared to +38), so Real Madrid need to win by 3 goals.
However, in Liga, the first factor to consider when having 2 teams with the same number of points is the head-to-head coefficient. Atletico are second to last on this point, having drawn 1 and lost 1 of their two meetings with Los Blancos. That is, only the most certain victory can ensure Atletico to bring home the domestic championship of the cow fight after 7 years of waiting.
For Real Madrid, it is not just a win, they also have to depend on the result of the opponent to know whether they can defend the title or not.
With the necessary condition of winning, looking at the opponent, it seems that Atletico will be more comfortable with Valladolid in the bottom group, while Real Madrid will face Villarreal in 7th place with the goal of qualifying for the Europa League.
But if we evaluate in detail, Atletico is a concern, because Valladolid is in a relegation battle where only a victory can bring them hope (the conditions are that both Huesca and Elche will lose). In this "child" battle, the players of this team from the Castile y Leon region were motivated when President Ronaldo Nazario promised to reward each person with 150,000 Euros if they beat Atletico.
Winning against Atletico may not be enough for Valladolid to stay in the league, but it should be remembered that Ronaldo was one of Real Madrid's Galacticos brought in by President Florentino Perez. The "Astrope" bought 51% of Valladolid's shares in September 2018 and by April 2020 owned 82%. Ronaldo's relationship with Perez and Zidane is enough for him to want to help Real Madrid win the championship.
Meanwhile, although Villarreal are competing with Real Sociedad and Real Betis, if they lose, they will still have a place in the Conference League. The "Golden Submarine" is unlikely to fully concentrate on the trip to Madrid when 4 days later, coach Unai Emery and his students will play the Europa League final against Manchester United. The champion of this tournament, Villarreal will have a ticket to the Champions League.
For Barca, Lionel Messi will not play in the final round but they only need 1 point at the relegated Eibar to keep 3rd place under pressure from Sevilla.
At the bottom of the table, in addition to Valladolid, there are Huesca and Elche who are having to flee from 2 tickets on the relegation train after Eibar became the first passenger.
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