With only two weeks left in the La Liga season, this weekend was all about relegation. La Liga had two of its three relegated sides confirmed this weekend. Huesca and Rayo Vallecano may have come up this season, but they are going straight back down; such are the perils of top-flight football in Europe. The final space is still to be confirmed, though, as the Spanish relegation battle hots up.
Spanish Relegation Battle Hots Up
Huesca 2-6 Valencia
Huesca’s relegation sentence was handed down in the form of a 6-2 thrashing at home by Valencia. The Bats are still fighting for the final Champions League, thus they played a very strong team on Sunday, but even Santi Mina would have been surprised when he realized he had two goals and two assists by halftime.
You could really feel that the Huesca players knew it was gone the moment the first goal went in after two minutes. From there they look disjointed and lost; it was the end of a great run. The fact that it even went this long before relegation was confirmed was a credit to Huesca. This is a team that has been rooted to the bottom literally all season.
The team rooted to the bottom of the Premier League was relegated a month ago, but Huesca lasted all the way until week 36 with a chance to survive. They won one game in La Liga in 2018 but secured five wins in 2019, including against both Real Betis and Sevilla. They also played a wonderful game on their trip to the Bernabeu and drew with a (young) Barcelona at home.
They did their best for one of the smallest teams in the history of La Liga. Now they return to the Segunda where there are just as many teams bigger than Huesca, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if we see them again in La Liga sometime soon.
Levante 4-1 Rayo Vallecano
It will be no surprise to anyone that knows Rayo that, once again, they have been relegated to the Segunda. The-Madrid based yoyo club go up and down between the two divisions like clockwork but rarely have been afforded so many great moments in a season where they have been relegated.
There is no greater achievement for Rayo Vallecano than beating Real Madrid. They had not won a league game against Madrid, home or away, since 1998, but last weekend they absolutely crushed them and should have scored more than the one goal they did. Zinedine Zidane’s comments after the game really shed light on that.
That wasn’t their only big-time win. A 2-0 home win against Valencia a few weeks earlier would’ve been a great memory for most Rayo fans. It’s hard to verify, but it would take some time to find a season where Rayo beat both Valencia and Real Madrid. That is a pretty great achievement to go down with.
Who Could be Relegated?
As it stands the battle for the last relegation spot is really down to two teams. Girona currently sit in 18th position on 37 points. Right above them on 38 points are Real Valladolid. The only other teams mathematically still in the battle are Levante, Villarreal, and Celta Vigo, all on 40 points exactly.
With just two weeks to go, there is a chance that any of these teams could go down, but next weekend’s gigantic clash between Girona and Levante at the Montilivi could change that. A Girona win could bring everyone into play, but they’ve only won one home game since October. If Levante get any share of the points, it would be enough to take them out of relegation threat and a win would leave Girona by far the most likely to be relegated.
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