Previews
SAT 14.03.2015
At. Osasuna – AD Alcorcón (4 pm, Estadio El Sadar)
Matchday 29 of the Liga Adelante is opened up by Osasuna and Alcorcón in a clash that the teams go into with opposing aims. Los rojillos, who have played a game less and have lost their last five, are in urgent need of points as they host an Alcorcón outfit that sit six off the play-off places and don’t want to lose ground.
José Bordalás’s side visit El Sadar for the first time since los amarillos travelled to Navarre for a Copa del Rey tie 30 years ago, a game in which Osasuna ran out 5-0 winners.
CD Leganés – R. Sporting (6 pm, Municipal de Butarque)
If ever there were a clash in which a draw won’t satisfy either side, this is it. For Leganés, who lie just four points off the play-offs despite suffering defeat in their last two matches, it is an opportunity to close back in on the top six.
Los pepineros will look to forward Manuel Jesús Vázquez "Chuli" against a Sporting outfit who aim to take advantage of Sunday’s meeting of the top two to gain places. It will be the third time the teams have met, with the Asturians unbeaten in the previous games.
D. Alavés – RCD Mallorca (6 pm, Mendizorroza)
Saturday’s match between Alavés and Mallorca offers up a duel between two regular top-flight names. Alberto López’s team, who have a game in hand, are on a run of one draw and three defeats, in contrast to a Mallorca outfit who under Miguel Soler have started to take off.
Since the arrival of the new coach, the club from the Balearic Islands have continued to climb the table, so much so that they are now just 5 points away from the play-offs. Three wins and a draw is the recent record boasted by a side whose last victory at Mendizorroza came in the 2000/2001 season.
CE Sabadell – UE Llagostera (6 pm, Estadio Nova Creu Alta)
Saturday serves up a Catalan derby at the Estadio Nova Creu Alta. Sabadell have not thrown in the towel and are fighting to the last to survive in the Liga Adelante for another season. Four points from the last six available offer hope to the side coached by Juan Carlos Mandiá.
Llagostera are also among the teams to have hit good form in the current period of the campaign, putting together a sequence of four victories and a draw under Lluís Carrillo, who was chosen as the Liga Adelante’s coach of the month for February. The results see the team sit in the comfort of mid-table.
R. Zaragoza – CD Lugo (6:15 pm, Estadio de La Romareda)
A side on the up against an outfit that have slipped in the opposite direction. Zaragoza will look to get back into the table’s top six after dropping to seventh on the most recent matchday, and face a Lugo team that last season came away from their only ever visit to La Romareda with all three points after earning a 0-1 victory.
Ranko Popović’s men have only managed to pick up two of the last twelve points up for grabs, so a win is crucial to their aims. And Lugo coach Quique Setién noted that, despite the fact that "things haven’t been turning out the way they’d want" for Zaragoza, "they’re in good shape in terms of their rhythm and how they’re playing, with players performing to a high level".
RC Recreativo – CD Tenerife (8 pm, Estadio Nuevo Colombino)
In what is a direct match-up between two teams in the thick of the relegation dogfight, the bar is sure to be raised and interest ratcheted up as Recreativo take on Tenerife. The hosts have beaten the Canary Islanders on each of the four occasions they have met in Huelva, with the most recent, last year, seeing a 2-1 win for los onubenses.
The matchday also has four clashes in store between direct relegation rivals.
Raúl Agné’s Tenerife will look to end that poor run just at a time when they have found a period of good form. The away team are currently outside of the relegation zone and have gained two wins and two draws in their last four games.
R. Valladolid CF – CD Numancia (9:30 pm Estadio Municipal José Zorrilla)
Valladolid and Numancia bring Saturday’s action to a close in the Liga Adelante. A match in which a point just won’t do is in prospect: after losing last week against Betis, Valladolid will be all out to bounce back in a game that could see them return to top spot, while Juan Antonio Anquela’s side remain in the race to catch sixth and will also set their stall out for the win.
Their most recent meeting came in the 2011/2012 season, when Valladolid ran out 2-1 winners, and it was in the previous campaign that the clubs met for the first time in the Liga Adelante, in an encounter that saw Numancia come away with a 4-5 victory.
© LALIGA - 2015