Matchday 8 preview

The action doesn’t stop in LALIGA EA SPORTS. Immediately following the conclusion of the midweek Matchday 7, there is another round to tuck into this weekend as Matchday 8 kicks off on Friday. It should be a dramatic weekend with not one but two Madrid derbies, one between Rayo Vallecano and CD Leganés and another between historic foes Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid at the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano.

It's Real Valladolid and RCD Mallorca who’ll get the matchday up and running, when they meet at the Estadio José Zorilla on Friday night. With three victories from their past four matches, RCD Mallorca are flying up the table, although an injury to star striker Vedat Muriqi means coach Jagoba Arrasate will have to get creative in attack.

Getafe CF and Deportivo Alavés meet in the first of four Saturday fixtures, a special game for coaches José Bordalás and Luis García Plaza as they each take on one of their former clubs. The action then remains in Madrid as there is a capital city derby between Rayo Vallecano and CD Leganés in Vallecas, their first top-flight meeting in over five and a half years. 

Real Sociedad vs Valencia CF is next up and this is a huge game for both teams, considering their poor starts to the season. Although both clubs entered 2024/25 with hopes of qualifying for Europe, they’re each currently on just five points and hovering around the relegation zone. Both clubs need points and fast, meaning this should be a thrilling game in which both sets of players leave it all on the pitch.

League leaders FC Barcelona pay a visit to CA Osasuna for the Saturday night game, and Hansi Flick will have to improvise given the injury crisis he has in his squad. It took a late Robert Lewandowski penalty for Los Blaugranas to edge this fixture 2-1 last season and the Polish striker should be the focal point of attack once more, especially as he is the current top scorer of the competition with seven goals. 

Sunday throws up four more exciting fixtures, the first of which is RC Celta vs Girona FC. These have been two of the most entertaining teams so far this season, as they score a lot of goals and concede a lot of goals. In the case of RC Celta, their matches this term are producing 4.50 goals on average, while Girona FC’s are conjuring up 2.57 goals. When they go head to head, it could be goals galore. 

On Sunday afternoon, Athletic Club will look to keep up their recent run of good form when Sevilla FC visit Bilbao. The Basque outfit have won three matches in a row to soar into the European positions and will hope to make it four consecutive victories in front of their own fans. 

Real Betis vs RCD Espanyol is next up and this should be an interesting one, when Los Verdiblancos look to get back to winning ways at the Estadio Benito Villamarín. At the beginning of the season, the Andalusian side’s stadium had been a fortress and they had won three home games in a row before a shock loss against RCD Mallorca last time out. Against the newly promoted team from Catalonia, they’ll look to get back on track.

Then, at 21:00 CEST on Sunday night, it’s the Madrid Derby between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid at the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano. Interestingly, Real Madrid only lost two matches across all of last season and they were their two trips to this stadium, as they fell 3-1 in LALIGA EA SPORTS and also lost 4-2 after extra time in a Copa del Rey clash. Diego Simeone will hope his team’s impressive home form can inspire Los Colchoneros to another derby victory, while Los Blancos will seek revenge for last season’s pair of defeats. 

There is one final fixture of this round on Monday, a battle of two teams in yellow as Villarreal CF welcome UD Las Palmas to the Estadio de la Cerámica. The Canary Islanders won both times these clubs faced off last season, and the three points would be very useful for them if they can achieve another victory in Matchday 8 of this season.