La Liga resumes | FC Barcelona miss Lewandowski in city clash

Thursday, December 29, the Spanish football league resumes. Having completed only 14 out of 38 rounds, we are not even halfway through the season, so the next few months will see matches being played at a killer pace. League leaders FC Barcelona play the derby at home against Espanyol on Saturday, while number two Real Madrid visit Real Valladolid.

The football still leaves much to be desired and in the Champions League the curtain fell prematurely once again. However FC Barcelona can call themselves leaders of La Liga at the end of December. Blaugrana are two points clear of their closest pursuers Real Madrid and the gap with number three Real Sociedad is as big as eleven points. Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. the always fraught city derby with Espanyol is scheduled. Star striker Robert Lewandowski will not be in the game. He is sitting out a suspension after the red card he received in the last game before the winter break against Osasuna. The betting shops expect a simple win for Barça judging by the odds of 1.25 vs 10.00 for an Espanyol win.

Real Madrid had a mediocre run prior to the World Cup break. Los Blancos unnecessarily lost a lot of points and, despite a big win over FC Barcelona, had to leave the lead to their archenemies. On Friday night, Madrid travel North West for the tricky away game against Real Valladolid. The home team are in a neat twelfth place and are a tough opponent for any team. However, Real are still expected to take home the points. A win earns you 1.45 times your stake on your bet.

La Liga schedule Thursday, December 29, 2022

Match	Odds
5 p.m. Girona - Rayo Vallecano	2.00 - 3.50 - 3.60
7:15 p.m. Real Betis - Atletic Bilbao	3.10 - 3.30 - 2.30
9:30 p.m. Atlético Madrid - Elche	1.25 - 6.00 - 12.00