This Saturday, CA Osasuna will try to continue to go as far as possible from the bottom and consolidate its position in European competition, during the visit to Sadar of a Real Valladolid in trouble, while Girona FC will want to move away from the relegation zone against a CD Leganés will come excited to this matchday 12 event in LaLiga EA Sports.
In Pamplona, a First Division Saturday activity will open at 2:00 p.m., altered by the tragic DANA, which has hit the province of Valencia above all and has led to the postponement of Valencia CF vs Real Madrid and Villarreal CF vs Rayo Vallecano.
Yes, there will be a duel between direct rivals, theoretically so far, such as Osasuna and Valladolid. Both have permanence as their main challenge, but in this first league stretch Osasuna is above those expectations, ranked eighth and with 18 points, the same as Athletic Club (5th), Real Betis (6th) and RCD Mallorca (7th); Meanwhile, Valladolid has not finished getting off the ground and is second to last with eight points.
For this reason, the red team will want to gain strength in their fortress in Pamplona to add three key points that establish them as a candidate for Europe, even with options of sneaking into the top four based on other markers. The team coached by Vicente Moreno hopes to return to the path of victory in El Sadar, where after winning four games in a row they saw their good streak stopped against Betis (1-2).
However, last Sunday he regained his level of confidence and play in Anoeta, beating Real Sociedad (0-2). Now in front there will be a rival who is being too irregular and, despite the emotional reinforcement of their important victory in Mendizorroza (2-3), they then lost valuable points at the José Zorrilla Stadium against Villarreal (1-2).
Due to that setback against the 'Yellow Submarine', Valladolid stayed in the relegation zone for one more weekend and will now try to get out of there with a new victory away from home; Except in Vitoria, this aspect has not been good this league season, with four defeats in the rest of the games and, more worrying, 17 goals conceded and only five scored.
While Osasuna has its entire squad available, the team coached by Paulo Pezzolano will not include the injured Cenk Özkacar, César de la Hoz, Kenedy or Juanmi Latasa; The latter suffered a sprain to his right ankle during the Copa del Rey MAPFRE match against Astur CF, which ended in a 1-4 Valladolid victory.
This Saturday's brief session will be completed from 4:15 p.m. with the clash between Girona and Leganés, facing each other in Montilivi with the objective for both of putting distance between themselves and relegation. The people from Girona accumulate 12 points and the people from Madrid have one less, so the loser of this duel could fall to the dangerous zone of the table.
However, the moods are different in the squads of Míchel Sánchez and Borja Jiménez. Girona is in a delicate moment due to its plague of injuries and the chain of two consecutive narrow defeats, at home against Real Sociedad and away against UD Las Palmas, showing that it must react to have more peace of mind.
The improvement comes through the offensive level, far from what was shown last season; And he scored 85 goals, more than two per game. Without the injured Viktor Tsygankov, Abel Ruiz, Yaser Asprilla and Arnaut Danjuma, resources in attack are scarce for Míchel who will also not have Alejandro Francés, Jhon Solís, Ricard Artero, Iván Martín, Cristian Portu, Pau López, Gabriel Misehouy or Jastin García, everyone equally in the infirmary.
For its part, Leganés will take to the Catalan grass more animated than its rival. Last day they probably had their best match since their return to the First Division and beat Celta de Vigo in Butarque, putting an end to eight league games without a win. Of course, the participation in Montilivi of goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic and striker Sébastien Haller is in doubt due to physical problems.
That 3-0 win against Celta was the second victory of the league season for the pepineros, both in front of their fans, and now they will want to extend their joy at home, a facet where they have achieved four draws in six games. Rotating will be essential to look good again, knowing that Naim García has a long-term injury and that both Dani Raba and Diego García have muscle discomfort.
–SATURDAY SCHEDULES FOR DAY 12 OF LALIGA EA SPORTS.
Osasuna – Valladolid. García Verdura (Catalan) 14.00.
Girona – Leganés. Busquets Ferrer (C.Balearic) 16.15.
