Relegation looms for Levante and Alavés, but who goes down with them?
WITH LaLiga title looking more and more secure for Real Madrid with each passing week – last weekend’s typically efficient 2-0 win over Getafe was very much par for the course – in this week’s column I’m going to take a look at the other end of the table. With just seven games to play, the three clubs dropping into the Segunda División for next season look almost certain to be Levante, Alaves, and probably one of Cádiz, Mallorca or Granada, or perhaps even Elche, Getafe or Rayo Vallecano.
Alavés and Levante sit anchored to the bottom of the table, with both clubs on 22 points. This puts them an absolute minimum of seven points away from safety and, far more likely, will need to double that to have anything like a fighting chance of survival. Expecting 14 points from seven games, when you’ve only accumulated 22 from the previous 31 is stretching credulity more than somewhat so, it’s pretty much safe that both will fall through the trapdoor at the end of the season. And yet, especially for Levante, things could have been different.
Last weekend, they entertained Barcelona. The Catalans are the form team of LaLiga and currently on a 15-match unbeaten run, the best of any club in Europe’s top five leagues, but Levante gave them more than enough trouble at the Estadio Ciutat de València. After taking the lead from an AJ Morales penalty on 52 minutes, they squandered the chance to double the advantage when Roger failed to convert from the spot, just minutes later, as Marc-André ter Stegen plunged to save.
Stung into action, the Blaugrana then scored twice in four minutes through Aubameyang and Pedri. A third penalty offered a lifeline for the struggling club though when Melero equalised with minutes to play, but Xavi’s team wouldn’t be denied and a Luuk de Jong header two minutes into injury time stole the points. Safe to say that, notwithstanding his team’s victory at the end of the day, with three penalties awarded against his team in a little over 30 minutes, referee José Luis Munuera Montero will not be getting an Easter card from Xavi.
A draw would only have garnered a single point for Levante of course, but the momentum and confidence that denying victory to Barcelona could have offered a springboard to unlikely survival. Sadly, though it wasn’t to be and the sterling recovery work of temporary coach Alessio Lisci looks doomed to fall short.
If those two clubs do fall away, Cádiz on 28 points and Mallorca and Granada, both on 29 look the most vulnerable. The islanders grabbed a massively valuable and unlikely victory over reigning champions Atlético Madrid, thanks to a Muriqi penalty. Mallorca fans also had plenty to thank the city of Sevilla for over the weekend, to add a further bonus to their victory. While Sevilla were defeating Granada 4-2 at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Real Betis travelled to Cádiz and won 1-2. The combination of those results lifted Mallorca out of the relegation spots and gave them a realistic chance of survival, and their next two games give them an opportunity to build on that. In the coming weekend, Mallorca visit Elche in what could easily be called a six-pointer.
My local boys have lost four of their last five games and dropped to the edge of a relegation battle that seemed a mere faint concern a couple of months ago. If Mallorca can grab a win in the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero, not only will they edge a little further away from the troubled area of the table, but they’ll also tug Elche right into the thick of it as well. Should Elche win however, the three points could go a long way to easing growing concerns for Los Franjiverdes.
Getafe are another club with just a single win in their last five games and were dismissed by neighbours Real Madrid last weekend, with the minimum of fuss, despite Ancelotti fielding a weakened team with the visit of Chelsea in mind, and with their next three games comprising a home fixture against Villareal, and a visit to Celta Vigo, before entertaining Real Betis, every point earned from those games will be hard won.
On paper, Rayo Vallecano, on 34 points, look to be the club with the least to worry about but, a glance at their recent record suggests very much the opposite could be true. In the early months of the season, with the appointment of Andoni Iraola as coach looking to be an inspirational selection, Rayo even climbed into the top six of the table, and could flirt with the prospect of European football.
Since the turn of the year though, with inner turmoil at the club, results have tailed off badly, with a consequential tailspin down the table. In the dozen games played in 2022, Rayo have taken just three points – games that include losses to relegation rivals, Cádiz and Elche – and the prospects of improving on that in the next few games look to be challenging at best. Last weekend’s point from the 1-1 home game against Valencia was the very least they needed, as the next matchday sees them travel to Alavés. Had they taken nothing from Valencia’s visit to the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas and then lose to the Basques, Rayo’s prospects of survival would be massively imperilled, especially as their next fixture pits them against Barcelona. It’s not stretching things too far to say that Rayo could be both the success, and the sad, story of the season – depending on which side of the New Year you choose to look at.
For me, if we assume that Levante and Alavés are probably doomed, Cádiz could be the ones to join them. There’s this nagging feeling in the back of my mind however that, sad to say given what seemed to be a fairy-tale season for Iraola with the prospect of an upgrade in employers on the cards, Rayo could just be the unexpected club that tumbles all the way through the trapdoor as others scramble just clear. If the top of the shop seems all locked up, there’s still plenty to intrigue at the other end of the table. Let’s see how things continue to shape up.
Hasta luego amigos.