La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2025/26

[Mustang Shelby]

It's simply a matter of compatibility, and because Real Madrid are more compatible to playing a direct game, they don't fit Xabi Alonso tactical approach. Arbeloa essentially copied what Ancelotti implemented, you can clearly see it, and it turned out to be a perfect fit. However, every player and tactic has its own shortcomings. I don't think there are bad coaches, but coaches who are not at club and the right players.

Real have played only a few matches under Arbeloa, which is far too small to compare his approach with Ancelotti’s tactics. I think Real have started to play better mainly because they got rid of Alonso. In the last matches, there was a sense of tension between him and the players, and that was reflected in their performances. Things look better now, but I think a few games are still not enough to properly assess Real at this stage. Let’s see how they perform away against Villarreal.

I don't think the few matches Real Madrid have played so far are enough to compare their current style to that of the former manager. Real Madrid had a tremendous start to the season with Xabi Alonso, but their performance declined over time. While we see Real Madrid playing slightly better now, perhaps they would have performed similarly if the manager had stayed. I think we need to observe at least ten matches to understand if they're better than they were during the Xabi era.

[Bobrox]

Yeah right. If they want to keep the top spot in the table, barcelona will have to continue their winning streak. There  is no alternative. Another important thing is that they have to beat Madrid in El clasico. But El clasico is still a long way off. Until then, barcelona will have to  try to continue their winning streak. Otherwise , they will lose the top spot in th e table again.

Barcelona's big weakness is that they often lose points against relatively weak teams. Barcelona unexpectedly lost points against Real Sociedad. Even after  performing well , they lost. Barcelona will have to  perform very carefully in every upcoming match.

Barcelona must win the next match against Oviedo if won't loss top position standings after defeating last match by Real Sociedad and right now only has one points remaining with Real Madrid. During the el clasico match still long I think Barcelona must focus for several upcoming matches later in La Liga match and must get three points every games if won't to see Madrid back to first standings position.

In this season, Barcelona losses points from weakness or unpredictable teams and last match have loss three points defeating by Real Sociedad, but the last night match in Champion League Barcelona get back the confidence performance after winning from Slavia Praha and get motivate for defeating Elche in La Liga match.

[Bobrox]

Yeah right. If they want to keep the top spot in the table, barcelona will have to continue their winning streak. There  is no alternative. Another important thing is that they have to beat Madrid in El clasico. But El clasico is still a long way off. Until then, barcelona will have to  try to continue their winning streak. Otherwise , they will lose the top spot in th e table again.

Barcelona's big weakness is that they often lose points against relatively weak teams. Barcelona unexpectedly lost points against Real Sociedad. Even after  performing well , they lost. Barcelona will have to  perform very carefully in every upcoming match.

Barcelona must win the next match against Oviedo if won't loss top position standings after defeating last match by Real Sociedad and right now only has one points remaining with Real Madrid. During the el clasico match still long I think Barcelona must focus for several upcoming matches later in La Liga match and must get three points every games if won't to see Madrid back to first standings position.

In this season, Barcelona losses points from weakness or unpredictable teams and last match have loss three points defeating by Real Sociedad, but the last night match in Champion League Barcelona get back the confidence performance after winning from Slavia Praha and get motivate for defeating Elche in La Liga match.

[giorgione]

Barcelona, on the other hand, will be playing against the weakest team of the season. They will even be playing against the bottom team in the points table at home, so maybe Barcelona is going to get an easy win. Real Madrid will be playing against Villarreal at home, which makes the chances of Real Madrid winning a game smaller. In this match, I see the possibility of Real Madrid losing points and increasing the gap with Barcelona again.

Real Madrid is certainly a team that can do well, it is clear that these guys are practically capable of doing such a thing, however it is something they can practically do, now they have to think about challenging Barcelona it will be a challenge to the last goal

[Iamgoat]

I don't think the few matches Real Madrid have played so far are enough to compare their current style to that of the former manager. Real Madrid had a tremendous start to the season with Xabi Alonso, but their performance declined over time. While we see Real Madrid playing slightly better now, perhaps they would have performed similarly if the manager had stayed. I think we need to observe at least ten matches to understand if they're better than they were during the Xabi era.

I am even of the opinion Real Madrid made a fast decision to have dropped Xabi Alonso and replaced him with Arbeloa. Although decisions like this are not something I like to talk much since it is an internal decision or issues which have led to such moves however, I felt he needed more time and support in terms of encouragement than outright removal. I guess there is more to it than meets the eye but I also think Arbeloa is going to be there for the interim pending on when thy are able to get a better coach which will fit into their tactics. I doubt if they want to keep Arbeloa for a long time though.

[bastisisca]

It wasn't entirely luck as Real Sociedad played solidly in defense preventing them from conceding. Barcelona eventually scored through Rashford in the 70th minute and Real Sociedad capitalized on their counter-attacking opportunities while Barcelona were busy attacking. Barcelona's dominance in the match didn't translate into a solid defense, making it difficult to deal with Real Sociedad's quick attacks resulting in Barcelona conceding two goals in a situation where they were looking for openings to break through against.

Sure, but if you want to look on the bright side, the league is even more open. Barcelona on 49 points and Real Madrid on 48, one point behind, are a lot of fun.
When this happens i am always very happy, i really enjoy the championship this way, of course

[khiholangkang]

Barcelona, on the other hand, will be playing against the weakest team of the season. They will even be playing against the bottom team in the points table at home, so maybe Barcelona is going to get an easy win. Real Madrid will be playing against Villarreal at home, which makes the chances of Real Madrid winning a game smaller. In this match, I see the possibility of Real Madrid losing points and increasing the gap with Barcelona again.

Real Madrid is certainly a team that can do well, it is clear that these guys are practically capable of doing such a thing, however it is something they can practically do, now they have to think about challenging Barcelona it will be a challenge to the last goal

Real Madrid is not yet fully back, and Barcelona is sure to be the champion this season, Flick will not let the new Real Madrid coach celebrate too early for the first time he joined La Liga he will face a situation where he has to learn more about how La Liga competes, Madrid is good but they still have many weaknesses, currently the front line has been improved, but their defense is not as perfect as their glory days, let's see in the future what steps Arbeloa will take in managing this big team that has lost its teeth.

[Volgastallion]

Im the only one who thinks Villarreal is gonna make the hit in this round? I mean i really feel like this Villarreal can beat this not good Real Madrid, despite the really good result at mid week against Monaco for Champions League i think this Real Madrid is not good and can lose in the Villarreal stadium.

[Dzwaafu11]

~snip~

Real Madrid is certainly a team that can do well, it is clear that these guys are practically capable of doing such a thing, however it is something they can practically do, now they have to think about challenging Barcelona it will be a challenge to the last goal

The way the season is currently going right now, I’m not confident in both Real Madrid and Barcelona anymore because with the season is going right now, Real Madrid is back to their form. Barcelona in the other hand won’t want to drop any point right now, as they are just ahead of Real Madrid with 1 point.

Which is too close, they need to do everything possible to win their next match so they will gap Madrid small, before we can say one of this two club is going to be favorite of winning the la Liga this season, they are still dragging the top spot, and  very close to each other. Let’s see what they will do in their next matches.

[verdinio]

Indeed Real Madrid is currently at an unfavourable time so their differences with Barcelona are not balanced. This means Real Madrid must start under their new coach. This will certainly be a bit burdensome as the strategy will be slightly different from what their rivals Barcelona have experienced which has been handled by their coach for the past few seasons. This may be an obstacle for Real Madrid as their competition will become increasingly fierce until the end of the season.

And I see Real Madrid's game under Arbeloa's concoction has improved a little despite the defeat in the first match Arbeloa so that he immediately rotated the strategy so that in the UCL match yesterday they won the match against Monaco with a fairly convincing score which however many say that Barcelona's chances are more open than Real Madrid in winning the title this season but anything can still happen considering the match is still quite long so I personally am not yet brave enough to bet on which team will win the La Liga competition this season.

Real Madrid has to face a recovery process that will take several months, they are lucky that their position in the standings is certainly not the worst and they can recover everything they want, so the situation is still largely recoverable.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Barcelona have nothing to do other than to maintain their performance if they must retain their position in the league.

A defeat from Real Sociedad doesn't change anything. We all know they were lucky to win against a far more superior team and claim the three points, but their matches against Celta and Bilbao are coming up next. I hope they can at least play well and get some points, otherwise this particular win will be for nothing! From the past reviews, whoever manages to defeat Barcelona will never win in the next match.

However Barcelona should not feel disappoint.They actually created a lot and deserved the win, but sometimes hard luck do set in, and  it's part of football. It would be more worrying if they lost while playing bad! Barcelona had been playing very well, winning 11 straight games. They were bound to fall sooner or later, but it was an exciting match.

[jakdanyel]

Espanyol have been one of the interesting teams on the rise in the La Liga as you know. However their form has started to get bad on the recent weeks. The starting point of it was the loss against Barcelona.

You know tried a lot but couldn't score there. They lost points against Levante and Girona after that. Now they are 7 points behind top 4. They are going to have an away match against Valencia tomorrow. It could be another game with a point loss I guess...

[bastisisca]

Both of this players back at Real Madrid is a very big step back for them and there is no sugar coating any of their importance, if it's still about leadership then there is Modric which is better or most importantly there are experienced players actively playing that can be signed over this two players

Real Madrid is trying to get out of the quagmire it has gotten itself into due to the many unresolved problems.
Unfortunately, all the knots come to a head.
You can't just keep pushing problems forward and hoping they'll solve themselves.
Then they pile up and it becomes like what happened now to Real Madrid.

[slapper]

We have given our prediction on what we thought Real Madrid and Barcelona's next game will be like in a few days. It remains for the game to be played, we will then know which team has or loses their 3 points to top or fall below each other again. We will find out about it soon, we will even talk about how it went down here. I wish both teams luck, let it not be a loss bet for those who predicted Real Madrid and Barcelona to win their weekend match

Barcelona dropping points two times in a row seems unlikely especially when looking their coming opponent but Real Madrid is having a difficult game against Villarreal, hopefully they can defend well and get enough goals to seal all three points, keeping the gap between them and Barcelona, and waiting their league title rivals to drop more points and then get back on being at top, then lifting the trophy.

I think Barcelona will have the advantage this coming week because they will face Oviedo,, who is currently at the bottom of La Liga. So i don't think Barcelonna will lose or draw this match,, because Oviedo's performance is clearly not good. Therefore, I believe that Barcelona will definitely win with a fairly convincing score in this match. Meanwhile, Real Madrid, as we know,, will face Villarreal.

I think the potential for Real Madrid to lose this match is quite large,, because currently Villarreal's performance can be said to be quite good, and the proof is that Villarreal is currently able to rank 3 in La Liga and I think that is enough to prove that Villarreal's performance is quite good at this time. In addition, this match will also be played at Villarreal's home ground,, so it will certainly make Villarreal's players more confident in being able to win. So that's why Real Madrid really has to be careful in this match, because if they lose this match, they will definitely make the points difference even bigger with Barcelona.

What I think is crazy is the Ter Stegen thing. Guy's there since 2014, won everything, 423 appearances. Now he requires back surgery and suddenly he's expendable. Replaced by 24-year-old who's never come close to being a first choice keeper at this level before. Joan Garcia's got 11 clean sheets but that's with the best defense in Spain in front of him. What happens when Pedri is not there to control the game?

It's genius or it's going crazy. We'll know by April.

Madrid though, you're selling yourself short on what Arbeloa's done. And somehow used it to turn around in 12 days. He doesn't micromanage. Alonso's staff were apparently doing video sessions then drilling the exact scenarios immediately after and the players hated it. Too much instruction, too many voices.

Arbeloa himself just talks to them. One voice. Clear, direct. No yapping from assistants during training. And suddenly Mbappe's the top scorer in La Liga, Vinicius is back to his best, they've scored 14 in 5 games.

But all that doesn't matter if they can't defend. Villarreal at home have won 8 out of 10 at home, don't concede much and they're angry after losing to Ajax midweek. Madrid's backline is literally kids and midfielders in out of position.

Gap's one point. Could be four by Sunday night.

[Sexylizzy2813]

Barcelona losing their last league game is not much of a worry but the point gap now between them and Madrid is not that much, 1pt is not enough and if they slip again I don't think Madrid would make that mistake of letting their chances go like that without them getting the 3pt in the bag. Barcelona hardly play any game without conceding and that's have been their number 1 problem even in the champions league, so I still see them winning their next game against Oviedo which will be the easiest but the problem is Madrid against Villarreal, two power house 2nd and 3rd, I just hope Madrid still have some goals left after smashing too much goals in the champions league...

In my opinion, this was a very important event, because if before nothing depended on Real (even the result in the remaining personal meeting did not change the situation in their favor), now both teams are back in the game and the only advantage that Barcelona has is that a draw in the personal meeting will suit them. Barcelona have a much easier game than Real Madrid in the next round, but with the new coach, Real Madrid seems to have recovered and will not drop points in the game against Villarreal.

We can't be to certain when it comes to Madrid, they might be in good shape or that's what we'll say but on the field of play against Villarreal who also have a similar problem of keeping up with winning ways will have to be in their best of form to take on Madrid and I believe that Villarreal will not allow Madrid to secure the 3pt just like that. I'm expecting a very strong match between these two but one thing that will spoil this encounter is when either Madrid or Villarreal are shown a red card, that's it but aside from that it will be an interesting game to watch.

[bangjoe]

Espanyol have been one of the interesting teams on the rise in the La Liga as you know. However their form has started to get bad on the recent weeks. The starting point of it was the loss against Barcelona.

You know tried a lot but couldn't score there. They lost points against Levante and Girona after that. Now they are 7 points behind top 4. They are going to have an away match against Valencia tomorrow. It could be another game with a point loss I guess...

Beating Valencia should be able to be done by Espanyol, however from the whole season Valencia is much worse than Espanyol, if you pay attention to how Valencia is playing this season, there is really little hope of winning the match, and if we talk more about how Valencia now they are in the relegation threat zone which almost makes them unable to participate in la liga again next season for the Spanish league premier division, 7 points is far away, but it can still be worked on because the league is still very long, they can work from tomorrow.

[Frankolala]

Im the only one who thinks Villarreal is gonna make the hit in this round? I mean i really feel like this Villarreal can beat this not good Real Madrid, despite the really good result at mid week against Monaco for Champions League i think this Real Madrid is not good and can lose in the Villarreal stadium.

It might be a big shock to you to see how Real Madrid will wipe their ass and get full point. Despite the fact that Real Madrid isn't in their peak form, it doesn't mean that Villarreal will take advantage of that. Madrid knows how to win important matches and this one is very important for them to win so that any slight mistake from Barcelona will put them on the top spot of the table.

[hyudien]

Im the only one who thinks Villarreal is gonna make the hit in this round? I mean i really feel like this Villarreal can beat this not good Real Madrid, despite the really good result at mid week against Monaco for Champions League i think this Real Madrid is not good and can lose in the Villarreal stadium.

You are not alone, if we judge objectively Villarreal has the strength to end this match with a victory, because in this season they have been extraordinary, being in 3rd place displacing Atletico Madrid who are usually there, but of course Real Madrid does not want that to happen, they remain the favorites in this match, after all they are very close to Barcelona, an important moment that they cannot easily get again. But whatever the outcome of this match, they are worth watching.

[Egii Nna]

I don't think the few matches Real Madrid have played so far are enough to compare their current style to that of the former manager. Real Madrid had a tremendous start to the season with Xabi Alonso, but their performance declined over time. While we see Real Madrid playing slightly better now, perhaps they would have performed similarly if the manager had stayed. I think we need to observe at least ten matches to understand if they're better than they were during the Xabi era.

Exactly, we need more time before we can compare their performance. For now, they are performing a bit better, but still, we will not be amazed if it’s not consistent. So let’s just do as you mentioned, for ten games, and see if they are really able to do better, still keep their consistency in performance, and keep winning more games.

Real Madrid are more than this, but with the lapses currently, they need to do more to get back on their feet. They also have to be more serious. Maybe they will be opportune to surpass Barcelona on the table, as they are currently one point behind them.

[Localhostspeed]

Barcelona must win the next match against Oviedo if won't loss top position standings after defeating last match by Real Sociedad and right now only has one points remaining with Real Madrid. During the el clasico match still long I think Barcelona must focus for several upcoming matches later in La Liga match and must get three points every games if won't to see Madrid back to first standings position.

In this season, Barcelona losses points from weakness or unpredictable teams and last match have loss three points defeating by Real Sociedad, but the last night match in Champion League Barcelona get back the confidence performance after winning from Slavia Praha and get motivate for defeating Elche in La Liga match.

Real Oviedo has only won two matches since the beginning of this season. One was in August, the second one was in September. They didn't win any game in October, November and December and now January and they are going to test it with Barcelona? Even in their worst form, Barcelona should be able to finish them and maintain their first place at the top. They don't have anything to worry this week if it's their match against Oviedo, they are just another qualified Championship that came to Laliga division and will soon go back.

Barcelona lost their last game out carelessness and misjudge the team they faced. They didn't used their top players but now that it cost them 3 points with Real Sociedad, they will not play around with Real Oviedo even when they know they can win them. It's safe here for Barcelona to move up from here and for Real Madrid to have a hard time from here. Vilahreal has a way to push teams, they are the ones that may even drop a point in this round.