LaLiga Santander faces its final stretch with many things to play for. Europe and relegation are the hottest spots. More than half of the teams in the competition play their goals with less than a third of the championship to play.
There are five teams aspiring to the positions that give access to the UEFA Champions League and the one that gives access to the UEFA Europa League, another five aspiring to the UEFA Europa Conference League and nine, almost half of LaLiga Santander, they are at six points trying to avoid relegation. Only first and last place seem like the most defined positions but, in Spanish professional football, you never know.
Precisely, a team that before the World Cup seemed to end up fighting for relegation, after that appointment has staged a beastly streak to flirt with Europe. After the draw against Sevilla FC, RC Celta began an escalation that took him from being to 11 positions from Europein fact, it came to occupy the penultimate position, until it was ninth and with the continental competitions just 2 points behind.
The group from Vigo has held on to its two banners to get into the European fight. The eternal Iago Aspas and the revelation Gabri Veiga are the most goalscoring couple in LaLiga Santander with 21 goals between the two. Aspas is tied with Joselu and Borja Iglesias to obtain the Zarra award for the top national scorer with 12 goals.
The Conference League, a competition to which Today five teams aspire, is already within range of the Galician team. The place is occupied by Villarreal CF, but Athletic Club, Rayo Vallecano, CA Osasuna and the meteoric RC Celta are close awaiting a decision from the yellow team. A place that could move one position as the four contenders for the Copa del Rey, which gives direct access to the second continental competition, are in European positions or close to them.
Other very close positions are those that give access to the Europa League and the Champions League. Between Villarreal, sixth, and Real Sociedad, fourth, there are just 7 points, with Real Betis right in the middle of both. The San Sebastian team has not played in the top continental competition for 10 years, the Sevillian team did so for the last and only time in 2005, while the yellow team was a brilliant semifinalist last year.
historical reassembly
But, without a doubt, relegation is the most exciting area in LaLiga Santander. There are 9 teams at six points. RCD Mallorca, with 32, It is the furthest from the lower area and Europe would not be far away either.
There are seven clubs in just three points. UD Almería, in 19th place, has 26 and Getafe CF, which is thirteenth, 29. The one that has a very difficult time is Elche CF, which has only 13 points and is 13 from salvation. However, Real Zaragoza in 2011/2012, also ranked last although it was until matchday 29, made a unique comeback to maintain the first category. He had 33 points in 22 games.with 8 wins in the last 11 games.
The club took Manolo Jiménez in the middle of the season when he was on his way to breaking his record for the fastest mathematical descent of his life, when being 12 points from salvation. However, in two months of madness, the Zaragocistas soared to remain in the top competition, the greatest comeback to save themselves in history.
There are others in LaLiga Santander, also impressive, but not so in extremis. In fact, 2007/2008 was the season of comebacks, where there were three of the biggest comebacks in the history of the competition, mainly caused by the irregular results of RCD Espanyol de Barcelona in the second round. RC Deportivo de La Coruña traced him back by 19 points, Athletic Club, 17 and UD Almería, 16. First, third and eighth biggest points comebacks in history. The second was the one that FC Barcelona starred in in 2003/04 against Real Madrid, who cut 18 points to snatch second place.
With part of the big European leagues decided on their first positions and, some like Serie A, also in the last ones, LaLiga Santander still keeps more than half of its fans in suspense. The fight for Europe, salvation, those goals are sacred in the clubs and in the soul of their fans. Less than a third of the competition remains to find out which team identifies with one or the other.
