Upcoming Weekend Fixtures - La Liga

La Liga

Sporting de Gijon vs, Real Madrid C.F.
Saturday, October 24, 2009, 2:00 EST
Estadio El Molinon, Gijon, Asturias, Spain.

Real Madrid are coming off a tough 3-2 loss against Champions League group rivals A.C. Milan during their mid-week group stage clash. They will be looking for redemption against Sporting Girjon this Saturday afternoon to get back to winning ways. But Sporting have made a strong start to the season, resurrecting from their 14th place finish last season in La Liga.

Reportedly, Sporting have only one injury for the weekend. Diego Camacho will be sidelined for the Madrid clash and will not take part.

Real are a different story having Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema pushed to the injured list, both picking up injuries during their Champions League group stage match while Ruud Van Nistelrooy is still out injured. Gago, Metzelder, and Guti have healed but are likely not to take part in Saturdays clash. Lassana Diarra is out for this match and should be replaced by Mahamadou Diarra. Finally, the 96 million euro man, Cristiano Ronaldo, is still out injured and will be sidelined for the rest of the month.

My prediction for this match will be an away victory for Madrid but it will not be an easy task. A slim 2-1 win with Raul picking up a brace and De las Cuevas bringing his goal total to 5 after scoring Sportings only goal of the match.

F.C. Barcelona vs. Real Zaragoza
Sunday, October 25, 2009. 3:00 EST.
Camp Nou, Barcelona

Barcelona are coming into this match after a disastrous and embarrassing 2-1 loss to Champions League group stage counterparts, Russian side F.C. Rubin Kazan. Barcelona will be eager to redeem themselves after their mid-week fall. Zargoza are searching for their first away win in the 09-10 campaign as they have only racked up 1 point in all away matches so far. Camp Nou is the last place Zaragoza will be looking to find these points.

Barcelona will be going into this match with a few injuries, most notably Dani Alves who has been sidelined for an estimated 3 weeks. Thierry Henry still has one more week left to reach his full fitness. Centre back Dmytro Chygrynskiy has returned to his sides bench after being sidelined due to injury for a month and should see starting action, replacing Rafael Marquez in the back.

Real Zaragoza have a full line to choose from with Ikechukwu Uche still injured long term and Leonardo Ponzio suspended for this away match. Marcelino should have no problem choosing his starting 11.

This being a home game for Barcelona and being still embarrassed from their mid-week loss, my prediction for this match will be a 2-0 victory for the home side, Ibrahimovic and Pedro scoring a goal each.

Enjoy

JC