Matchday 9 in the Spanish top-flight could see Barcelona staging an epic rise back to the top spot, as Los Culés are two points behind the league leader, Real Madrid.
Both teams will face away games this weekend, and it will surely take more than a smile from Los Blancos and Los Blaugranas to beat Mallorca and Eibar, respectively.
Surprisingly, neither one of these games will be the most interesting, since Atlético and Valencia will be facing each other at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Los Colchoneros are three points behind the league leaders, and Valencia are far behind in seventh place, which means that both sides need to go all in to try and win all the points.
The match that will kick off all activity will see Granada hosting Osasuna. The tournament's sensation will try to return to the top three teams after losing against Real Madrid last time out.
Without further ado, here's what you need to keep an eye on for Matchday 9 in La Liga.
Team news - Who's in, who's out?
Barcelona will have to face Eibar without six players. Ousmané Dembelé, Gerard Piqué and Ronald Araujo have been ruled out due to their bans, Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo and Carles Pérez have been ruled out due to injury.
Atlético Madrid gets to their game against Valencia without two confirmed absences, as Sime Vrsaljko and Stefan Savic have been ruled out, while Vitolo will be assessed before the game to determine his availability.
Real Madrid will have to make do without Marco Asensio, Luka Modric, Lucas Vázquez, Nacho and Gareth Bale. Toni Kroos is still a doubt for Zidane, who will have Ferland Mendy returning to the lot after three weeks on the sidelines.
Coach's quotes ahead of Matchday 9
Barcelona's coach Ernesto Valverde admitted having to deal with a tough start of the season will make the team stronger not only to fight for La Liga, but also for the UEFA Champions League, which seems to be the main obsession for Los Culés.
"We've had a rough moment and what I like the most is that we found the way to bounce back. You can face bad patches, but the main thing is to find the way back to the top. Facing those bad patches gives you the knowledge to fight for every title you can,"the coach stated.
Key historical stats ahead of La Liga's Matchday 9
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Real Madrid has scored at least four goals against Mallorca in their last three games (all comps).
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Barcelona has never lost a game against Eibar away from home.
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Atlético Madrid has failed to score in their last two homes games, with both of them concluding in similar goalless draws.
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Real Betis has conceded more goals than any other team in La Liga (16).
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Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Loren Moron (Real Betis) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) are La Liga's top scorers with six goals.
What is social media talking about ahead of Matchday 9?
Real Madrid's social media account recalled one of the first meetings between them and Mallorca with Sergio Ramos as a member of the Spanish giants. That game saw Ramos scoring a goal after an assist by Fernando Gago. Needless to say, this goal caused quite a stir on social media.
¡LaLiga vuelve este fin de semana!
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) October 17, 2019
@RCD_Mallorca
@SergioRamos #RMLiga | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/zy4F9jq9pE
La Liga - Matchday 9 games
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