After the World Cup break, La Liga action resumed on Thursday with three different fixtures as Atletico Madrid faced Elche, Real Betis welcomed Athletic Club, and Girona faced Rayo Vallecano.

The results from Thursday’s fixtures might have been different, but they won’t be the end of the drama from La Liga in the final fixtures of 2022.

On Friday, La Liga champions Real Madrid, who sits second behind Barcelona on the table at the moment with two points in between them, will hope to get back on top until at least Barcelona plays at the weekend.

The Los Blancos had an indifferent run of form before the World Cup break winning in one of its last three La Liga fixtures, including a draw and a shock loss to Rayo Vallecano.

Real Valladolid will prove quite a stubborn opposition for Real Madrid as they sit 12th with 17 points from 14 matches.

The last fixture between both sides was in 2021, when Real Madrid got a 1-0 victory away from home as Valladolid got relegated from La Liga before their return this season.

Although French forward Karim Benzema did not play at the World Cup due to an injury and subsequently retired from the national team is expected to be fit enough to play for Los Blancos on Friday Carlo Ancelotti would be glad to line up his main striker, who has scored alongside Luka Modric who performed excellently for Croatia we got to the semi-final FIFA World Cup.

Brazilian forwards Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo should be able to play after the Brazilians were knocked out of the competition at the quarter-final stage, meaning that both players would have had enough rest.

All the fixtures on Friday will see Getafe play Mallorca, Cadiz play Almeria, Celta Vigo play Sevilla, and on Saturday, three more fixtures will follow as Barcelona plays Espanyol, Real Sociedad face Osasuna and Villarreal against Valencia.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu