Real Madrid managed to beat Valladolid 2-0 with two goals by Karim Benzema, thus throwing down the gauntlet to their biggest rivals, Barcelona, the La Liga leaders before the 15th round. Xavi’s men can finish 2022 at the top of Primera Division, but they have to beat city rivals Espanyol at the Nou Camp today (16.00).Barcelona and Espanyol enter the 175th city derby with the same goal, but with different motivations. Both camps announce that they are only interested in victory, with the Blaugrana looking to maintain their advantage over Real Madrid, while a possible triumph over their neighbors would give the visitors enormous confidence in the fight for survival, as they are close to the relegation zone.Real Madrid is Benzema’s national team!On the penultimate day of 2022, Xavi received the most beautiful New Year’s gift in the form of the knowledge that Robert Lewandowski can play against Espanyol. In the match of the previous round with Osasuna, the Polish striker collected a red card and was banned for three matches, but after the appeal of the Catalans, he was pardoned and will be ready for today’s clash. With 13 goals, Lewa is by far the best scorer in La Liga, he has five goals more than Vedad Muriqi from Mallorca and Borja Iglesias from Betis.Great honour for the long-serving German: Barca has a new captain!The central part of the defense is giving the coach of the home team a headache, as the Uruguayan Ronald Araujo has just recovered from a hip injury sustained two months ago, while his partner Jules Kounde, who played in the World Cup final with France, joined the team a few days ago and the question is how ready he is. The same goes for his national team colleague, winger Ousmane Dembele, so it’s clear that Xavi has some big questions ahead of him. Memphis Depay will probably hear the kick-off whistle from the bench – after the arrival of the Barca legend at the helm, the Dutchman barely found himself in the starting line-up.##EDITORS_CHOICE##The Danish national team player Martin Braithwaite, a former ‘wasted’ investment of Barcelona, will play for the blue and whites. Among the guests, Dani Gomez and Keidi Bare are suspended, Paul Lozano, Gori and Luca are injured.Nou Camp has for a while now been a labyrinth in which numerous generations of Espanyol have lost themselves. More precisely, the club from the Llobregat confluence has lost its last 12 league games at the largest European stadium.Ansu Fati had been earmarked as the beneficiary of Robert Lewandowski’s suspension, but with Lewandowski available, @sport believe he will drop out for the Barcelona derby.Ousmane Dembele will also come straight back in against Espanyol. pic.twitter.com/Qv8zm8s04c— Football España (@footballespana_) December 31, 2022 LA LIGA – Matchday 15ThursdayGirona – Rayo Vallecano 2-2 (1-1)/Castellanos 34 pen, Saiz 75 pen – Camello 2, Palazon 62/Betis – Ath.Bilbao 0-0Atl.Madrid – Elche 2-0 (0-0)/Joao Felix 56, Morata 74/FridayGetafe – Mallorca 2-0 (0-0)/Mayoral 51, 78/Cadiz – Almeria 1-1 (0-1)/Perez 83 – Melero 40/Celta – Sevilla 1-1 (1-0)/Veiga 33 – Salas 54/Valladolid – Real Madrid 0-2 (0-0)/Benzema 83 pen, 89/Saturday16.00: (1.28) Barcelona (6.00) Espanyol (9.50)18.15: (1.95) Sociedad (3.45) Osasuna (4.40)18.15: (2.00) Villareal (3.50) Valencia (4.10)***odds are subject to change
