MADRID, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Although the title was decided a fortnight ago there is still going to be high drama on Sunday in the penultimate round of matches in the Liga Santander where the battle to avoid relegation and to qualify for Europe continues is very much alive.
All of the matches kick off at 6pm local time (4pm GMT) on Sunday in order to avoid any sides having an unfair advantage over each other, so it will be a day with fans having radios next to their ears or taking frequent looks at their smartphones to see what is going on elsewhere.
In the race to qualify for next season's Champions League, fourth placed Getafe visit FC Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium. Getafe have a three-point lead over Valencia and Sevilla and it will be interesting to see how the Barca fans and team react in the wake of their painful 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the semifinal of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Sunday could well turn into an unofficial plebiscite over whether or not Ernesto Valverde continues as Barca coach and Valverde will be without injured forwards Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele for the match.
Fifth place Valencia are three points behind Getafe and are at home to Deportivo Alaves, who themselves need a win to maintain their hopes of a top-seven finish.
Valencia also go into the weekend on the back of European disappointment after they lost 4-2 at home to Arsenal (7-3 on aggregate) in the semifinal of the Europa League on Thursday.
Meanwhile Sevilla need to end a run of two consecutive defeats when they visit Atletico Madrid in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
That game will also serve as a homage to Atletico's veteran central defender Diego Godin, who announced during the week he will leave the club at the end of the season.
There is also uncertainty in who will qualify for the Europa League with seventh place Athletic Club Bilbao at home to Celta Vigo, who themselves need points in order to ensure their top-flight survival.
Athletic will be saying 'goodbye' to winger Markel Susaeta, who is leaving the club after 12 seasons in the first team and over 500 appearances, while Celta will hope Iago Aspas recovers from a shoulder injury to continue leading their revival.
Espanyol have given themselves a chance of qualifying for Europe with recent results and visit Leganes, who are assured of survival and renewed the contract of coach Manuel Pelegrino on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Real Sociedad could move up to seventh if they win at home to Real Madrid and Athletic lose to Celta.
In the relegation battle Villarreal will be almost safe if they can win at home to Eibar, who have only pride to play for, while fourth from bottom Valladolid need to win away to already relegated Rayo Vallecano.
However, the tensest game of the weekend is likely to be in Girona where the home side, who are third from bottom with 37 points (one less than Valladolid) face Levante, who have 40 points. A win for Levante will see them safe and probably condemn Girona to the drop, but a home win would leave the relegation question to be decided on the final day.
