MADRID, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Spain's La Liga returns to action this weekend with what promises to be a fascinating three days of football, as the country's biggest clubs look to find their form and prepare for the return of European football next week.
Matchday four kicks off on Friday night with second placed Athletic Bilbao traveling to newly-promoted Mallorca.
Real Madrid get the ball rolling on Saturday, with Eden Hazard likely to make his debut as Los Merengues entertain Levante.
It has been a below-par start to the season for Madrid with a win and two draws, and coach Zinedine Zidane needs a good display after disappointing results and performances against Real Valladolid and Villarreal led to questions being asked of his leadership.
Remodeling work on Real Sociedad's Anoeta stadium has been completed, and the ground will be ready to welcome league leaders Atletico Madrid. Atletico travel to San Sebastian with three wins from three games and will have Diego Costa and the exciting Joao Felix in their starting 11.
Real Sociedad were well beaten by Athletic Bilbao in the Basque derby before the international break and will need to improve, although they will be without central midfielder Asier Illaramendi after he broke a bone in his right leg two weeks ago in San Mames.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde is another man under pressure ahead of the weekend, but he will again be without Lionel Messi for their game at home to Valencia.
Messi missed the first three games of the season with a calf injury that is taking longer than expected to heal and Barcelona have missed his magic. Luis Suarez is also struggling for fitness, while Valverde's attacking options were reduced on the last day of the transfer window when Rafinha was loaned to Celta Vigo for the rest of the season.
Valencia travel to the Camp Nou in turmoil after the club sacked coach Marcelino Garcia Toral on Wednesday and replaced him with former Spain Under-21 coach Albert Celades. It remains to be seen how the players react to the departure of the man who took them to two fourth-place finishes and led them to a Copa del Rey triumph against Barcelona last season.
Saturday's another game sees bottom side Leganes look for their first point of the season when they entertain Villarreal.
Espanyol have struggled to combine European and domestic commitments so far this season, and with the Europa League group stage starting next week coach David Gallego needs a good performance from Wu Lei and company away at Eibar, who also debut in a remodeled Ipurua stadium.
Sevilla look to continue their impressive start to the campaign against an Alaves side that is unbeaten so far and has conceded just one goal, while Celta Vigo entertain newly-promoted Granada, who won 3-0 at Espanyol before the international break.
Expect a close contest between Real Valladolid and Osasuna, with the latter drawing 2-2 at home to Barcelona in their previous game to remain unbeaten on their return to the top flight, before the round of matches concludes with Real Betis meeting Getafe.
Betis took their first points of the season after fighting back to beat Leganes 2-1 before the break, while Getafe were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Alaves and are still searching for their first win of the season.
