MADRID, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The New Year starts with the 19th round of games in Spain's La Liga as the competition reaches the halfway stage of the season.
There are two matches on Friday night as Valladolid face a Leganes side brimming with confidence since the arrival of Javier Aguirre and off the bottom after beating Espanyol before Christmas.
Third-place Sevilla entertain Athletic Club Bilbao and it will be interesting to see if visiting coach Gaizka Garitano maintains the three central defenders he employed to such good effect as Athletic drew away to Real Madrid before Christmas.
Valencia get the ball rolling on Saturday as they face an Eibar side that took an important step away from the danger zone with a comfortable win over Granada in their last game. Valencia could have half an eye on their forthcoming Spanish Supercup adventure in Saudi Arabia, but will be favorites to maintain their solid form under Albert Celades.
The game in Valencia is followed by the first of two important derbies this weekend as Real Madrid make the short trip to play Getafe.
Getafe have moved into sixth place in the table and coach Pepe Bordalas aims to keep things tight in defense against the side that has misfired in front of goal in recent games.
Zinedine Zidane meanwhile needs his players to improve their finishing after seeing them create enough chances to have beaten both Barcelona and Athletic Club in their last two games, but fail to score.
Marcelo and Lucas Vazquez are both available for Zidane after injuries but Eden Hazard is still missing with an ankle problem, while Sergio Ramos is suspended.
Atletico Madrid, who moved up to fourth after their win away to Betis a fortnight ago, face Levante, who are in an impressive ninth place after brushing aside Celta Vigo before the break.
Midfielder Koke is still out for Atletico.
Barcelona make the short trip to Cornella to face local rivals Espanyol in the weekend's other derby.
Abelardo Fernandez makes his debut as Espanyol's third coach of the season after Pablo Machin was sacked in the wake of the defeat in Leganes and the former Alaves boss will look for the reaction that he was able to produce at his former club who he took from bottom of the table to the verge of qualifying for Europe.
Matias Vargas should return for Espanyol after injury, but Abelardo will be without Pablo Piatti and Victor Sanchez for a must-win game against the league leaders.
Ter Stegen's knee injury is likely to see Neto make his league debut in goal, but that is Barca boss Ernesto Valverde's only worry ahead of what is usually a full-bloodied affair.
Granada face Mallorca in the opening game on Sunday before Real Sociedad aim to maintain their top-four challenge with a home game against an improving Villarreal.
Alaves and Betis face each other in Vitoria with both sides needing to start the New Year on a positive note after losing their last games of 2019.
Finally, Celta Vigo have to recover lost momentum in their battle to avoid relegation when Osasuna visit their Balaidos Stadium.
Celta's 3-1 defeat to Levante left them third from bottom of the table and they will once again look to captain and top-scorer Iago Aspas to lead the charge to safety.
