La Liga matchday 9 preview: Barcelona go to Betis for a ninth win in nine, Real Madrid host Sevilla without Vinícius

Barcelona have won all eight and lead by five points, and on Saturday evening they go to Real Betis, level second on 19 and winners of all four of their home matches. Earlier on Saturday the other side on 19, Atlético Madrid, visit Espanyol, and on Sunday night Real Madrid, fourth on 18, host fifth-placed Sevilla without the suspended Vinícius Júnior.

Friday

Deportivo La Coruña v Levante (19:00 UTC, Estadio de Riazor). Deportivo La Coruña, eighth on ten, lost 3–2 at Real Sociedad and finished with ten men; Levante, seventeenth on six with a match in hand, drew 3–3 with Sevilla after three goals in stoppage time, and have not won away from home in four attempts. Deportivo's coach, Antonio Hidalgo, warned that in this league any mistake is punished heavily; Levante have called up 22 players, with Primo and Hugo Sotelo out injured, the club says, and Luís Castro said Deportivo have "a lot of quality". Levante won both meetings in the Segunda División, 2–1 here in January 2025 and 2–1 at home in October 2024.

Saturday

Espanyol v Atlético Madrid (12:00 UTC, RCDE Stadium). Espanyol, twelfth on eight, drew 1–1 at Málaga and have not won in three; Atlético won 2–1 at Alavés with a goal three minutes from time, their fourth league win in a row, and beat Manchester United 2–0 in the Champions League on Tuesday. Espanyol's midfielder Pol Lozano told the club's site that a home win is a necessity; Sports Mole expects Jofre Carreras and Kike García to miss out again through injury. Atlético have not won on their last three visits here: 2–1 to Espanyol in August 2025, 1–1 in March 2025 and 3–3 in May 2023. They won 4–2 at home in February.

Villarreal v Elche (14:15 UTC, Estadio de la Cerámica). Villarreal, eleventh on eight, lost 1–0 at Real Madrid, their third defeat in five; Elche, eighteenth on six, drew 0–0 with Celta and have conceded 17. Villarreal won both meetings last season, 2–1 here in March and 3–1 in Elche in January.

Real Betis v Barcelona (16:30 UTC, Estadio de la Cartuja). Betis beat Osasuna 5–2 last time out and Porto 3–2 in the Champions League on Wednesday; at home in the league they have beaten Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Getafe 1–0 and Osasuna 5–2. Barcelona beat Getafe 3–0 and won 4–1 at Galatasaray on Tuesday, and have won all four league matches away from home, scoring 17. A ninth league win in a row would equal the best start in the league's history, Real Madrid's nine wins in 1968/69, the club points out. Raphinha trained with the group on Thursday for the first time since a knock he picked up on international duty, and Andreas Christensen and Roony Bardghji are injured, Barcelona say. Betis have not beaten Barcelona in the last five meetings: 3–1 to Barcelona in May, 5–3 to Barcelona here in December 2025, 1–1 in April 2025, 5–1 to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in January 2025 and 2–2 in Seville in December 2024.

Valencia v Athletic Club (19:00 UTC, Estadio de Mestalla). Valencia, nineteenth on five, drew 2–2 at Racing Santander and have not won at Mestalla this season: four home matches, one draw and three defeats. That draw was Javier Aguirre's first match in charge, the club says, and Dani Raba wants the team to "turn Mestalla into a fortress". Athletic Club, tenth on eight, have played six; their match at Rayo last Saturday was abandoned at 0–0, and they also play at Levante on Wednesday. Valencia won 1–0 in Bilbao in May and 2–0 here in September 2025; in between, Athletic won 2–1 here in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in February.

Sunday

Osasuna v Racing Santander (12:00 UTC, Estadio El Sadar). Both are on eight: Osasuna, sixteenth, lost 5–2 at Betis and have lost four of their last five, and Racing Santander, fifteenth, drew 2–2 with Valencia and have conceded 23, the most in the league. It is their first league meeting since May 2012, when Osasuna won 4–2 in Santander; Racing won 2–0 here in January that year.

Celta Vigo v Alavés (14:15 UTC, Municipal de Balaídos). Celta Vigo, ninth on eight, drew 0–0 at Elche, their fifth draw in eight; Alavés, seventh on eleven, lost 2–1 at home to Atlético. Alavés won 4–3 here in March; Celta won 1–0 in Vitoria in November 2025.

Málaga v Real Sociedad (16:30 UTC, La Rosaleda). Málaga, last on four, are the only side without a win after a 1–1 draw with Espanyol, and have scored four goals. Real Sociedad, sixth on 13, beat Deportivo 3–2. Real Sociedad won 1–0 here in the Copa del Rey in January 2024; the last league meeting was a 2–0 Málaga win here in April 2018.

Real Madrid v Sevilla (19:00 UTC, Santiago Bernabéu). Real Madrid beat Villarreal 1–0 with ten men and won 4–3 at Roma on Wednesday; they have won all four league matches at home. Sevilla drew 3–3 at Levante and are unbeaten in four away from home. Vinícius Júnior begins a four-match league ban on Sunday, two matches for pulling Nathan Saliba's hair and two for his protests at the referee, imposed by the Spanish federation's disciplinary committee, AP reports; he will also miss the Clásico. Real Madrid have won the last five meetings: 1–0 in Seville in May, 2–0 here in December 2025, 2–0 in Seville in May 2025, 4–2 here in December 2024 and 1–0 here in February 2024.

Monday

Getafe v Rayo Vallecano (19:00 UTC, Coliseum). Level on eight: Getafe, fourteenth, lost 3–0 at Barcelona and have scored four, as few as Málaga; Rayo Vallecano, thirteenth, have played seven after their match with Athletic was abandoned. Getafe have not beaten Rayo in the last five meetings: 2–0 to Rayo here in May, 1–1 in Vallecas in January, 1–0 to Rayo in May 2025, and 0–0 draws in August 2024 and April 2024.

The table before the round

#	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	8	+27	24
2	Atlético Madrid	8	+10	19
3	Real Betis	8	+5	19
4	Real Madrid	8	+11	18
5	Sevilla	8	+1	14
6	Real Sociedad	8	−3	13
…
17	Levante	7	−4	6
18	Elche	8	−6	6
19	Valencia	8	−9	5
20	Málaga	8	−9	4

Atlético play first on Saturday and can cut the gap to two points until Barcelona kick off in Seville. Eight teams, from ninth to sixteenth, are level on eight points. Athletic Club have played six, Rayo and Levante seven.

Numbers to know

• Barcelona have scored 34 and conceded seven; Raphinha leads the scorers with twelve, five more than Sergio Camello, Yassir Zabiri, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé.
• Betis and Real Madrid are the only sides other than Barcelona to have won every home match, four each.
• Getafe and Málaga have scored four goals each, the fewest in the league; Racing Santander have conceded 23, the most.
• Celta have drawn five of their eight matches, more than anyone else.

The full round with kick-off times in your time zone is on the La Liga page.

Sources for the context: FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol, Valencia CF, Valencia CF, RC Deportivo, Levante UD, Levante UD, AP, Sports Mole.