After the customary two-week break for international fixtures, football leagues are set to resume. Tomorrow, the first matches will take place. In La Liga, Deportivo Alavés will face Valladolid at the Mendizorroza Stadium in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in a match valid for the tenth round of the championship.
Kick-off is at 9:00 PM. The home team has earned 10 points in 9 matches, sitting in 13th place, tied with Espanyol. Valladolid, on the other hand, has garnered just half that total (5 points, from one win, two draws, and six losses) and is currently second to last. The Blanquivioletas have the worst defense in La Liga, having conceded 19 goals.
It's been a tough start to the season for the newly promoted team, owned by Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima. The former Brazilian striker of Inter, Milan, and Real Madrid, after selling his majority stake (around 90%) in Cruzeiro to Pedro Lourenco of BPW Sports, has announced in recent months his intention to sell Valladolid as well. Last May, Ronaldo rejected an offer of nearly €29 million from a construction company for 66% of the shares (deemed too low by the former footballer, as the club's market value is estimated between €70 million and €80 million).
Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich kick off a weekend of top-tier football
21 Nov - 23:06 •
1' min
Valladolid comes into this match on a three-game losing streak and hasn’t celebrated a win in two months (their last victory being a 1-0 against Espanyol on August 19, the first matchday of the season). In 20 previous encounters between the two teams, Alavés has won 13, with 2 draws and 5 victories for Valladolid.
In Germany, the opening match of the seventh Bundesliga round features Borussia Dortmund against St. Pauli. The yellow-and-black side has collected 10 points so far (3 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses, with 12 goals scored and 11 conceded, sitting in seventh place), while the newly promoted St. Pauli from Hamburg has only managed 4 points (1 win, 1 draw, and 4 losses, 4 goals scored, and 9 conceded, third from the bottom). Dortmund has won 6 of their 8 previous meetings against St. Pauli (the last draw dates back to March 3, 2002), with St. Pauli's only victory coming in their last DFB Pokal clash on January 18, 2022.
Monaco and Lille will face off tomorrow evening at 8:45 PM in the Stade Louis II for the eighth round of Ligue 1. The home team, led by Adolf Hutter, has had a stellar start to the season, remaining unbeaten after 7 matches, along with PSG and Lens. Monaco tops the table with 19 points, 2 points ahead of Luis Enrique’s Parisians and 5 points clear of Marseille and Reims. Monaco has secured 6 wins (the last 4 in a row) and one draw, while Lille sits in fifth place in Ligue 1 with 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses).
Bruno Genesio’s side comes into the match with three consecutive victories across the league and Champions League (1-0 against Real Madrid on October 2). In 20 previous meetings between the two teams, Monaco has won 10 times (the most recent on April 24, with a 1-0 win, courtesy of a goal by Yossouf Fofana, now at Milan), 5 matches ended in draws, and Lille has won 5 times (their last victory was on October 29, 2023, at home, with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Ivan Cavaleiro and Badofé Diakité).
