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Italy
Livorno will feature in next season’s Serie A after winning the two legged playoff final with local rivals Empoli. They join Sassuolo and Hellas Verona in gaining promotion from Serie B. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Paulinho’s 21st goal of the season gave them a 1-0 win to the delight of a packed Armando Picchi and a return to Serie A after an absence of two seasons.
Spain
The race to join Elche in next season’s La Liga will go to the wire after Villarreal and Almeria both won. Villarreal, backed by over 10,000 yellow clad fans, won 3-0 at Barcelona B whilst Almeria scored in the first and last minute of the clash with fellow promotion hopefuls Girona, condemning the visitors to the lottery of the playoffs in the process. Villarreal are ahead of Almeria on goal difference (the head to head is level) ahead of the final round of fixtures when Almeria visit Villarreal, knowing a win would give them automatic promotion and anything would mean the playoffs. Around 2300 Almeria fans will make the long trip north to a packed El Madrigal.
Alcorcon could have sealed a playoff place, but were beaten 4-0 by local rivals Real Madrid Castilla. They remain fifth on 66 points alongside Las Palmas, who climb back into sixth place following a 2-1 win over Numancia. Ponferradina were held 2-2 by Racing Santander and drop out of the playoff zone but have 65 points and their dream of back to back promotions is still alive. This weekend Alcorcon host Sabadell, Las Palmas visit Murcia and Ponferradina will have plenty of backing as they make the short trip to Lugo.
The final three relegation places were confirmed (or at least we thought they were) when Mirandes won 2-1 at mid table Cordoba, meaning Huesca and Murcia went down despite winning their games, as well as Racing Santander who drew 2-2 at promotion chasing Ponferradina, their second relegation on the trot. Murcia won 2-0 at local rivals Hercules amid much discussion around match fixing after almost every bookmaker took down their odds on the game and the few that kept their odds online had Murcia as odds on favourites, despite poor form and a visit to their in form rivals.
However, on Tuesday the LFP announced that Guadalajara would be demoted pending appeal at the end of the season for serious financial fraud and administrative irregularities in regard to their capital for this season. All of a sudden the three teams relegated last weekend have a lifeline and a win for Huesca at Recreativo Huelva would give them safety. If Huesca fail to win, then Murcia could climb out of the drop zone at the death, although they face a tough game in the shape of playoff chasing Las Palmas. Racing Santander face Hercules knowing that they must win and hope Murcia and Huesca don’t to save themselves from back to back relegations.
