Still one match to go: Getafe on Saturday

Everyone has hopefully recovered from their champagne hangovers, right? Just remember, there is still one more game to go, away to Getafe on Saturday.

And this one matters, because.....

(1) The race for Europe. Getafe are 5th, Valencia 4th, both on 58 points. Valencia own the tiebreak courtesy of a 1-0 win at Geta back in October. Sevilla are on 56.

Obviously, the difference between 4th and 5th is Champions League for 4th, Europa for 5th, which is enormous. I am not clear on whether the 6th placed team has to go into the EL playoff round; there is a small financial benefit to finishing fifth rather than sixth as far as EL money is concerned.

(2) TV money, possibly. Villarreal could finish as high as 12th with a win, or as low as 17th with a loss. Why does it matter? Because part of the formula for distributing Spain’s TV money involves an average of the league position over the last five seasons. The difference between 12th and 17th might translate into a €2m difference depending on how things work out with other teams—or, it might mean nothing.

(3) Our all-time worst seasons in the Primera were our two relegation years (1998/99 and 2011/12) when we had 36 and 41 points, respectively. Our next worst were 43 points in 2001/02 and 45 points in 2002/03. A win would mean this season would only be the fifth-worst in our Primera history. Isn’t that something to shoot for?

(4) Let’s face it. We should have gotten a draw against these anti-football kings at the Ceramíca, but Toko Ekambi missed a last-second penalty (Santi should have taken it anyway). We deserve to spoil their party.

Endavant.