As is the case every season, two teams have won automatic promotion after 42 rounds, CD Leganés and Real Valladolid, and now another four will fight for the last place in Spanish football’s top flight. It promises to be an exciting contest, with historic clubs taking part and with the fans experiencing all kinds of nerves and emotions.
The rules of the playoffs are clear. The teams that finished between third and sixth in the final LALIGA HYPERMOTION table have qualified and they’ll play home and away legs in a semi-final and then a final for the best duo. Third-placed SD Eibar will face sixth-placed Real Oviedo and fourth-placed RCD Espanyol will take on fifth-placed Real Sporting de Gijón, with the second legs to be played at the home of the higher-ranked team. In the event of a draw there will be extra time, but not penalties. If the 120 minutes of the second leg are over and the tie is level, the winner will be the team who had the higher position in the standings at the end of the 42 matchdays.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the third-placed team has full advantage in these playoffs. History says that this is not the case. In the 13 previous occasions with playoffs in this format, only three times has the third-placed team ended up winning promotion to the top flight. On the other hand, the ranking which has gone up most frequently has been sixth. In other words, the team that just sneaks in to the top six often goes all the way.
This makes sense, as the teams that finish third are often there because they were close to automatic promotion but then ended the season in disappointment. On the other hand, the teams that enter the playoffs with some momentum tend to push on and achieve positive results in the promotion playoffs.
SD Eibar vs Real Oviedo
One of the semi-finals will be a repeat of one of the matches from the final matchday, when SD Eibar defeated Real Oviedo 4-3. Now, they’ll meet again, starting with the first leg at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere in Oviedo, where the home fans will look to push their team towards promotion to LALIGA EA SPORTS, a division they haven’t played in since 2000/01.
Los Armeros have been the highest scoring team in the division with 72 goals, so SD Eibar do enter these playoffs with some confidence. The Basques have also won their last six home games, so they hope to make Ipurua a fortress in the second leg and keep up the dream of returning to the top flight after a three-year absence.
RCD Espanyol vs Real Sporting de Gijón
RCD Espanyol, who have been in or close to the automatic promotion places for much of the season, will take on a team that qualified for the playoffs on the last matchday. As such, the Catalan side have the home advantage, however the mood in each camp might be quite different. Real Sporting have won three of their last four matches while Los Blanquiazules have only three wins from their last 11 games.
RCD Espanyol will be able to count on Martin Braithwaite, though, the division’s top scorer. He will miss Euro 2024 with Denmark to focus on the goal of returning his side to LALIGA EA SPORTS. However, Real Sporting de Gijón are a tough team to beat and will aim to reach the final, which could be an Asturian derby between the Gijón outfit and their arch-rivals Real Oviedo.