La Liga Drama: Barca's Injury Crisis, Vinicius' Redemption, and Revenge Returns

Real Madrid lead the standings after the 10th round of the matches with 27 points, with Barcelona five points behind at 22. Villareal CF are third in the points table with 20 points from 10 matches, with Atletico Madrid a further one point behind in fourth position.

Here are four things to look out for this weekend in La Liga.

1. Injury crisis at Barca gives Casado and Bernal a chance

After last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid, the last thing FC Barcelona needed was more bad news on the injury front, but Pedri's torn muscle means that Hansi Flick loses arguably his most important player for around six weeks.

Pedri would have been suspended for Sunday's match at home to Elche anyway, but his absence until the middle of December is another blow to a Barcelona side where nothing seems to be going right, reports Xinhua.

Raphinha, Gavi, Dani Olmo, Andreas Christensen, and Joan Garcia are also sidelined for Barca, and the only silver lining to the injury cloud is that it could allow youngsters Marc Casado and Marc Bernal more game time, with Bernal needing minutes as he looks to return to his best after last season's knee injury.

2. Sarabia will relish return to face Barcelona

Elche coach Eder Sarabia will be relishing his return to Barcelona on Sunday after the unhappy period he spent in the Barcelona dugout five years ago.

Sarabia was assistant to Quique Setien, who replaced Ernesto Valverde in January 2020 with Barcelona top of La Liga, but saw how Barca was overhauled by Atletico and Real Madrid after a disastrous run of results before being humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Sarabia was rumored to have had a difficult relationship with several of Barca's key players, but has since shown he is an excellent coach with success at Andorra and with Elche, who he led to promotion last season and to mid-table at the moment, playing a possession-based game that could test Barcelona's high press, especially if Barca's players are not at their best.

3. Vinicius the question at Real Madrid

Vinicius Jr's reaction to being subbed out of the Clasico win last weekend has generated almost as many column inches over the week as Real Madrid's win in itself, with some defending the player's angry words and gestures and others saying it was time for the club to move him on.

Vinicius has apologised to his team-mates and supporters, but his behaviour has left coach Xabi Alonso with a difficult choice: does he put Vinicius in his starting 11 to face Valencia, or does he start with Rodrygo?

If Vinicius starts, Alonso looks weak, but if he kicks off the game on the subs' bench, talk of a rupture between player and coach looks unavoidable.

4. Pressure on Carrion

Luis Carrion has only been in charge of Oviedo for three games since replacing Veljko Paunovic as first-team coach, but he is already under a lot of pressure ahead of Monday's game at home to Osasuna.

While Paunovic's sacking in the international break was a surprise after he led Oviedo to promotion, Carrion's appointment was an even bigger shock, given that he rejected an offer of a new contract at Oviedo just over a year ago to join Las Palmas.

That decision means supporters have been against Carrion's return from the start, and although Oviedo drew away to Girona last weekend, a disastrous Copa del Rey exit to third-tier Ourense in midweek has increased the tension.

Osasuna has lost all five away games this season, and Carrion desperately needs to make that six; otherwise, he could be on the way out.

- IANS