The final third of the season is among us and week 26 is going to be mighty interesting after what happened midweek.

If there was a team fitting of helping a morally battered teams regroup, Valladolid is just right. Real Madrid should have not problems as they travel to face relegation-compromised Valladolid. We should be seeing the Madrid of the last 30 minutes in the first 30 at the Estadio José Zorrilla. That is going to be the main fire that former Barcelona man Onésimo Sánchez will have to deal with.

Sánchez has not been able to stop the albivioleta bleeding since he took over for José Luis Mendilibar. He will look for a miracle against the league leaders and stop a winless streak that goes back to December 20th when they defeated Real Zaragoza.

If the Galácticos want to quell the emotions of their faithful and take the first step in the right direction towards a 32nd league title that have to come out like gangbusters. The last time they came to Valladolid they lost 1-0 courtesy of a Fabián Canobbio strike. Anything less than that will see Marca and As going crazy on Monday morning. Expect Justo Villar to have a busy night.

Tito Vilanova will be head coach for Barcelona for the second time ever as they get ready to host a wounded Valencia side. Barca will try to keep pace with Real Madrid without Josep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic who will be serving a one-match ban for having been sent off at Almería last weekend.

Barcelona have beaten Valencia in their last two visits to the Nou Camp by a combined score of 10-0. Los Ches are coming off a devastating draw at home against Werder Bremen in the Europa League and will most likely be missing star goalscorer David Villa after being injured midweek.

Barca will most likely line up with Pedro, Bojan, and Messi up front. Seydou Keita will be a welcome addition to the blaugrana lineup as he was out since the middle of February after suffering a hamstring tear against Atlético Madrid.

Getafe are winless in their last five and won two out of their last ten. They do have an advantage over the islanders at the Estadio Alfonso Pérez in recent years. Roberto Soldado will have to get back on track if he can help Los Azulones get back on track. He has been the sole threat on offense and defenses have squared off on him. His 12 goals account for 38% of Getafe's scoring. Michel's side have been on a scoring drought that has compromised their European pretensions.

A Mallorca win and a Sevilla loss could put the islanders back in Champions League positions.

Speaking of Sevilla, they are another team that is going to try to bounce back after losing in heartbreaking fashion to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu last weekend. A win would be important for them as they prepare to face CSKA Moscow in a midweek Champions League clash. It doesn't get any easier for the Nervionenses as they will host Deportivo. These two teams last faced off in the Copa del Rey and it was Baby Depor that came out on top at the Sánchez Pizjuan.

Deportivo will need to try to worry about their road woes as they have lost all of their league matches on the road in 2010.

The winner of Zaragoza-Racing will be able totruly separate from themselves in the relegation race. The arrival of Humberto Suazo to Zaragoza has been the biggest impact for the team as they saw enough of a spike in their results to get out of relegation. In less than two months in Spain, Suazo is tied for second in the team in scoring with four goals. He is just one behind Javier Arismendi.

Athletic have long reached that mythical 40-point plateau. That assures them of not being relegated, but they were able to rid themselves of this ghost sooner than in recent years. The Basques got a taste of European play and would like to continue that streak as they find themselves just a point behind Deportivo for the final Europa League spot.

Fixture

Getafe -Mallorca

Sporting -Athletic

Sevilla- Deportivo

Racing - Zaragoza

Villarreal - Xerez

Almería - Málaga

Tenerife - Espanyol

Valladolid - Real Madrid

Barcelona - Valencia

Atlético - Osasuna