COLUMN: The big guide to La Liga’s relegation race | OneFootball

This past weekend, Real Valladolid suffered a devastating 7-1 defeat at the hands of Athletic Club, which further laid bare their struggles in the 2024/25 La Liga season. The thrashing at San Mames was not a one-off humiliation but a stark reflection of Valladolid’s deeper issues since their return to the top flight.

Promoted last season after a single year in the Segunda Division, Valladolid have found the step up in quality overwhelming. Despite having a larger wage bill than other La Liga clubs such as Rayo Vallecano and Leganes, their recruitment has struggled to build a squad with enough talent to compete in La Liga. This squad-building has shown up in their numbers, with Valladolid being, by a wide margin, the team with the fewest goals scored (16) and the most goals conceded (59).

They have already sacked two managers (Paulo Pezzolano and Diego Cocca last week), and right now, youth team manager Alvaro Rubio is in charge. As of now, Valladolid look increasingly resigned to returning to the second tier, and it might be better for the club to start thinking about player and coach recruitment for their next season in Segunda .

While Valladolid’s plight seems the most dire, the rest of La Liga’s relegation contenders still have plenty of room to avoid relegation. So let’s take a quick look at the other contenders – Espanyol, Leganes, Las Palmas, Alaves, and Valencia – and what’s working for and against them as the season progresses.

Espanyol: Improving Away from Home

Image via RCDE / Carlos Mira

Espanyol, another of last season’s promoted sides, have shown flashes of promise that suggest they could escape the drop.

Despite being solid enough on their home ground, Espanyol had one of the worst away records in the division, with just 2 points out of 33 in away games before this weekend. Their victory against Alaves this past Saturday was their first one of the season, and if Espanyol want to comfortably avoid relegation, they will have to get more of those.

Their game plan under coach Manolo Gonzalez has been to maintain a very deep defensive block. According to Understat data, Espanyol allow the most passes per defensive action in the division, which implies they are the most passive defensive block in the league. One would argue this setup of deep block + counter is well-suited for away games, but it seems to have the opposite effect. Espanyol defend so deeply that they pose no attacking threat to their opponents on their home grounds.

The other argument in Espanyol’s favor is their 23-year-old goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who has consistently bailed out an occasionally shaky Espanyol defence with highlight-reel stops. Espanyol’s recent upturn—three wins and two draws in their last six games as of late February 2025—is in no small part due to his saves. Garcia is easily the most in-form keeper among the relegation contenders, which can be the difference between going down and staying up.

Leganes: Can Organization Compensate for a Lack of Talent?

Back in La Liga after a four-year absence, Leganes have the smallest revenue and wage bill in the competition. Based on their squad talent, it was clear from the start that Leganes would be fighting to avoid the relegation zone. Despite these constraints, Leganes have not found themselves in relegation spots at the end of any of the last 25 matchdays.

Coach Borja Jimenez has created a team who are organized, scrappy, and hard to break down. They also have a low-to-mid defensive block and attempt to hit opponents on the counter. And unlike Espanyol, that plan has allowed them to get plenty of draws in away games and some shock wins against big opponents. This includes their defeat of Barcelona at Montjuic, their draw in San Mames against Athletic, and their defeat of Atletico Madrid at home.

Their lack of quality in the final third is a glaring drawback. Goals have been hard to come by (third-worst attack in the league with 22 goals), and their reliance on defensive solidity leaves little margin for error. They don’t have an individual, such as a goalie or striker in great form, who can get them results in the way other relegation contenders have. Leganes will need to maintain their discipline and hope their rivals falter if they’re to secure another season in the top flight.

Las Palmas: A Turnaround in Trouble

Fabio Silva celebrates a goal for Las Palmas.

After a rough start under manager Luis Carrion, it seemed as if Las Palmas were on the way to recovery under new manager Diego Martinez. Martinez was less interested in having possession and controlling games with the ball than his predecessor. And for a moment, this seemed to be exactly what they needed. From the moment Martinez took over (the game against Valencia on October 21st) until the end of the calendar year, Las Palmas had accumulated six wins, one draw, and just two losses in nine La Liga games. Even a comfortable mid-table finish was seen as possible now.

However, it seems the new year has dissipated the effect of the new-manager bump. In 2025, Las Palmas have lost every match except for a draw at home against Osasuna. Their momentum has stalled, and their dip in form has dragged them back into danger.

The absence of Kirian Rodriguez has dealt a significant blow to UD Las Palmas, as the team captain announced in early February 2025 that he would step away from football indefinitely to undergo chemotherapy following a relapse of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His leadership and midfield presence, evident in his participation in 21 of 22 La Liga matches this season before his diagnosis, have left a void that the struggling side must now navigate in their fight against relegation. The recent injury to Fabio Silva, one of their key strikers this season alongside Sandro Ramirez, hasn’t helped either.

Despite the relatively good form of goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen as well as the strikers, the concern is that Las Palmas’ defense is still too consistently leaky and error-prone to hold out in the relegation race. Martinez will need further defensive improvements if he wants his team to survive.

Alaves: Fading Early Promise

Deportivo Alaves burst out of the gates this season, their physicality and direct style shining under Luis Garcia Plaza. However, that wouldn’t last long.

Plaza was sacked as head coach on the second of December, after a string of poor results (one win, one draw, and seven losses in their last nine league matches) that saw the team slide dangerously close to the La Liga relegation zone. At the time of his dismissal, Alaves sat 16th in the table, only one point above the drop zone. The club’s management, despite García Plaza never having been in the relegation places during the 2024/25 season and having recently signed a contract extension through 2026, opted for a change to “give an impulse to the team,” as stated by club president Alfonso Fernandez de Troconiz.

Many viewed the move as harsh, given Plaza’s excellent track record. He led Alaves to promotion from the Segunda División in 2022 via the playoffs and secured a 10th-place finish in La Liga the following season. He was replaced by Eduardo “Chacho” Coudet, the former Celta Vigo manager, in a bid to turn the team’s fortunes around.

Unfortunately, Coudet has not been able to turn the fortunes around, and Alaves find themselves now in 18th spot. In Coudet’s defence, the team looks a bit stronger collectively than it did at the end of Plaza’s reign, which is reflected in their underlying numbers. Luck is not on their side, however, and they’ve had several games at home – Girona, Celta, and Espanyol – where they dominated and created enough to win the game but could not finish the job.

And this goes back to their big issue: aside from striker Kike Garcia being in great scoring form, Alaves have no other individuals who can carry the team through this run. Antonio Sivera is an average shot-stopper, and the double pivot of Antonio Blanco and Ander Guevara is not performing as well as last year, to the point Guevara has been dropped in the last couple of games.

Valencia: The Wounded Giant

Image via BBC / Rex Features

Ruben Baraja’s sacking from Valencia and the subsequent hiring of Carlos Corberan marked an intriguing shift for the club under Peter Lim’s ownership. Baraja, a Valencia legend as a player, was dismissed on the 23rd of December, after a dismal run that left the team 19th in La Liga with just two wins from 17 matches. Fans had grown restless, and the pressure on Lim, long criticised for treating the club as a business rather than a footballing institution, intensified. Baraja’s exit, costing the club a reported €5m in severance, was a reluctant but inevitable call as Valencia hovered four points from safety, with the spectre of relegation – their first since 1986 – looming large.

Enter Corberan, a 41-year-old Valencian who’d been making waves at West Bromwich Albion in England’s Championship. His appointment, confirmed on Christmas day, with a contract until 2027, was an unusual flex for Lim’s Valencia, a club not typically associated with splashing cash on managerial changes. Valencia paid around €2.4 million to trigger Corberan’s release clause, bringing the total cost of the transition to roughly €7.4 million. What raised eyebrows even further was the choice of Corberan himself: a relatively untested coach at the elite level, yet one with a glowing reputation from stints under Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds and a playoff push with Huddersfield. His tactical acumen and adaptability offered hope, but hiring someone without top-flight experience to rescue a sinking giant was a gamble.

And up to now, the gamble seems to be working well enough. Corberan’s Valencia are more compact and solid defensively than Baraja’s, and they have been able to grind out good results. They have defeated Real Sociedad, Celta, and Leganes at home, drawn against Sevilla and Villarreal away, and have only lost against the Spanish top three (Real Madrid, Atletico, and Barca). In other words, Corberan’s Valencia have won the games they are supposed to win (vs. lower-half teams at home) and have gotten decent results against some top-half teams. Their underlying numbers back up their results.

Out of all the relegation contenders, Valencia seem to be in the best run of form as of the end of February. And one could argue they have the strongest, deepest squad out of the relegation contenders. If Valencia continue this run of form, they will avoid relegation, perhaps even comfortably; a lot can still happen in the next three months.

What goes against Valencia is that goalie Giorgi Mamardashvili seems to have his head more in Liverpool than Valencia at the moment. His form this season has been a far cry from last season, where he was arguably the most decisive shot-stopper in the tournament. A good Mamardashvili would be the most important boost for Valencia’s chances in the relegation race.

The Road Ahead

Image via Canarias 7

With Valladolid almost written off, the race to avoid the remaining two relegation spots is wide open. Alaves and Valencia have, in my opinion, the most talented squads among these relegation contenders, yet they are currently in relegation spots. However, Valencia seem to have a more solid team identity now and are well positioned to get out of relegation spots.

Meanwhile, Espanyol and Leganes might have less talent, but they have clear defensive plans that allow them to grind games out, with Espanyol getting an extra boost due to the excellent performances of Joan Garcia. Perhaps Las Palmas are the team with the most uncertainties out of these five. They don’t have a clear team identity yet, and it’s not clear the squad is talented enough to compensate for that. They are, to me, the clearest relegation candidate.

As the season nears its crucial final months, direct clashes between these teams will prove decisive. One thing is certain: in La Liga 24/25, the relegation scrap promises a good bit of drama until the very end.

José C. Pérez can be found on social media here, and if you’re hungry for more, find their excellent work here.