La Liga 2025-2026: Real Oviedo-Espanyol, the probable formations
After the break for national teams, Spanish La Liga also returns to the field, ready to experience the ninth round of the 2025/26 season. Opening the weekend will be Friday night’s 9 p.m. advance, with Real Oviedo and Espanyol vying for the three points at the “Carlos Tartiere.” Two teams coming off a lackluster period, hoping to have taken advantage of the break to regain energy and conviction.
Real Oviedo has collected just 6 points in 8 days, a haul judged insufficient by the management, which decided to exonerate Veljko Paunovic, the architect of promotion. In his place is back Luis Carrión, already on the club’s bench in the 2023/24 season. The new coach will first have to restore confidence to a group that has lost four of its last five games, two of them at home. Fun fact: Carrión will make his debut against Espanyol, the team with which he won the Queen’s Cup in 2012, then at the helm of the women’s team.
Espanyol also experienced a complicated period before the break: only two points in their last four games, with defeats against Real Madrid and Betis. The good start to the season, however, allows the white-blue to remain on 12 points and look ahead with confidence. After a last season that ended with a quiet salvation (42 points), coach Manolo González is aiming for more continuity to try to bring back stability and European ambitions to the “Periquitos,” who have too often been the protagonists of a seesaw between La Liga and Segunda in recent years.
Probable lineups:
Real Oviedo (4-3-3): Aarón Escandell; Lucas Ahijado, Bailly, David Carmo, Alhassane; Alberto Reina, Dendocker, Colombatto; Hassan, Rondón, Brekalo.
Coach: Luis Carrión
Espanyol (4-2-3-1): Dmitrovic; El Hilali, Riedel, Cabrera, Carlos Romero; Pol Lozano, Edu Expósito; Dolan, Puado, Milla; Roberto Fernández.
Coach: Manolo González
