The announcement this week that Gary Neville had signed a 5-month contract to take charge of Valencia until the end of the season elicited a plethora of emotions from the club's fans and local newspapers alike. Besides the fact that one local periodical thought that the ex-England international was Scottish, many fans, it seems, were hoping for a more prestigious name to take the helm with names like Frank Rijkaard being festooned and fancied across gossip columns and cafes alike. However, Neville it is and he will assume the role of chieftain next Wednesday when Valencia play Lyon in the Champions League in a must win match. However, before then Neville's new charges have the daunting task of hosting Barcelona on Saturday and with Neville in attendance, we think his first introduction to Spanish football will be disconcerting, to say the least.

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Barcelona

Barcelona are, arguably right now, the best team on the planet. In Europe, it seems, their only challengers for another Champions League crown will be Bayern Munich and their clinical dissection of Madrid in El Classico, suggests that the runner's up spot in La Liga this year may be the only uncertain variable for the 2015-2016 season. Of course that can change as players fall in and out of form and yield to injuries, but when a team can lose one of the best players the game has ever seen for two months and still dismantle and destroy all before them, that team is something special.

The blessed trinity of Messi, Neymar and Suarez have, between them, scored 30 of Barcelona's 33 goals in La Liga this season and with Neymar averaging a goal every 75 minutes, the fact that Barca have won six league games on the trot, flows into the logic as perfectly as an Iniesta pass. Although they have foundered twice away from home earlier in the season at Celta Vigo and Seville, Valencia have only beaten the Catalan behemoths once in their last 16 games. Come Saturday evening, it will very likely be one out of 17. Regardless of their unbeaten home record in La Liga this season, Valencia will be without some key players lost to injury and suspension and simply won't be able to cap the most prolific forward line in the world. Thus, we expect Barcelona to maintain their empirical status as La Liga's lords and purveyors of all things glorious and gifted about the unique brand of football that is, oft-times, simply magical.

Atletico, Real & Celta Vigo

Also on Saturday, second place Atletico will visit a beleaguered Granada outfit and even though Diego Simeone's men will, once again, be missing Jackson Martinez up front, we expect them to come back home from Andalucia with another three points in tow. In fact, if the historians are accurate, Granada have not beaten Atletico in the league since 1973, before many of us (ahem) were even born and we doubt we will see history re-written come Saturday. It's not only history that leans against Granada as their recent form isn't exactly tantalizing either having only won twice this season and coming up against a team that has only lost one of its last 14 away games and is unbeaten in 11 games, Simeone's charges could run riot.

The other big team from Madrid, currently in third spot, will play a derby of sorts when they host Getafe at the Bernabeu on Saturday, and given that Los Blancos have won each of the last seven home games in this match-up, it's probably another game that is a foregone conclusion. This is a game that Real will want to win, and win well. Following their humiliation at the hands of Barcelona and their expulsion from the Copa Del Rey for fielding an ineligible player, Los Blancos will be looking appease their increasingly dissatisfied fans. Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema will be eager to put a team that has not won an away fixture since April, to the sword and although they won their last game, Getafe won't be leaving with anything to show for their toil.

By the end of the weekend, the top of La Liga should remain unchanged with the top three all winning but keep an eye on fourth place Celta Vigo who will travel to Seville to take on Real Betis in what, we think, could be a very entertaining game. These two teams have a very similar attack-minded philosophy but Real Betis have certainly displayed their vulnerabilities at home and are currently on a four-match losing streak at the Estadio Benito Villamarin. They will be buoyed by their 1-0 away win over Levante last week, but Celta Vigo may be on an even higher high given their lofty league position and their won recent hard fought win over Gijon. With Nolito being the team's nucleus, the Galician team seems to be back on track following a blistering start to the season but then stumbling to a couple of back-to-back defeats. In the last two games between them in the league, 11 goals were scored and we think this fixture has the potential to provide some goal speckled theater to round off another spectacle of footballing brilliance in Spain.

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