La Liga heads for tense final day with Europe, surviaval at stake
By Joel Masibo, May 23, 2026The Spanish top flight is heading into an intense final round of fixtures, with places in Europe and survival in the division still undecided ahead of Saturday night’s, May 23, 2026 decisive matches.
While FC Barcelona has already wrapped up the league title and Real Madrid is assured of second place, spots in European competitions and the relegation battle remain wide open. Atlético Madrid, Villarreal and Real Betis have already booked their tickets to next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Road to Europe
Real Sociedad secured qualification for the Europa League after lifting the Copa del Rey against Atletico Madrid in March, leaving RC Celta de Vigo in a strong position to take the remaining Europa League berth.
Celta currently sits sixth, three points clear of Getafe , and only needs a draw at home against Sevilla to guarantee its place. Sevilla confirmed its safety in the division last weekend.
However, should Sevilla claim victory away from home and Getafe defeat CA Osasuna, Getafe would climb above Celta into sixth position and grab the Europa League qualification spot.
If Getafe fails to overcome Osasuna, which still requires at least a point to mathematically secure survival following a disappointing run of results, Rayo Vallecano could move into seventh place and qualify for the UEFA Conference League.
Rayo must first win away to Deportivo Alavés, another side that already avoided relegation last weekend. In addition, if Rayo defeats Crystal Palace FC in next week’s Conference League final, the club would earn a Europa League spot, potentially creating another European qualification place for the team ending the campaign in eighth.
Valencia also still has a chance of finishing seventh, but it must beat Barcelona and hope both Rayo and Getafe fail to win. Barcelona is likely to rotate its squad, although the champions still looked sharp in last weekend’s draw against Betis.
RCD Espanyol remains an outsider in the European race. Espanyol would need to beat Real Sociedad, while also relying on defeats for both Rayo and Getafe, as well as Valencia failing to take maximum points.
Relegation battle
At the bottom of the table, the fight to avoid relegation promises even more drama. RCD Mallorca, Girona FC, Elche , Osasuna and Levante UD are all still battling to stay up.
Mallorca, currently second from bottom, faces the toughest situation. The club must beat already-relegated Real Oviedo and also depend on several other favorable outcomes, including Girona failing to defeat Elche, Getafe overcoming Osasuna, and Levante avoiding defeat against Betis.
Girona enters the final day inside the relegation zone but would secure safety with a home victory over Elche. Meanwhile, Elche only requires a draw away from home to preserve its top-flight status.
Osasuna can secure survival with at least a point against Getafe, as the league’s head-to-head tiebreaker would work against the club in certain scenarios involving Mallorca and Elche finishing level on points.
Levante, boosted by an impressive finish to the season, only needs to avoid defeat against Betis to stay safe. However, the team could still be relegated if it loses and ends up tied on points with Elche.
Elsewhere, Álvaro Arbeloa and Ernesto Valverde will oversee their final matches as coaches of Real Madrid and Athletic Club respectively when the sides meet at the Santiago Bernabeu, with neither team having anything major left to play for.
Sunday’s, May 24, 2026 clash between Atletico Madrid and Villarreal will determine which side ends the campaign in third place and which settles for fourth.