MADRID, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The third round of games in La Liga gets underway on Friday night with Racing Santander at home to Elche while Alaves is at home to Villarreal.
Racing plays its second home game on its return to the elite after a narrow defeat to Getafe last weekend, while Elche needs to bounce back after a 5-0 defeat at home to Barcelona and both sides are looking for their first win of the season.
Alaves has had a positive start to the season with striker Mariano Diaz scoring in both of the team's opening two games to repay the faith of coach Quique Sanchez Flores. The team from Vitoria faces a Villarreal side that is playing its third match on the road, with Inigo Perez starting his reign with a 2-2 draw in Santander and the same score away to Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid plays newly promoted Malaga on Sunday afternoon with Kylian Mbappe in lethal form after Wednesday's hat-trick against Real Sociedad, while Jude Bellingham looks to have carried over his confidence from the World Cup into the start of the new La Liga season under Jose Mourinho.
FC Barcelona has also started the campaign with consecutive wins and can be expected to make it three wins from three when Rayo Vallecano is at the Camp Nou on Monday night.
Lamine Yamal was lively in Barcelona's 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night, hitting the crossbar in the second half, while coach Hansi Flick has options to continue rotating his starting 11 at the start of the season.
Betis is another team with a 100 percent record as Manuel Pellegrini takes his team to face a Levante that hasn't scored in its opening two games.
New signing Troy Parrott could be in line for his first start for Betis after making his debut as a substitute in Betis' 1-0 win away to Valencia on Tuesday.
Real Sociedad has kicked off the season with defeats away to Betis and Real Madrid and Pellegrino Matarazzo's men will look for home comforts when they return to their Anoeta Stadium to face Espanyol, who pushed Real Madrid hard last weekend.
The shadow of want-away Julian Alvarez hangs over Atletico Madrid on its visit to Sevilla as the striker has missed the last two days of training with the club due to an illness, amid speculation over his future, with Atletico insisting they won't sell him to Barcelona.
With Alexander Sorloth still recovering from a muscle injury, Diego Simeone will again have to improvise in attack and also have defender Robin Le Normand suspended after his sending off against Villarreal.
Valencia is another team still to score a goal this season, with Carlos Corberan's men visiting Deportivo La Coruna, who have returned to La Liga with two draws in two games. Valencia has added Arnau Martinez to its squad from Girona, but needs to add more creativity before the transfer window closes.
Defeats to Sevilla and Barcelona have left Athletic Bilbao bottom of the table after Edin Terzic's first two games in charge and although that is anecdotal at this stage of the campaign, the Basque side needs something from its visit to Celta Vigo, who lost 2-1 at home to Osasuna on Thursday after Marcos Alonso's red card turned the game around.
That win lifted some pressure on new Osasuna coach Luis Miguel Ramis, who knows his side has a tough match on Monday when the always complicated Getafe visits the El Sadar Stadium. ■
