Madrid (AFP)

With his new coach Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla can escape to the top of the Spanish Championship on Friday against Vigo in opening of the third day, which opposes on Saturday the promoted Osasuna and the champion Barcelona, ​​always in the waiting of Lionel Messi (wounded ) and Neymar (hoped).

Lopetegui lives again: less than a year after his unceremonious dismissal of the Spanish team, then of Real Madrid, the Basque technician started his mandate with great fanfare in Sevilla FC with two successes in as many matches.

The Andalusian club (1st, 6 pts) hopes to continue its flawless Friday against Celta Vigo (18:00 GMT), which would allow him to take sole control pending the meeting of Atlético Madrid (2nd, 6 pts) against Eibar Sunday.

The other match scheduled on Friday is a tantalizing Basque derby between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad of San Sebastian (20:00 GMT), neighboring clubs that maintain a good-natured rivalry.

Saturday (15:00 GMT), FC Barcelona (9th, 3 pts) moves not far from there, in Pamplona in Navarre, to face Osasuna (7th, 4 pts).

And if the club blaugrana can rejoice in the quick adaptation of Antoine Griezmann, author of a double in the 5-2 win against Betis, two question marks persist: Captain Lionel Messi, who is recovering from a calf injury, will it be delivered on time or will it wait until mid-September and the end of the international truce to come back? And what about the Neymar file?

A five days from the closing of the transfer window Monday at midnight, the Brazilian striker is still at Paris SG despite the intensification of negotiations between the two clubs, who met again Tuesday. Will the operation be completed in time?

In Madrid, Real Zinedine Zidane (3rd, 4 pts) has some ghosts of last season to chase after the sad draw against Valladolid (1-1). The merengue team moves to Villarreal Sunday evening (19:00 GMT) to rebound and prove that the 300 million euros invested this summer in recruitment have not been in vain ...

The program (in GMT hours):

Friday:

(6 pm) Seville - Celta Vigo

(20h00) Athletic Bilbao - Real Sociedad

Saturday:

(15h00) Osasuna - Barcelona

(17h00) Levante - Valladolid

Getafe - Alavés

(7:00 pm) Betis Seville - Leganés

Sunday:

(15h00) Valencia CF - Majorca

(17h00) Espanyol Barcelona - Granada

Atlético Madrid - Eibar

(19h00) Villarreal - Real Madrid

© 2019 AFP