5 players that could define the Liga season

If he plays the way he played in Sassuolo then Simone Zaza has what it takes to keep Valencia in Spain’s top flight; if he plays the way he did at West Ham, then they could be relegated. No set of supporters need a hero more than those at Mestalla. Their club has gone from Champions League regulars to the fourth worst team in La Liga (table doesn’t lie in January) and they know any plucky revival from bottom three clubs Osasuna, Sporting or Granada and they are at the front of the queue to fall through the trapdoor.

Their game this weekend – and therefore their last match of the season because second half fixtures repeat, is against neighbours Villarreal – being sent down by their local rivals would complete a nightmare season.

They shouldn’t fall with Zaza upfront alongside the likes of Santi Mina, Munir and Nani but then they shouldn’t have sacked 12 managers in the last 10 years, shouldn't have started building a new stadium just as the backside was about to fall out of the economy, shouldn't have given Gary Neville his first chance in football management, and so the list goes on.

Zaza who could carry-off wearing a mask and cape, can save their season.

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Imagine being able to make a new signing at the start of March. That is, in effect what it will feel like for Real Madrid when they take the bandages off of Gareth Bale and let him run free through April and May. When he damaged ankle ligaments in November no one in Spanish football was playing better.

Real Madrid showed no signs of missing him as they completed a run of 40 games without losing but with the increasingly static Cristiano Ronaldo finding out that arriving in the centre-forward position to score goals is not the same as playing their from the first whistle, they need Bale’s movement.

If he comes back strongly then the effect on the rest could be similar to the effect on his trusted fitness coach Jaime Benito when he jabbed him as part of his recuperation this week.

Sevilla’s ability to rehabilitate fading stars has gone to new levels this season with Samir Nasri playing like the ‘little Zidane’ of old Marseille. The midfielder who once melted Arsene Wenger’s heart has pulled the strings in Sevilla’s midfield and the only question is, can he last the season.

Sevilla are perhaps mercifully out of the Copa del Rey but if they turn Leicester over then the Champions League campaign goes on and they can’t ‘do a Leicester’ and sacrifice their domestic season for European glory because they are on course to contest the title for the first time since Juande Ramos was in charge. It looks like being Sporting Director Monchi’s last season before he heads to Roma.

It would be fitting if one of his shrewdest moves gave Sevilla their greatest-ever season. In the slightly slower tempo of La Liga Nasri and Steven N’Zonzi have put underwhelming spells at Manchester City and Stoke behind them and would currently squeeze into a team of the first-half-of-the-season. If Nasri can last the pace then so will Sevilla.

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Barcelona’s technical director Robert Fernandez said this week: ‘You only have to look into Leo Messi’s eyes to know that he is happy’. Argentinean eyes will not be smiling if Barcelona finish season with nothing. The good news for Barça fans is that the man himself will probably see to it that that doesn’t happen. He loves a challenge and with Ronaldo recently winning ‘The Best’ award from FIFA he can go out and prove he’s better than the best.

It remains a mystery as to why Barcelona have allowed their most valuable asset to enter the last two years of his contract but while father Jorge reads through the new €35 million net a season contract (when it is finally placed in front of him) Leo can start earning his money.

If the soap opera of those contract negotiations start distracting Messi and his game is affected, then Barça’s trophy chances could end up as dented as the King’s Cup when Sergio Ramos dropped it from the top deck of the open top bus Madrid were using to parade it through the streets back in 2011. Then the board really will look daft and they will probably have to quit, to make sure Messi doesn’t .

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And finally to the other player whose ability to keep his eye on the ball will be crucial. Antoine Griezmann. Do Manchester United want him? Yes. Do they have the bottomless pit of money from which to scoop-up the €100 million buy-out clause that forces Atletico to sell? Yes again. Griezmann will have the last word of course. But it’s not unthinkable that Atletico could fall out of the Champions League places this season.

Villarreal and Real Sociedad both have what it takes to quietly take their place should they falter. Griezmann’s first half of the season has been affected by a lingering hangover from Euro 2016. Having finally shaken it off it’s time to show why FIFA think he’s the third best player in the world right now. If he doesn't Atletico Madrid could lose their grip on Champions League football for the first time since 2011.