La Liga will undergo an unusual midseason pause this year as domestic action breaks for the World Cup. A full eight weeks will separate final round of La Liga action before the World Cup and the first game back from the biggest tournament in football, but how will that influence matters back in Spain?
For one thing, it will impact the big clubs differently. Those who feel they have a read on the changes that will occur with the break may want to check out some accumulator tips and see if there is any value in them.
The title race may well be the least-affected section of the table, with Real Madrid and Barcelona both seeing a number of internationals leave them on international duty. The effect should be relatively even though, providing neither suffers major injuries during the tournament.
Carlo Ancelotti has spoken about using exclusively a different set of players for the first few weeks back as they launch into action in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercup. Barcelona have already been seriously bitten by injuries this season, and will be keen to exercise caution themselves.
For the teams below the top three, with significantly less involvement in the World Cup, it is a chance to get healthy. Real Betis will have Juanmi returned to them, Villarreal will hope Gerard Moreno will hopefully regain his sharpness if he does not travel with Spain and although Sevilla are much lower in the table, they will hope to regain Fernando Reges and Marcao.
For those lower down the table, Sevilla can include themselves in this, it will be a chance to reset the mentality. A break from the daily stress of poor performances and burgeoning pressure should aid sides like Elche, Getafe, Espanyol and Celta Vigo. All will feel they have underperformed so far and the break will give managers like Diego Martinez and Carlos Carvalhal to further inculcate their ideas after a hectic schedule to begin with.
Teams without large numbers of participants will have time for holidays, a full preseason and then a return to action at full fitness, before attacking their fixtures again. It may well be that we see several completely altered sides, who have so far been unable to fix their issues. Perhaps the most intriguing battles will be those between the big guns and the minnows; jaded superstars will have to refocus their minds as well-rested packs fighting for their lives come after them.
