🏏 Fri, 16 Oct 2026 21:00 CEST
Deportivo La Coruna
vs
Levante UD
4-4-2 vs 4-3-3
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- Eighth-placed Deportivo (10 points, 2W-4D-2L, +1 goal difference) host Levante, who sit 17th on six points from seven matches (1W-3D-3L, -4). Barcelona set the pace on 24 points, but the real pressure is at the bottom: Levante are level on points with 18th-placed Elche and stay out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.
- Deportivo's season so far is defined by one number: four draws in eight games. Their form line reads W-D-L-D-L, and while they won 3-2 away at Villarreal in round four, home form has been the sticking point — a 0-1 defeat to Sevilla in round six and a 1-1 draw with Real Betis in round seven. The promoted side rarely get beaten, but they rarely close games out either.
- Levante score and concede in equal measure: 11 goals for, 15 against in seven games. They hammered Real Betis 5-2 at home in round three, then lost 2-4 to Barcelona, went down 1-3 at Villarreal and drew 3-3 with Sevilla. That is three consecutive matches shipping at least three goals, and Deportivo have 12 goals of their own to work with.
- Deportivo's creative hub is No. 10 Yeremay Hernandez, a 23-year-old who stands just 169cm but takes both the penalties and the free-kicks. He spent much of last season managing hip discomfort, so his physical condition is worth watching. His direct opponent is Levante right-back Nacho Perez, a 2008-born academy product who broke into the first team at 17 — a clear experience gap down that flank.
- Both centre-back pairings mix a veteran with a teenager. Deportivo put 31-year-old Uruguay captain Jose Maria Gimenez, a decade-plus Atletico Madrid servant, alongside 193cm Pole Bright Ede, born in 2007. Levante answer with Dela, the 27-year-old Real Madrid Castilla graduate, and 18-year-old Ifeanyi Ndukwe, who came through Austria Vienna and Liverpool's U21 setup.
- The goalkeeping duel is a study in contrasts. Deportivo's Leonardo Roman, 26 and 189cm, was this summer's marquee signing at roughly nine million euros from Mallorca, where his form earned a Spain call-up. Levante trust 34-year-old Australia international Mat Ryan, whose CV runs through Arsenal, Brighton, Real Sociedad and Valencia. In an open game, their sweeping and shot-stopping will decide it.
- In midfield it is finesse against size. Deportivo build through 163cm playmaker Mario Soriano, an Atletico Madrid academy graduate now 24, with 30-year-old captain Diego Villares — a product of local side Villalbes — doing the dirty work, and 166cm Luis Cruz of Sevilla's academy handling set-pieces. Levante counter with 186cm Daniel Requena and La Masia-trained left-footer Oriol Rey as the screen.
- Deportivo also hold the stronger bench. Spain winger Adama Traore, 30, made over 100 Premier League appearances for Wolves and has Barcelona on his CV, while Angelino, 29, is back at his boyhood club on loan from Roma after spells at Manchester City and RB Leipzig. Levante's reserves carry pedigree too: Algeria's 34-year-old Aissa Mandi and ex-Borussia Dortmund and Celtic full-back Jeremy Toljan.
- There is a homecoming subplot on the Levante bench. Victor Garcia, 29, began his career with Deportivo de La Coruna's B team before working his way up through Eldense, Alcorcon and Real Valladolid. A utility man who covers right-back and the right wing, he returns to the club where his professional path started should he be called upon late on.