Valencia and Atletico Madrid Clash While Real Madrid and Barcelona Face Tricky Fixtures in Match Week 3

• Valencia will take on Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid in the pick of the match week 3 fixtures in La Liga
• Real Madrid will be looking to make it 3 wins out of 3 in La Liga when they play against Espanyol
• 8 red cards were dished out last week during an action-packed and tense match week 2 in La Liga

Matchday three of the new La Liga season gets underway today, and there promises to be some entertaining fixtures.

Champions Real Madrid look like strong contenders to claim the title once again, while Barcelona’s new squad shows signs of being a force to be reckoned with.

Valencia and Atletico Madrid, two sides who were expected to be strong challengers this season, have had a mixed bag of fortunes thus far.

Here are the fixtures for Matchday 3:

Friday, August 26

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Girona vs Celta Vigo

Real Betis vs Osasuna

Saturday, August 27

Elche vs Real Sociedad

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Mallorca

Almeria vs Sevilla

Sunday, August 28

Getafe vs Villarreal

Barcelona vs Real Valladolid

Espanyol vs Real Madrid

Monday, August 29

Cadiz vs Athletic Bilbao

Valencia vs Atletico Madrid

Match of the Week:

Undoubtedly the match to watch has to be Valencia and Atletico Madrid. Atleti were booed by their own fans after their loss to Villareal, while Valencia played well in their last game but still fell short against Athletic Bilbao.

What the league table looks like?

3 things to look out for this weekend:

Will Jules Kounde be registered to play?

Kounde has yet to feature for Barcelona in a competitive game this season as the club have been unable to register him with La Liga. The defender also has a clause in his contract which allows him to leave as a free agent if he is not registered by the end of the transfer window.

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More red cards on the card?

The new La Liga has already seen a huge number of red cards being dished out. Three red cards were dished out in the first match week, while in the second match week, a massive eight red cards were dished out in ten games.

Will Antoine Griezmann play for more than 45 minutes?

Diego Simeone desperately wants Antoine Griezmann to play to help Atletico Madrid bounce back to winning ways, but the club are trying to limit his involvement. If the Frenchman plays 45 minutes or more in 14 games this season, Atleti will have to pay Barcelona a whopping €40 million for his services.

Modric scores a stunner as Real Madrid stroll past Celta Vigo

Luka Modric was in the best of forms on Saturday evening in Real Madrid's 4-1 win away to Celta Vigo on Matchday 2 of the Spanish Primera Division.

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The Croatian midfielder scored a stunning strike and assisted Vinicius Junior for another as the defending champions made it two wins from two in La Liga this season.

The 37-year-old finished off a beautiful goal after he curled home from outside the box just to put Real Madrid ahead.