Madrid - After nine months of sweat, toil and tears - and occasionally even blood - the Spanish relegation battle reaches its grim, dramatic, traumatic conclusion on Sunday. Four teams are fighting to avoid the third relegation berth: Zaragoza, Osasuna, Recreativo Huelva and Valladolid.
Murcia and Levante are already down - but who will accompany them into the bottomless pit that is the Spanish Segunda Division?
Of the four contenders, Zaragoza are in tightest fix.
Despite being the most expensive team in the club's history - and despite boasting Argentine stars like Roberto Ayala, Pablo Aimar and Diego Milito - Zaragoza are third from bottom, with just 42 points.
They need to win away to seventh-placed Mallorca, who are bidding for the UEFA Cup and who will be led by league top scorer Daniel Guiza.
"We know that we have a tough task ahead of us," said Ayala on Wednesday.
"But we know that, if things go right, we have the quality and character to pull it off."
Zaragoza are sweating on the fitness of striker Sergio Garcia, who has come into the reckoning for a place in Spain's European Championship squad because of the reluctance of Barcelona teenager Bojan Krkic to go the tournament.
Osasuna and Huelva are tied on 43 points.
Osasuna are away to sixth-placed Racing Santander, who will clinch a place in Europe for the first time ever if they win.
The most dramatic game, however, will be played out in Huelva, in a direct do-or-die clash between Recreativo and Valladolid, who are currently on 44 points.
Huelva and Valladolid cannot play out a tame draw, since Zaragoza and Osasuna could overtake them by winning on the road.
The final round of games will kick off on Saturday with two rather meaningless matches: Espanyol-Almeria and Murcia-Barcelona.
Barca need to win in Murcia in order to secure third place. The Catalans are tied on 64 points at the moment with Atletico Madrid, who are away to Valencia on Sunday.
The Murcia match will be Frank Rijkaard's last game on the Barca bench, before handing over to former captain Josep Guardiola.
It is still not clear whether Sunday's Real Madrid-Levante game will be actually played.
The long-suffering Levante players are on strike, complaining about not having been properly paid for almost two years. It will not be clear until Saturday if they will make the trip to Madrid.
Real are keen to celebrate their 31st Liga title in style, and are considering inviting a foreign team for a friendly if Levante do not show up.
