Atletico Madrid missed a glorious chance to go clear at the top of La Liga. Having earlier watched Barcelona fail to beat Levante, Diego Simeone's side achieved the exact same result at home to Sevilla. A 1-1 draw that keeps them behind Barca on goal difference. The Vicente Calderon stadium should be renamed the Vicente Cauldron this season as the fans have been ramping up the atmosphere and the decibels. The party spirit before kick off yesterday was frenzied, this was their chance to go top and they would snatch it with both hands. What could go wrong. Sevilla had other ideas, they hadn't … [Read more...]
Levante 1-1 Barcelona
It was a glorious Sunday for Real Madrid boss Claudio Ancelotti, and his side didn't even kick a ball. Surprise draws for both Barcelona and Atletico leave Ancelotti's side just one point behind the co-leaders of La Liga. Plucky Levante put thoughts of the season opener, when they were thumped 7-0 at Camp Nou, out of their head. They played a pressing, containing game designed to shut off supply to the returning Lionel Messi – and Joaquin Capaross's plan worked to perfection. Whilst they defended superbly they also found time to break with menace, and it was the home side who opened the … [Read more...]
Getafe 2-2 Real Sociedad
Getafe had lost five games in a row, but manager Luis Garcia Plaza secured a point in an entertaining 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad in the first La Liga game of the day. It looked as if Getafe were heading for yet another defeat as they went two goals down inside the first twenty minutes. Sociedad's Spanish striker Imano Agirretxe took full advantage of a Getafe defence that was low in confidence, scoring in just the fourth minute and then adding a second on 16 minutes. At this point it seemed as if the floodgates would open but Getafe shook off their lethargy and began to dig deep. Ciprian … [Read more...]
Saturday Round-Up
There were four matches played in La Liga on Saturday, with teams picking up points at both top and bottom of the table. Here is our Saturday round-up. Real Betis 0-5 Real Madrid Two milestones were reached in this one side match. Karim Benzema scored his hundredth goal for the club and manager Carlo Ancelotti gained his 500th career victory. Read a full match report here: http://laligablog.com/2014/01/19/real-betis-0-0-real-madrid/ Elche 2-0 Rayo Vallecano 0 An important clash at the bottom of La Liga saw Elche pull away from trouble thanks to a two nil win over Rayo Vallecano, who find only … [Read more...]
Real Betis 0-0 Real Madrid
Real Madrid moved joint top of La Liga yesterday after a 5-0 demolition of rock bottom Real Betis. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will see an ominous shadow looming as they prepare for their matches today. Cristiano Ronaldo rounded off his magnificent week with the opener, a fantastic power strike, but the greatest smile of the night was on the face of Gareth Bale. On 25 minutes he curled a perfect free kick past an unmoving Stephan Anderson in the Betis goal – his first goal in two months and his tenth for Madrid. The best is yet to come from Bale but he is showing signs of improvement. Madrid … [Read more...]
Muchas Gracias, Xavi!
There were celebrations in the Hernandez household this week as Xavi made his 700th first team appearance for Barcelona. Here we look at the man who has had all of Spain saying 'Muchas gracias, Xavi!' Xavi was born on 25th January 1980 in the Catalonian town of Terrassa. He showed promise from an early age and was snapped up by the world famous Barcelona academy. From 1997 he started playing for Barcelona B, making 61 appearances for them and scoring four goals. He made his first team debut on 3rd October 1998 in a 3-1 win over Valencia – it was to form a pattern. When Xavi plays to his … [Read more...]
Malago 0-0 Valencia
With an exciting week of Copa Del Rey football over, La Liga action returned at La Rosaleda last night where Malaga and Valencia played out an entertaining nil nil draw. Malaga manager Bernd Schuster will have been pleased with his sides efforts but they are now winless in three games and looking anxiously over their shoulders on 21 points. The home team started well, with Valencia, much improved under new manager Juan Antonio Pizzi, slow out of the blocks. Samu and Ignacio Camacho both came close but Malaga could not find the early goal that their play deserved. Valencia wakened from their … [Read more...]
Copa Del Rey Round Up: Sociedad Gain Revenge
This week's Copa Del Rey action witnessed a remarkable turn around for Real Sociedad. They were beaten four one at Villareal on Monday night, see the report here on La Liga Blog: http://laligablog.com/?p=3590 but they managed to regroup in time for Thursday night's clash at the same ground. Villareal won 1-0 at El Madrigal thanks to a goal from Javi Ros and progressed through to the quarter finals after a goalless first leg. Villalreal had a great chance to equalise from the penalty spot, after a dubious decision, but Perbet's attempt was dreadful - high, wide and not at all handsome. Surely … [Read more...]
Barcelona Progress But Neymar Is Out
Lionel Messi scored twice at the Alfonso Perez stadium, to give Barcelona a 2-0 victory that sends them through to the quarter finals of the Copa Del Rey six nil on aggregate. With Barca already 4-0 up from last week's first leg (in which Messi alsco scored twice after climbing from the substitutes bench), it seemed that victory was a formality. Getafe had some hope, however, in that they previously beat Barcelona by four goals in the Copa in 2007. The fans in the south Madrid suburb didn't seem to expect a repeat – it was a disappointingly sparse crowd. Tata Martino named a strong side with … [Read more...]
Ronaldo Abused By Fans
It's been a remarkable week for Cristiano Ronaldo, he has won his second Ballon D'Or, been named in the UEFA team of the year (at the expense of Lionel Messi), and last night he scored one of the goals that sent Real Madrid into the Copa Del Rey round of eight. But it seems that not everybody is feeling the love for CR7. Ronaldo had been the red hot favourite to win the Ballon D'Or, despite facing stiff opposition from Messi and Franck Ribery, and footballers from across the globe rushed to offer their support for him on the social networks. Former tem-mate Rio Ferdinand tweeted that he would … [Read more...]