With the recent trend of top sides putting out weakened teams for their domestic cup competition, an act claimed to be devaluing the prize and taking away that cup magic. It couldn't be more different in Spain where last year’s Copa del Rey final was fiercely fought in Valencia's Mestalla stadium by the giants of Spanish football Barcelona and Real Madrid. Fuelled by Jose Mourinho’s desire to wrestle some trophies away from Pep Guardiola’s Barca, who it seems just want to win every prize put in front of them, a new found competitiveness had revitalised the Copa del Rey. … [Read more...]
The top 10 Spanish football players of all time
While England has always laid claim to being the home of football, in the last few years the beautiful game has definitely taken a holiday home in sunny Spain. The two countries' footballing histories have a lot in common. Great league and cup competitions, big-spending clubs, world-renound players, and one glorious international tournament triumph followed by years of expectation and disappointment – that is until recently. During the last five years, Spanish football has truly made its mark on the game. The current period belongs, and will forever belong, to Spain. The international side … [Read more...]
Away-day syndrome: Why Barcelona have struggled on the road this season
A 1-1 draw meant Barcelona surrendered yet another valuable two points at the hands of their local rivals Espanyol on Monday night making it already their fifth draw of the domestic season with four of them being away from home. The gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table has now stretched to a worrying five points for Pepe Guardiola's men and with games coming thick and fast and time seemingly running out for the Catalonians, we ask the much debated question; exactly why have Barcelona struggled to break teams down on the road this season? … [Read more...]
Versatility Allows Barcelona to be the Best
Attack minded in every sense of the word, we all know about the stunning capabilities of the strike force of Barcelona. Messi, Villa, Alexis, Pedro assisted by the more than capable Fabregas and Xavi score the majority and steal the plaudits in the process whilst the likes of Pique, Puyol, Abidal and Dani Alves stay out of the TV frame for 75% of the match. Various scoring and passing feats are challenged but this season another aspect of Barcelona has caught the attention of statisticians; their misly defence. Just the 8 goals have been scored past Victor Valdes as Barcelona pose the … [Read more...]
How to level the financial playing field in La Liga
The first thing you usually hear when someone mentions La Liga to you is the response: "oh, well, it's just Barcelona and Real Madrid competing every year for the title". And while those two teams are undoubtedly the best in the planet, most football fans would agree that La Liga is not the deepest league. Serie A and the English Premier league have more teams capable of doing well in Europe and going after world class players. Outside of Malaga and the Big Two, we don't see great players going into other teams. Instead we see players like Juan Mata, David Villa, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and … [Read more...]
Valencia v Stoke: The key battles
After seeing Lionel Messi rip apart yet another Champions League defence with tantalising ease a couple of years ago,the wise, old pundit Andy Gray once remarked that he'd love to see how the Argentine would fair on a dark, damp, dreary night under the floodlights of Britannia Stadium. This question has almost been turned into cliche it has been bounded about that much recently by the media and whilst Barcelona being demoted to the Europa League was never really a possibility, we will get to feast our eyes on arguably the next best thing as Aver Banega, Jordi Alba, Roberto Soldado and Adil … [Read more...]
Barcelona Steal Plaudits in Exciting El Clasico
‘Underdogs’ Barcelona once again proved that Jose Mourinho has plenty more to do before he can finally overthrow the La Liga monarchy as his Real Madrid crumbled to a 3-1 defeat. Karim Benzema may have scored the quickest El Clasico goal after just 23 seconds but Barҫa scored 3 more to give Pep Guardiola and the Catalans the bragging rights once again through Alexis Sanchez, a deflected Xavi strike and a Cesc Fabregas header; yet the result could have been quite different had Cristiano Ronaldo not missed two glorious opportunities for Real, the very reason Mourinho used as his excuse for … [Read more...]
Four things you need to get a result at the Nou Camp
The other month we wrote a comprehensive guide on how any team could shape their bunch of prima donna no-hopers into a force to be reckoned with by replicating Barcelona's sexy style of attacking football. After reading this guide and taking everything we've said on board, your team no matter what level should be ready to take on the world destroying every team in their wake with fluidity and over-whelming finesse. However, should your transformation fail despite your best efforts, what's the best thing to do when you find yourself on the next plane to Barcelona knowing you face … [Read more...]
Levante: The team that dare to dream
Just when you thought the La Liga title race couldn't get any more predictable and one-sided, the football gods throw us a much-needed curveball in the form of this season's over-achievers Levante - a side very much expected to face another relegation battle this season have had a miraculous turnaround in fortunes and after an impressive start, quite unbelievably sit in the lofty heights of 3rd place in the La Liga table after already claiming scalps off football powerhouses Real Madrid, Malaga and Villareal so far this campaign. … [Read more...]
La Liga: The New SPL?
Okay. It took Revista de La Liga just thirty minutes on Tuesday to mention a topic that has very much become the elephant in the room of Spanish football recently - the domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid and the ever-growing gap between them and their fellow La Liga competitors in terms of finance, performance and control. … [Read more...]