It has been a remarkably quiet transfer deadline day in La Liga. The deadline has just passed but news is coming through that West Bromwich Albion have signed Thievy from Espanyol. Thievy Bifouma is a 21 year old French forward who has spent his career at the Barcelona club and at Las Palmas. He hasn't set the world alight yet, scoring 15 goals in 70 games over three years. He is known, if anything, more for his fluctuating hairstyles than his goalscoring prowess. Pepe Mel, however, was impressed by him whilst he was manager of Real Betis. He has taken the young striker on loan until the end … [Read more...]
Record Breaking Real Into Copa Semi-Finals
Real Madrid continue to break club records as they progressed to the Copa Del Rey semi-finals. A hard fought 1-0 home victory over Espanyol was enough to see them progress 2-0 on aggregate. It was expected to be a comfortable win for Los Blancos, but Espanyol sensed an upset. They are a team full of inconsistencies, either good or awful, but they have saved some of their better performances for this competition. Espanyol defended with passion, goalkeeper Kiko was their star man keeping out Ronaldo time after time. They were undone early on, however. In only the seventh minute, Xabi Alonso … [Read more...]
Espanyol 0-1 Real Madrid
Real Madrid clinched a vital victory over Espanyol last night to move to within three points of La Liga pacesetters Barcelona and Atletico, but they made hard work of it at the Cornella El Prat stadium. With Atleti and Barcelona playing out a goalless draw on Saturday it presented a real opportunity for Madrid to drag themselves back into the title race. Espanyol are either quite decent or very bad, there's no in-betweens for Javier Aguirre's side. Unfortunately for Madrid they met Espanyol on one of their better nights. Espanyol were resolute at the back, goalkeeper Kiko Casilla was on top … [Read more...]
Copa Del Rey Round-Up
There were four matches in the Copa del Rey last night and La Liga Blog, your first stop for all the latest Spanish football news, brings you the details here. AD Alcorcon 1-0 Espanyol The Madrid based minnows Alcorcon made light of their Segunda Division form, they are currently in a lowly sixteenth position, by taking a one nil victory over Espanyol in the first leg of this round of 16 match. The goal was scored by second half substitute Dani Pacheco, once of Liverpool, but they will have it all to do on their return leg in Barcelona next week. Real Betis 1-0 Athletic Bilbao Real Betis, at … [Read more...]
Problems within Espanyol appear to lead to imminent plight
As one Catalan club sits top of the La Liga table, another remains firmly rooted to the bottom. Espanyol have always been stranded in the imperious shadow of Barcelona, even when their boardroom crisis arguably merits more column inches than another El Clasico. Spanish website Mundo Deportivo.com revealed on Monday that the entirety of Espanyol's boardroom had resigned and allowed for elections to take place on the 25th November. This news comes as no shock concerning the recent and obvious dissatisfaction of the supporters of Espanyol. … [Read more...]
Opening La Liga weekend in threat of strike action for second year in a row
A dispute between 13 La Liga clubs and their broadcasting partners is putting the first round of matches at risk. Should an agreement not be reached then strike action could postpone the opening round of fixtures for the second season in succession. Clubs are unhappy with a number of factors with 11pm kick-off times causing the greatest amount of fuss. Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Betis, Celta Vigo, Espanyol, Getafe, Granada, Mallorca, Osasuna, Vallecano, Soceidad, Sevilla and Zaragoza all attended a meeting in Madrid today demanding changes to agreements between themselves and two media … [Read more...]
Espanyol Season Preview
When your Sporting Director hints at an added reliance on the youth system within the club you automatically begin to think the worst, especially if you play second fiddle to a team like Barcelona. That's the complex situation currently unfolding at Espanyol however as worrying financial details have become visible over the past year. Espanyol had no option but to watch star players leave the club last summer and have already witnessed Javi Marquez exit for Mallorca and Kalu Uche for Turkey this year as another exodus beckons. … [Read more...]
La Liga – The race for Europe
9 games remain in this seasons' Primera Liga and while the title will surely head to one of the two Spanish giants, the race for European football next season could provide more excitement. Just 6 spots are made available for teams looking to challenge the continent next season but as Real Madrid and Barcelona sprint towards the title, teams below have a huge few games ahead of them to ensure they manage to finish in the top dozen. Here I survey the contenders; … [Read more...]
The magic of the Copa alive and kicking in Spain
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...]
Life after Aguero and De Gea for Atletico
Lighting up Manchester with a scintillating performance on Monday night reminded all at the Vicente Calderon what they have to be prepared not to witness this season. Kun Aguero and his new Manchester City teammates can bask in their cash spewed paradise (until United once again come to town and teach them a lesson) following a routine 4-0 demolition of newly promoted Swansea City while Los Rojiblancos stare into a rather different oblique subsequent to the sale of their star men as former keeper David De Gea also settles into life in the same city. … [Read more...]