FIFA has announced a 23 man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award which will be announced at a gala on January 7th 2013. Included in the list are seven players from the victorious Euro 2012 Spanish squad whilst 12 of the 23 selected ply their trade in La Liga. 6 Real Madrid players are named and 5 from Barcelona with Atletico Madrid's Falcao being the sole candidate exempt from the big two teams. FIFA and a group of experts from France compiled the list for national team coaches, captains and various journalists to vote from. … [Read more...]
Five things we learnt about Spain at the Euros
If you haven't been living under a rock for the past twenty four hours you'd be aware of the fact that Spain have once again been crowned champions of Europe after an awe-inspiring 4-0 victory over Italy in last night's Euro 2012 final. In spite of arduous comments from the media that their 'Tiki-Taka' style of football had become boring, La Roja silenced their critics once again by retaining their European Championship under the lights of Kiev's Olympic stadium with a quite dazzling display of football. Here's five important things we learned about Spain after the successful defence of their … [Read more...]
The reign in Spain occurs mainly on the pitch
Last night Spain rewrote history as they became the first team to retain the Henri Delaunay trophy and in some style too as they thrashed Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final and put forwards their claim to be the best team of all time. Vicente del Bosque's men won their third consecutive major tournament and in an invigorating, attractive way thanks to Silva, Alba, Torres and Mata goals. Spain strode out onto the Olympic Stadium turf riled by growing criticism of their play and a desire to change that. Their dominant and patient traditions of playing had been scrutinised and labelled … [Read more...]
Spain secure second consecutive European final appearance
Spain beat Portugal on penalties last night to reach yet another major international final where they will face either Italy or Germany. The 4-2 spot-kick victory over Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal was preceeded by some pretty mundane activity but nevertheless Spain's quality ensured they prevailed at their Iberian neighbours' expence. Here is what we learned from last night's game. … [Read more...]
El Clásico – More than a game
Since the 1950's Spanish football has been thoroughly dominated by just two clubs – Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. The knock-out format of cup competitions may throw up a surprise winner here and there but La Liga has for a long time been considered a two-horse race. These two clubs have won Spain's Primera Division 52 times between them, with Real's 31 championships leading the way. Barca however just pip Real on total tournament wins with 75 and hold all the current bragging rights, with their recent tournament wins setting them apart in Spain, Europe and the World. So it's no surprise that … [Read more...]
The top 5 La Liga goals of 2011
As 2011 draws to a close and all is quiet on the La Liga front until matches resume again in 2012, we've taken the chance to look back at a selection of our favourite goals from the year gone by. We've selected what we believe in our opinion are the best 5 goals from the La Liga Primera division in 2011. So why not check them out and let us know what you think by commenting below? … [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...]
La Liga dominates the 2011 Ballon D’or shortlist
The nominees for this year's prestigious Ballon d'or award was announced on Tuesday and the shortlist rather unsurprisingly was full of La Liga players including eight from Barcelona and five from Real Madrid. … [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...]
Six ways to get your football team playing like Barcelona
It's no lie that Barcelona are the envy of the footballing world right now. Apart from their contingent of world class players, renowned youth set-up and decorated history, their unique brand of attractive passing football is what has made Pepe Guardiola's men such a pleasure to watch in recent times. … [Read more...]