La Liga Talk

Hello there!!

 First of all I would like to thanks The Gaffer for giving me the opportunity to collaborate with EPL talks. I’m Spanish and I’ll try to give you not just good information, but also the atmosphere of this country about football, something that is simply incredible. Also I would like to ask pardon for the English mistakes I could commit. I’m just learning this beautiful language, but I thing that the first hand stories I can tell you are more important than how I do it. 

For the first post I cannot start with another thing than… Real Madrid. The match against Osasuna and then the one against Barcelona have completely changed the mood of Real Madrid fans. An that is because Madrid supporters start every season dreaming just with one thing: Champions League. La Liga is OK, and La Copa del Rey can be good, but Madrid´s history is linked with Europe, and losing against Rome was something really hard. 

But now everything is forgotten, not just because they have won La Liga but, over all, because Barcelona is 17 points away, and the last match in Bernabeu was a humiliation for Rijkaard team. In this kind of situation, sport newspapers front page are so useful to resume each team mood. Sport´s headline (Barca´s newspaper) was a black background with a clear message: “You have disonored Barca T-shirt”. El Mundo Deportivo was more simple: “Shame”. Because of that Real Madrid supporters are so happy, probably more than the title reason, and in the last match all the stadium sung “Laporta remain” (remember Laporta is Barca´s chairman), one of the most humiliating songs remembered.  

Last two matches in Spain are important just to know which other team is going to be relegated (Levante and Murcia are already in 2º Division). Osasuna, after been suffering all the season incredible referees mistakes, are now in the worst situation. Recreativo and Zaragoza, two very irregular teams this season, are fighting with them. 

UEFA fight is also interesting. Sevilla, Racing and Mallorca play for 2 places. Sevilla victory on Wednesday in El Sardinero against Racing was decisive to decide this race, but also Mallorca has something to say. Manzano´s team is also news because of Dani Güiza and his incredible season.  In the last match Güiza reach the first position in the top scorer table (25 goals), overcoming Luis Fabiano. He is also in the 2º position in the Gold Boot race, after the unattainable Cristiano Ronaldo. This detail is very important because, as many countries, Spain is also looking forward to the Euro Cup, and in our case with so many hope thinking in a Torres – Güiza tandem. In June we will know if it was just a dream.

Apart from that, the real emotion is now in our 2º Division, and the teams that can be promoted. Numancia has almost one of the three places and they will probably reach their dream this weekend. Málaga, Sporting and Real Sociedad (just one year after been relegated) fight for the other two places. 

Conclusion: we still have many things to see this season. So pay attention, ¡La Liga is still alive!

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It has been announced today that Frank Rijkaard will be leaving Barcelona at the end of this season. After two seasons without trophies, and yesterdays 4-1 loss to Real Madrid, Barcelona has opted to terminate his contract. Taking his place will be former player Pep Guardiola. This summer is shaping up to be a massive clearing out at Barcelona in an attempt to bring back the success they once enjoyed. While viewing ”el clasico” I couldn’t help but notice a broken spirit at Barca. Messi was invisible for the first part of the game, Valdez seemed to have no confidence, and Puyol seemed to have trouble every time Madrid came forward. The scene that for me summed up the feeling at Barcelona was seeing Rijkaard’s look toward the end of the game, almost if knowing that this was the end for him. Its the end of an era at Barca and who knows what the team is going to look like next season.

I would also like to thank The Gaffer for letting me take a shot here. Here’s hoping I don’t screw it up.

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Sometimes players are as good as their last game. Well, I guess that is why Ronald Koeman said goodbye today. Valencia looked hungover from their midweek Copa del Rey title as Athletic Bilbao beat them into submission and brought them back to the reality that was this season for Los Ches. Their 5-1 loss at San Mamés was the final nail in the proverbial coffin. [Read more →]

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Argento-croat striker Dario Cvitanich decided that he will not head to Espanyol, so now they will have to look at Plan B. The Banfield net piercer saw the opportunity to go to Ajax and penned a five-year, 6 million euro deal to play for Ajax. Expect him to really shine next year where he will have one of the best teachers in the craft of scoring in Marco Van Basten. Spanish sports daily As reported on Sunday that Cvitanich will not see action at the Olimpic Monjuic next season. [Read more →]

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Real Madrid announced on Thursday that they will be traveling to Colombia to face local club Millonarios this coming Agusut 7th. The announcement was confirmed through Spanish sports daily As. [Read more →]

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Barcelona are for all intents and purpose done. Their failure to come up with the three points in Huelva virtually made it a two-team race. Both of them will be playing tomorrow.

An injured Samuel Eto’o was partnered with a recovering Lionel Messi, but that was still not enough as former River Plate and Rosario Central star Marco Ruben’s brace put Barcelona’s Liga title hopes on life support. [Read more →]

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Amid the poor result Sunday at the Nou Camp, Barcelona club members and fans showed their displeasure with president Joan Laporta. In the dying minutes of thegame, fans became waving white towels symbolizing the members’ request for Laporta to step down. This act did not occur since 2003 and could symbolize the inevitable downfall of one of the most successful teams of the past few years. [Read more →]

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According to reports coming out of Catalunya, all signs point towards Josep Guardiola taking over for Frank Rijkaard at the Nou Camp. The former Olympic gold medalist and member of the much ballyhooed Dream Team of the 1990’s will be promoted to the big team at the end of this season. Catalan network TV3 began reporting this bombshell early today, although the club denied this in an official statement released on their website. The club states that the former Dutch international is under contract until 2009 and the board ¨has placed their trust in him¨. [Read more →]

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Club brass decided to take their suspension to the highest authority in the land. Real Betis look to appeal their two-match stadium ban and loss to Athletic Bilbao this past weekend after Basque goalkeeper Armando was struck with a water bottle by a Betis supporter. [Read more →]

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Leverkusen - Zenit
Rangers - Sporting
Bayern - Getafe
Fiorentina - PSV

Away Leg will take place on April 3rd. Return leg will take place on April 10th.

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FIFA’s head honcho once again threatened the Spanish Football Federation regarding the possibility of that country’s government intervening in the federation’s affairs. Both the federation and the Superior Sports Council (CSD) are currently in conflict over the elections that are to take place. The CSD found various irregularities and violations that the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) violated. According to FIFA, if federation president Ángel Villar is removed from his post because he did not call for elections, there could be some trouble. [Read more →]

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New Spanish Head Coach

We can officially call these next few weeks and months Luis Aragonés’ swan song at the helm of the Spanish National Team. The Spanish media went bonkers after the announcement was made today that Real Madrid’s beloved Vicente Del Bosque would finally be given his due as he was announced as the next head coach of La Furia. [Read more →]

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Argentine international Lionel Messi will miss yet another six weeks of action after reinjuring his hamstring midweek during the Catalans win against Celtic in the return leg of the Champions League knockout stages. The injury occured in the 33rd minute of the match where he was the benefactor of a wall pass from Gianluca Zambrotta, but after being challenge stopped and knew what occurred. [Read more →]

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Whether it’s the English Premier League and the Argentine marketing machine would like people to believe that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are locks for the FIFA World Player of the Year, I would like to be the first one to offer resistence from this preconceived notion. [Read more →]

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Very much like the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Arc who wielded his sword all over and threatened to attack, all it took was one shot from Indiana Jones to end that threat.

This was a long time coming for the blaugrana. If you look at numbers alone, Barcelona is one of the best defenses in La Liga. In their recent run of good form where they won their last sixteen matches in all competitions, there was still one loose end. Their defense was the one aspect of the game that kept their opponents alive and well. [Read more →]

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