Expo 2008 was held in the city of Zaragoza, and one of the striking structures built for the expo was the Torre del Agua, shaped to represent a droplet of water. Photo courtesy of Salvador Bru.

Round 23 of 38 might be a little too early to mention relegation six-pointers, but with teams twelfth to twentieth a within a slender five points of each other and the gap widening between these teams and the first eleven of La Liga, a three-point win should not be underestimated as time snowballs downward to the end of the campaign.

Two of these meetings occur this weekend as Hércules hosts Real Zaragoza at the Estadio José Rico Pérez, and Almería travels to Valencia to face Levante.

After Hércules became the darling of Spain in the first half of the season with wins over Barcelona, Sevilla, and Atlético Madrid and a draw against Villarreal that prevented the Yellow Submarine from topping the table for the first time in their history, the Alicante-based team has lost four consecutive matches by multi-goal margins without scoring a single goal in the process.  In their defense, three of those four losses came against clubs that currently sit on the top five, but the perennial second and third-tier team has more problems than their poor play on the pitch.

The whole Royston Drenthe pay-for-play saga has splintered the team into two different factions, some supporting him while others despise his stance, David Trézéguet has more than hinted that he wants out to return to his native France, and Nelson Haedo Valdez’s form has fallen precipitously as Hércules continues to struggle.

For Real Zaragoza, their trend is going completely opposite of Hércules.  Before the winter break, Zaragoza did well to snatch a point at the Estadion Reyno de Navarra against Osasuna, but the bore 0-0 draw kept los maños as the cellar-dweller in La Liga with a paltry ten point through sixteen matches.  The new year, however, brought a new revitalization to the Aragonese club, winning four of their six games in the league with their only loss understandably coming at the hands of Espanyol at the Cornellà – El Prat.

Zaragoza has risen to a lofty twelfth place on the back of this exceptional run, but they are only two points above the relegation zone, and the meat of their second-half schedule starts in a couple of weeks when they encounter Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca, Sevilla, Getafe, and Villarreal in consecutive weeks.  Of all the clubs fighting the drop, Zaragoza has done the best in terms of earning points against the other relegation rivals, so they will feel confident heading to Alicante on Sunday, even though they have recorded only one away victory this season.

After looking dead in the water for most of the campaign, Levante has suddenly won two straight matches against in-form sides Getafe and Villarreal and climbed within a point of rising out of the bottom three.  Earlier in the season, Levante attempted to play an attractive style of football, but with the Segunda División looming with the losses piling up, they have opted to become much more physical, relying on more long-ball tactics and counter-attack opportunities to provide the goals, and Luis García Plaza’s team is finally starting to achieve the positivity in the negativity, per se.

Levante welcomes an Almería team that has won two of their last three games in the league, including a 3-2 stunner over Espanyol that saw the Andalucians build a three-goal lead within the first nineteen minutes of that match.  The difference in Almería uptick in form has been the incorporation of José Leonardo Ulloa into the starting eleven.  Used mostly as a super-sub throughout the majority of the season, José Luis Oltra has recently put him up front with Kalu Uche, and with Pablo Piatti and Albert Crusat flying down the wings, Almería’s attack has grown into a fearsome foursome.  They will face a stiff, obstinate Levante resistance in Valencia on Sunday, and whoever wins the flank battle between Piatti and Crusat against the wily fullback veterans Javi Venta and Asier del Horno will be the overriding factor in the determination of this match.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Feb. 12

Atlético Madrid vs. Valencia – 11:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Sporting Gijón vs. FC Barcelona – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Racing de Santander vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Feb. 13

Real Sociedad vs. Osasuna – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477 (477-1 for HD)

Málaga vs. Getafe – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478 (478-1 for HD)

Hércules vs. Real Zaragoza – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Villarreal – 12:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Espanyol vs. Real Madrid – 2:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Feb. 14

Mallorca vs. Athletic Bilbao – 2:45 PM on DirecTV channel 477 (477-1 for HD)

Unfortunately, the Levante – Almería match at the Estadi Ciutat de València will not be shown on US TV.

The Fundación Picasso, an organization whose purpose is to promote the works of Pablo Picasso, headquarted at Picasso's birth home on the Plaza de la Merced in Málaga.

Two of the most active clubs in the January transfer window meet together this weekend in an Andalucian derby at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán between Sevilla and Málaga.  Málaga and new owner Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani scoured the world in January for bright, young talents and seasoned veterans (or washed-up former stars depending on personal opinion) to augment a team fighting relegation, and the early returns have not provided the results they expected.

Martín Demichelis, Júlio Baptista, and Enzo Maresca would have been near the top of many European clubs’ lists four or five years ago, but as they reach their thirties, Málaga is trying to resurrect their fading light as the three want to prove that they are still capable of consistently playing at a high level.

While €4.5 million Boca Juniors winger Diego Buonanotte will join in the summer, Ignacio Camacho and Sergio Asenjo were immediately drafted into the starting eleven for trainer Manuel Pellegrini, and Camacho and Asenjo both want to show that Atlético Madrid made a mistake in showing little faith for them.

Despite the obvious motivation for all of these players to perform well not just for themselves but for the team, it has not fully translated on the pitch, as they have lost four of their five January matches in La Liga, including a heartbreaking 4-3 loss at the Mestalla against Valencia and a crucial late loser against fellow relegation fighters Real Zaragoza.

Málaga has lost seven of their last eight away matches in the league, and with those around Málaga at the bottom of the table helping themselves with surprising wins and important draw points, los boquerones cannot afford to stay on this losing slide if they want to stay in La Liga.  Sheikh Al Thani has extensive plans for Málaga in the summer in the transfer market, but all of those designs and ambitions will be thrown out of the window if they fall to the Segunda División.

Whereas Málaga has suffered a downward trend, Sevilla is on their way back up, as they have only lost one of their last five league matches after losing five straight matches prior.  Now only five points out of a Europa league spot and eleven points out of an improbable Champions League berth, los nervionenses are riding the hot wave at the perfect time.

They bolstered their midfield with two shrewd signings in January, €3 million defensive midfielder Gary Medel and €1.5 million playmaker Ivan Rakitic, and as Frédéric Kanouté and Luís Fabiano look for their next lucrative contract with Sevilla or with someone else, Sevilla has extra motivation to put their full effort into claiming a top-four finish, a feat that seemed impossible a month ago.

Sevilla bowed out meekly to Real Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal on Wednesday, but with key league matches and the knockout phase of the UEFA Europa League on the horizon, they can put their disappointing loss behind them and look forward to a hectic final four months.  Renato will miss out against Málaga with an ankle injury, but trainer Gregorio Manzano will the vast majority of his squad available, and with the rumor looming that Joaquín Caparrós might return to Sevilla if Manzano does not deliver, the Sevilla manager also has extra motivation to get the results as quickly as possible.

In some other matches this weekend, FC Barcelona will attempt to break the legendary Real Madrid 1960-61 team’s record of consecutive La Liga wins at 16 against Atlético Madrid, the team that has frustrated the blaugrana more than any other Spanish team in the past few years, Real Madrid continues to pick up the pieces of their shattered confidence at home against Real Sociedad, and Giovani dos Santos, the former Barcelona B starlet, will make his debut for Racing de Santander as they face Real Zaragoza in a relegation six-pointer.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Feb. 5

Almería vs Espanyol – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477 (477-1 for HD)

Osasuna vs. Mallorca – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478 (478-1 for HD)

Athletic Club vs. Sporting Gijón – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 479 (479-1 for HD)

Getafe vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 11:45 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Villarreal vs. Levante – 1:55 PM on Gol TV HD

FC Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid – 3:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Feb. 6

Sevilla vs. Málaga – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad – 12:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Valencia vs. Hércules – 2:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Unfortunately, the Real Zaragoza – Racing de Santander match at La Romareda will not be shown on US TV.

The Palau Reíal Major in Barcelona was the home for counts of Barcelona and later the Kings of Aragon.

Espanyol’s surprising start has not only stretched to this juncture of the season but has also improved from a club that only garnered points at home to a team that can win the tough matches away from home.  Impressively winning at Sevilla and Getafe in their last two games have shown that a top-six finish and a subsequent European berth is not only a possibility but a likely probability.

As a smaller team in La Liga and a club still fighting financial problems when it went into administration a few years ago, this January transfer window forced Espanyol to become a selling team rather than a buying team.  Two of their young and talented defenders, Víctor Ruiz and Didac Vilà, were sold within the past week to the Serie A, as Napoli payed los periquitos €6 million for Ruiz’s services and AC Milan valued Vilà at €4 million to become Milan’s future left back.

Espanyol will have to scramble this weekend to reshape their back four as they host third-place Villarreal at the Cornellà El-Prat, where the Catalans have won eight of their nine home matches this season, the only blemish being the 1-5 humbling by their city rivals FC Barcelona.  Another future defensive starlet, 18-year-old Jordi Amat, will likely play in central defense to pair up with Juan Forlín, but cover at left back could be dicey because Ernesto Galán and David García are doubtful.

Even though the Cornellà – El Prat has become a fortress for Espanyol, their defensive instability at this moment could not come at the worst time with the highly creative and innovative Villarreal coming to Barcelona on Sunday.  The seamless transition from Nilmar to Marco Rubén as Giuseppe Rossi’s strike partner has not slowed down Villarreal’s attack as Nilmar still recovers from his knee problems, and Villarreal cannot relax for a second with Valencia biting at their heels, only two points behind Villarreal for third place.

In this weekend’s other top matchup, Atlético Madrid hosts Athletic Bilbao as they have the traditional Sunday 5:00 PM kickoff time all to themselves.  The Atlético has reared its ugly head again, but this latest spell can directly fall on the absence of Sergio “Kun” Agüero because Diego Forlán has underwhelmed since his Golden Ball-winning performances in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and Diego Costa has been mediocre to decent.

For Athletic Bilbao, their self-destruction against Real Sociedad in the Basque derby in December led to a mini-renaissance for los leones.  Joaquin Caparrós, known for his tough love with his players, must have dressed the Athletic team down to its core after that loss, and they have responded with a 4-1-1 in La Liga since that loss and an inspiring two-legged cup tie with FC Barcelona in the Round of 16 in the Copa del Rey, where a late Éric Abidal goal gave the Culés just enough to advance 1-1 on aggregate because of the away goals rule.  Fernando Llorente continues to be the talisman for Athletic, and even through the swirling rumors of his departure, he has not let those distractions affect his performances on the pitch.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Jan. 29

Mallorca vs. Sporting Gijón – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477 (477-1 for HD)

Levante vs. Getafe – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478 (478-1 for HD)

Real Sociedad vs. Almería – 11:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Hércules vs. FC Barcelona – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Jan. 30

Atlético Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao – 10:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Osasuna vs. Real Madrid – 12:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Espanyol vs. Villarreal – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Jan. 31

Racing de Santander vs. Valencia – 2:45 PM on DirecTV channel 477 (477-1 for HD)

Unfortunately, the Málaga – Real Zaragoza match at La Rosaleda will not be shown on US TV.

The Passeig des Born, a picturesque promenade in the heart of Palma de Mallorca, is lined with high-end shops coupled with quaint pavement cafés while hosting numerous festivals and fiestas throughout the year.

La Liga officially begins the second half of its season this weekend, and FC Barcelona has continued its stellar form with a staggering fifty-two points out of a possible fifty-seven points, a Spanish record for the opening half of any campaign.  Despite this extended run of breathtaking football, Barça only has a four point lead over their eternal rivals Real Madrid.  At the halfway point of last season, the Catalans held a five point edge on Real.  Two blips on the radar have blemished Barcelona’s record: a home loss to Hércules and a draw against Mallorca.

As impressive as it were for Hércules and Mallorca to take points away from Barcelona, Mallorca should receive an extra star because they also shared the points at home against Real Madrid in the opening round of the campaign, the only team in La Liga to achieve such a feat.  Similar to the Bundesliga and the Serie A, the second half of La Liga’s schedule is identical to the first half except that those who were home in the first half would now be away in the second half, and Real Madrid will want their revenge on los barralets in one of the highlight matches of this weekend.

Despite cruising to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Thursday night with a surprisingly easy 0-1 victory over an impotent Atlético Madrid to win by four goals to one on aggregate, the doom and gloom still hovers over the Santiago Bernabéu after their 1-1 draw last weekend against 19th place Almería dropped them four points behind Barcelona in the league.  The leaked and alleged stories of dressing room bust-ups between Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas and Ronaldo, Jorge Valdano and José Mourinho, etc. only help to increase the pessimistic fervor among the Madridistas that are already losing hope that the championship is slipping away in the middle of January.

Mourinho has lost trust in Karim Benzema in recent matches, placing Ronaldo as a lone striker while easing Kaká into the rotation after months out due to knee troubles.  The results of this tweak have not convinced, only scoring a single goal against both Almería and Atlético Madrid, and while the Real Madrid board wade in the water about acquiring another striker during the January transfer window, Mourinho has to keep the ship on track before Barcelona sails out of sight.

Mallorca will be below full strength because Pau Cendros is suspended, Jonathan De Guzman and Pep Lluís Martí are still recovering from knee injuries, and Víctor Casadesús has just learned that he will miss up to ten weeks with a thigh injury.  Despite these significant absences for Michael Laudrup’s team, Mallorca’s defense has been solid throughout the season, and if they can frustrate Real Madrid and hope for an uninspiring performance from Real as what happened in Jornada 1, a merengue victory might not be such an easy bet.

Other intriguing matches this round include Valencia hosting the burgeoning squad of Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani’s Málaga club, whose latest edition is a Pablo Piatti clone, 5′ 3″ winger/striker Diego Buonanotte from River Plate, precocious Real Sociedad traveling to El Madrigal to face Villarreal, the best of the rest, and Getafe welcoming Espanyol to the southern edges of Madrid in a match of two top-eight outfits that most pundits predicted would be much lower in the table than where they currently stand.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Jan. 22

Sevilla vs. Levante – 11:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

FC Barcelona vs. Racing de Santander – 1:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Valencia vs. Málaga – 3:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Jan. 23

Real Zaragoza vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Getafe vs. Espanyol – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478

Sporting Gijón vs. Atlético Madrid – 10:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Real Madrid vs. Mallorca – 12:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Villarreal vs. Real Sociedad – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Jan. 24

Athletic Bilbao vs. Hércules – 2:45 PM on DirecTV channel 477

Unfortunately, the Almería – Osasuna match at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos will not be shown on US TV.

Andrés Iniesta became one of the few Barcelona players to be truly loved by Espanyol fans with this gesture.

Before the biggest match in Andrés Iniesta’s career and in the history of Spanish football, Iniesta had a trillion thoughts running through his head.  One of those thoughts that came to fruition was writing a message to his close friend, Daniel Jarque, on his undershirt.  That message said, “Dani Jarque, siempre con nosotros,” (Dani Jarque, always with us).

Jarque, who was born and bred through the Espanyol system, had succeeded club legend Raúl Tamudo as club captain in the summer of 2009, a lifelong dream for the hometown boy from Barcelona.  During a preseason trip with Espanyol to Italy that summer, Jarque suffered a heart attack and lost his life at the tender age of 26.  The only comfort that anyone could take from Jarque’s death was that he achieved the pinnacle of club captain while still alive.

Even if Spain lost that World Cup final to the Netherlands, Iniesta would have displayed his undershirt to the 84,490 people in Soccer City and to the cameras beaming the match throughout the world, but it would have not had the same impact.  Sergio Ramos and Jesús Navas had a similar sentiment and message for their fallen teammate, Antonio Puerta, but it did not have the same impact.  Whether you believe in fate and destiny or not, who scored the 116th minute goal, the only goal in the match, to earn Spain its first World Cup?  Andrés Iniesta.  Instead of the relative anonymity that Iniesta usually enjoys, that strike put him front and center, and he had no hesitation to rip off his jersey and reveal his communiqué to the hundreds of millions of people watching Spain’s triumph in South Africa.

Fast forward five months later to the 152nd edition of El Derbi Barceloní, and both Catalan clubs are flying high in the table, one expectedly and the other unexpectedly.  Barcelona’s recent form had been nothing short of stellar, completing a combined 26-0 thrashing of their last six opponents in all competitions, including the signature performance of the season with their “La Manita” 5-0 dismissal of Real Madrid in the Camp Nou.  Espanyol, through the strength of their 100% home record, has consistently stayed in the European zone and had camped out in fourth position for the past four weeks.

Usually, Espanyol plays the role of spoiler in this derby, trying with all their might to derail FC Barcelona from winning championships because los periquitos normally have nothing for which to play in the derby except for pride; however, Saturday’s match meant more for Espanyol in terms of a potential Champions League berth for the blanc i blaus, and they came in with expectations for the first time in a while, the first time in a while that both teams are playing on a somewhat level playing field when it comes to league placement.

The Espanyol supporters released all of their pent-up venom for their more glamorous neighbors before the match, displaying “Anti-Culé” scarves, carrying props, including tombstones with the Barça badge on them and a strange and disturbing yet hilarious blonde blowup doll with Gerard Piqué’s cut-out face glued on in reference to the Piqué – Shakira rumored affair, and jeering every Barça player as the public address announcer read each name, save for one person: Andrés Iniesta.  Signs throughout the Cornellà – El Prat gave thanks to Iniesta for thinking about their former captain during the World Cup, and some even had Espanyol jerseys with Iniesta’s name emblazoned on the back with the number 21, Dani Jarque’s number.

When Pep Guardiola made the decision to substitute Iniesta in the 86th minute for Seydou Keita, Iniesta received a standing ovation from the Espanyol crowd that few, if any, Barcelona players ever received.  Even both sets of players, who still had jobs to do on the pitch even though Barça was routing Espanyol 1-5 at that point, also joined in the love fest for Iniesta, clapping him off the field in respect for his dignity and his human spirit.  True to a rivalry, however, once Iniesta came off and Keita entered, the cheers turned to whistles, and order was restored after a moment of solidarity between the two Catalan clubs.

Iniesta felt the emotion of the crowd and the transcendent nature of that moment in time:

“I felt something when I was on the pitch, and that is the greatest thing.  More important than the rivalry are the people involved.  They have sent me many messages, and that is much more important to me.”

With most of the attention on the unassuming and humble Andrés Iniesta, there actually was a game played at 20:00 CET on Saturday night, and Espanyol, with their unbounded confidence at home, tried to play football with Barcelona.  In the past few derbies, Espanyol’s tactics involved an overt physicality to knock the Barça players off the ball and away from their concerto rhythm.  Sometimes, Espanyol would partake in more than questionable challenges to prove their athletic prowess.  Not this time.

Pablo Osvaldo announced his team’s intentions with the first minute with a decent shot to the right near post, where Víctor Valdés made a comfortable save.  Espanyol would try to play out of the back and keep possession, but the still-underrated Barcelona defense pressured every Espanyol player on the ball and pinned them in their own half as Barça created chance after chance, including an inexplicable miss from Lionel Messi with an open goal in front of him.

Messi would not score in the match, a rare event these days, but that did not mean that Espanyol shut down his game because Messi provided two assists to raise his total to an astonishing ten, four ahead of Juan Mata, Mesut Özil, Xabi Prieto, and teammate Pedro Rodríguez at the top of the assists table, as well as creating the second goal for Pedro when he pinged his shot off the post.  Pedro and David Villa each had a brace, and Xavi Hernández scored from an acute angle to contribute to Barcelona’s five goals.

Only when Espanyol fell two goals behind within the opening half-hour did they revert to their old tactics, and in a span of five minutes, referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco showed three yellow cards to three different Espanyol players.  It slowed Barcelona’s attack to an extent, but it did not put a blockade on Carlos Kameni’s goal.

When Pablo Osvaldo scored in the 63rd minute, it gave Espanyol a tiny flicker of hope at 1-3.  José Callejón sent in a cutting ball through the always-high Barcelona defensive line for Osvaldo, and Carles Puyol was never going to catch the Argentinean.  Víctor Valdés, however, backed up and decided to stay on his line rather than come off his line and close the angle down on Osvaldo’s shot.  Osvaldo blasted it past Valdés to the left far post for the goal, and Puyol dressed down Valdés for being passive rather than being assertive on Osvaldo.

The next two scoring chances after Osvaldo’s goal went to Espanyol, and with a little luck, it could have easily been 2-3.  Callejón’s cross to Osvaldo was a few inches too high, as Osvaldo could not snap the header down and looped it over the crossbar.  Xavi then gave away a cheap turnover that on which Osvaldo pounced with a potential one-on-one with Valdés in sight, but Piqué and Puyol came in on either side of Osvaldo, and that forced Osvaldo to rush his shot to the right far post, and Valdés smothered it with relative ease.

Barcelona always gives their opposition a couple of moments to capitalize because they play a suicidally high defensive line, but Espanyol did not convert, and Barça scored twice in the final fifteen minutes to add a gloss that was not indicative of the match played at the Cornellà – El Prat.

1-5 fulltime, but Barcelona was not four goals better than Espanyol.

Just three.

Espanyol had given up only two goals in seven matches at home prior to the derby, and while they conceded five, they did not play poorly at all.  Such is the current brilliance of Barcelona.  With Valencia’s win at Real Sociedad later that night, Espanyol fell to fifth even though Valencia tied them on points because of goal difference.  Valencia and Espanyol will meet at the beginning of the new year to break the deadlock, and even if Espanyol does not win against Valencia at the Mestalla, the blanc i blau should maintain their place in the European places throughout the season because of their tremendous home form and the ebullient attacking trio of Luís García, José Callejón, and Pablo Osvaldo with Joan Verdú acting as the orchestrator of the bunch.

For Barcelona, their level of play has been so high that the pundits and the scribes have almost described a 1-5 romp against their derby rivals as “routine”, and they should not make that mistake.  The blaugrana cannot possibly keep up this form for the rest of the season (or can they?), so these types of performances should not be dismissed so easily as a typical Barça blowout.

Despite the destruction caused by this historic Barcelona team, they have not won any trophies yet this campaign, and the players would be the first ones to point out this fact.  A La Liga/Champions League double has become the minimum expectation for this season’s Barcelona squad, and while the bookies have them as heavy favorites to win both competitions, silverware is not won in December.

Inter Milan might have won the FIFA Club World Cup on Saturday to lay claim to the official title of the world’s best club team, but hardly anyone can argue who is currently the best club team based on the eye test.

FC Barcelona.

Fueras de Juego

- Referee Carlos Clos Gómez made himself the center of attention as he handed out eleven yellow cards and two red cards in Real Madrid’s scrappy 1-0 over Sevilla on Sunday night.  Holding up the match report in the post-match press conference, José Mourinho claimed that Clos Gómez made thirteen “very serious mistakes” but would not go into detail in fear of another suspension.  Despite the horrendous refereeing performance, many of the bad calls going against Real Madrid, los blancos squeaked out a tight victory over a desperate Sevilla side that needed three points in the worst way possible.  In any championship-winning season, a team plays a few matches in which they were outplayed or did not deserve to win, yet somehow sneak away with the full three points.  This match against Sevilla was exactly that type of match, and Real Madrid kept themselves from falling five points behind Barcelona, which at this point could be impossible to overcome.  Karim Benzema provided another tepid performance, and the need for another striker in January could not be more blatantly seen than in Madrid’s match against Sevilla.

- The most entertaining match of the weekend took place at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos, where Almería went up two goals on Getafe within the first half-hour, but Getafe scored three unanswered goals to nick the victory 2-3.  This match was one of the fastest-paced in La Liga this season, and there were few occasions where either team could take a breath, as the other would immediately break toward the opposition goal.  Almería’s loss to Getafe was a backbreaker because, even at this early stage, they could look at those three dropped points as one of the reasons why they could eventually suffer relegation.  José Luís Oltra has given Almería an extra boost, and if he keeps Kalu Uche ahead of Henok Goitom as the center forward, Almería should avoid relegation by the slimmest of margins.

- At the opposite side of the spectrum, Osasuna and Real Zaragoza played one of the dourest matches of the season, as Osasuna created virtually all of the scoring chances in the match against an absent Real Zaragoza team yet could not score.  Both teams have already been eliminated from the Copa del Rey, so they will not play in the midweek, and both teams looked as though they started their winter break when Antonio Mateu Lahoz blew his whistle for the opening kickoff.  Unless Zaragoza can reloan Humberto “Chupete” Suazo from Monterrey, Zaragoza will go down for the second time in four years.

La Sagrada Familia, the famous unfinished work of Antoni Gaudí, has become the symbol of the city of Barcelona.

Back from personal vacation, this weekend’s round of matches is the last one of the 2010 calendar year before the players go on their own vacations during the La Liga winter break.  To top off the end of 2010, El Derbi Barceloní headlines the round as FC Barcelona travels to the south of the city to face an Espanyol club that has won every single match at home this season.

Many of those who witnessed Barcelona’s destruction of Real Madrid three weekends ago could not help but think that Barcelona reached its zenith both competitively and stylistically; however, this period of universe-class football started a month prior to El Clásico when Barcelona dismissed a then-strong Sevilla side 5-0.  If some felt that Barcelona would suffer a letdown after El Clásico, a rugged and effective 0-3 performance against Osasuna that included a Home Alone-type panic of planes, trains, automobiles, and buses, along with a footballing 5-0 exhibition against a confident Real Sociedad squad clearly showed that Barcelona would not take any matches for granted.

Meanwhile, Espanyol flies under the radar, as they always do, and in any other season, their fourth-place standing with a week prior to the winter break would be more of a story in El Mundo Deportivo, Sport, and other Spanish sports dailies, but their city rivals have garnered more headlines than usual with their total annihilation of La Liga and their style that could possibly be the most attractive since the 1970 Brazil Seleção squad that ran rampant in the World Cup.

Espanyol had its chance to rise up to third after Getafe pulled a significant 0-1 upset against Villarreal, and after the first half against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, their 0-1 advantage looked good enough to carry them to a rare away win.  Espanyol, however, went into its shell for the entirety of the second half to hold on to their one-goal lead, and Athletic pounded Carlos Kameni’s goal until they scored twice in a span of five minutes to earn a deserved three points.  Los periquitos are much more cavalier at home while at the same time conceding the fewest goals at home, a measly two tallies.  If the last few derbies are any indication, Espanyol will bunker down in their own half despite their high confidence this season, and physicality coupled with hard and occasionally questionable tackles and challenges will rule the night.

After Real Sociedad was humbled by FC Barcelona last Sunday, they return home to the friendly confines of the Estadio Anoeta to encounter a slightly demoralized Valencia club following their poor second-half performance against Osasuna on Monday night that led to a concession of a 3-1 halftime lead to share the points unwillingly.  Both teams will want to avenge the results of the last round, and especially for Valencia, they will want this win even more because if Espanyol loses to Barcelona and Valencia squeezes out a quality road victory, they will be tied for fourth in the league with Espanyol and have the goal difference tiebreaker in their favor.

Unai Emery worked the extra hours on the training pitch with his team this week after their horrendous defensive display against Osasuna, and with the Llorente – Griezmann- Prieto triumvirate clicking, sans the Barcelona match, expect this game to be a tight, tactical affair, which would favor the more conservative Emery.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Dec. 18

Levante vs. Athletic Bilbao - 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Sporting Gijón – 11:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Villarreal vs. Mallorca – 11:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Espanyol vs. FC Barcelona – 1:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Real Sociedad vs. Valencia – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Dec. 19

Osasuna vs. Real Zaragoza – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Almería vs. Getafe – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478

Málaga vs. Atlético Madrid – 12:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Real Madrid vs. Sevilla – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3/ESPN2 HD

Unfortunately, the Monday night football match between Racing de Santander vs. Hércules at El Sardinero will not be shown on US TV.

El Parque de la Taconera in Pamplona, designed in the 17th century, has its own version of the Fountain of Neptune among the many sculptures in the park.

Now that the El Clásico tornado has swept through Spain, leaving bits of Real Madrid debris in its wake, everyone can take a breath and move on with the rest of the season.  Real must pick up the pieces and stay in the present rather than dwell on the 5-0 beating that Barcelona handed them because in the late Saturday kickoff, they host a Valencia team that is slowly returning to their consistent form that saw los che top the table in early October.

Valencia won last weekend 2-1 over an Almería side under the new management of ex-Tenerife trainer José Luís Oltra, and Roberto Soldado scored a brace to notch his tally to nine goals in all competitions.  Unai Emery, known for his more conservative approach by employing a lone striker in his 4-2-3-1, has made a major adjustment by pairing Soldado with Aritz Aduriz more often, and the Valencia attack has thrived, creating more scoring chances.

Because of this switch to an old-fashioned 4-4-2, an attacking midfield had to be withdrawn from the starting eleven, and the Spanish international Pablo Hernández has more often than not been the victim of this tactical change.  Going into the Santiago Bernabéu against a team that will be desperate to regain some of their invincibility and honor, Emery will likely revert to a one-striker system, and this type of match would be a perfect opportunity for Pablo to impress and recapture his place in the starting lineup.

For Real Madrid, they would want nothing more than to thrash Valencia and prove that the 5-0 humbling was merely a blip on the radar screen, but José Mourinho and his players know that any sort of win against a quality Valencia side would be more than adequate to reclaim some of their lost confidence.  Los blancos have been perfect at home this season in all competitions, and while the Madridistas will give their club a little stick for their performance on Monday at the beginning of the match, they will quickly return to their rabid support of their boys in white, which will only help Real return to winning ways.

Sergio Ramos will serve his one-match ban against Valencia after receiving a straight red card for his vicious tackle on Lionel Messi and his petulant pushes on Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernández after he had been sent off, but Álvaro Arbeloa is more than capable of deputizing for Ramos at right back for a match, so while Real will lose a little on offense, Arbeloa will stay at home more often and cover the left wing, where Juan Mata will likely roam.

Gonzalo Higuaín, however, will potentially be out of action for two to three months due to a herniated disk in his back, and Karim Benzema will have the true audition he has wanted since he arrived in Madrid in the summer of 2009.  The rumormongerers have bandied about names such as Hugo Almeida, Nelson Haedo Valdez, and Edin Dzeko to augment the strike force in January, and Benzema will have a string of seven or eight matches to prove his worth.  Real cannot rely on Cristiano Ronaldo for all of their goals, so Benzema has become the vital piece in the opposition final third to provide a true second option after Ronaldo and return Real to its winning ways.

For Real’s Clásico rivals FC Barcelona, they cannot afford to rest on their laurels and become complacent because they travel north to Pamplona and encounter an Osasuna team that has not lost at home in La Liga all season long.  The Barça players know well how tough and physical Osasuna is at home.  They can look back to the last campaign, when Osasuna showed no reverence for the champions, chopping them down legally and illegally on a regular basis.  In the dying seconds, Gerard Piqué’s attempted clearance/block went into his own goal, giving los rojillos a deserved 1-1 draw, and Barcelona can expect the same type of rugged affair on Saturday night.

Other intriguing matches in Jornada 14 include a matchup of perennial Champions League clubs Villarreal and Sevilla at El Madrigal, a relegation six-pointer between Almería and Real Zaragoza, both on their second managers, and the Basque derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao at San Sebastián in the late Sunday kickoff.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Nov. 4

Levante vs. Atlético Madrid – 11:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Osasuna vs. FC Barcelona – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Real Madrid vs. Valencia – 3:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Nov. 5

Getafe vs. Mallorca – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Almería vs. Real Zaragoza – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Espanyol vs. Sporting Gijón – 10:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Villarreal vs. Sevilla – 12:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Real Sociedad vs. Athletic Bilbao – 2:45 PM on DirecTV channel 478

Nov. 6

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Hércules – 2:45 PM on DirecTV channel 477

Unfortunately, the Málaga – Racing de Santander match at La Rosaleda will not be shown on US TV.

Under trainer Mauricio Pochettino, Espanyol has gone through one of these hot streaks in every season he has managed the club.  After the club fired José Manuel Esnal “Mané” in the middle of the 2008-09 season, they hired Mauricio Pochettino to get out of the relegation zone.  As late as Jornada 30 in that season, Espanyol propped everyone at the foot of the table, ominously looking at the Segunda División for the first time since 1994, but the Catalans won eight of their last ten matches to finish in a comfortable tenth.

Last season, Espanyol only lost two of their first eight matches and never felt the fight for relegation because of their decent start as they finished a mediocre eleventh place, eight points above the drop zone.

It would be easy to write off Espanyol as merely an early season surprise that will return to its place in mid to lower table as their campaign wears on into the winter months.  They have achieved a fourth-place position based on their stellar six-for-six home record with only Real Madrid able to keep up with such solidity at home, but away from the Cornellà-El Prat, los periquitos have been less than ordinary, racking up a paltry four points out of eighteen heading into the Vicente Calderón on Saturday night against Atlético Madrid.

For many teams that find themselves in the top four of a league, they have a defined identity that characterizes why they are playing well.  Taking the top four currently in La Liga, Barcelona’s identity is a possession team that continually prods the defense until they see a tiny opening, when their talented players exploit such weaknesses to the maximum.  Real Madrid’s identity directly comes from their trainer José Mourinho, who emphasizes defensive reliability, then lets his players flourish in the opponent’s final third.  Villarreal’s identity is based on their slick, short passing game and their ability to thrive through the middle of the pitch despite playing narrower than most teams.

What is Espanyol’s identity?

They are not particularly physical, like Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao.  They are not overtly defensive, like Deportivo La Coruña or Mallorca.  They do not play with a flair like Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Villarreal.  They are not schizophrenic or wildly inconsistent like Atlético Madrid, Málaga, or Sevilla.  They do not have an outspoken, demonstrative manager that inspires them like Manolo Preciado for Sporting Gijón or Unai Emery for Valencia.

What is Espanyol’s identity?

They are that anonymous team that no one really notices, but when people look at the results, they scratch their heads and ask from where did they come?

They are the master of the close matches, as five of their seven victories were won by a single goal, including four 1-0 victories.  When they lose, they tend to get blown out with three of their four losses coming at a three-goal margin or higher.

If they were located in another city in Spain, Espanyol would have more press about their impressive start, but they are situated in the city of Barcelona, where their city rivals FC Barcelona completely engulf El Mundo Deportivo and Sport, the two main sports daily newspapers in Barcelona, and quite frankly, Espanyol does not mind that they are in the shadows of their more famous neighbor.  They do not carry an inferior complex like their opponents on Saturday night, Atlético Madrid, have with their local rivals Real Madrid.

The 2-3 victory for Espanyol over Atlético Madrid on Saturday felt like that other matchup between the other two teams from their respective cities, and El Clásico on Monday night will find it hard to live up to this undercard at the Vicente Calderón.

Quique Sánchez Flores, for the first time all season, could name the same starting eleven as the previous round with Sergio Agüero and José Antonio Reyes continuing their good form while Diego Forlán has recently come out of the doldrums with three goals in his last two matches against Osasuna and Real Sociedad.

Mauricio Pochettino also had the luxury of naming consecutive starting elevens, and his cradle of young footballers have matured at a high rate and now lead a talented group that could see Espanyol compete for European places on a regular basis.  Cantera products Dídac Vilà, Jordi Amat, Javi Márquez, etc. now feature regularly in Pochettino’s lineup, and with Boca Juniors import Juan Forlín, they had the responsibility of containing Atlético’s rampant attack.

After a frantic opening five minutes, where turnovers in the midfield led to scoring opportunities for Forlán and Pablo Osvaldo, the match settled down to a muddle in the midfield until the 20th minute, when referee José Antonio Teixiera Vitienes whistled and pointed to the penalty spot in favor of Espanyol.  José Callejón’s free kick hit José Antonio Reyes in the wall that was inside the penalty area, but in trying to protect himself from receiving a beaning from the free kick, he lifted his arms to shield his face, and the ball hit his arms.  Teixiera Vitienes judged that he made himself bigger by raising his arms and thus the penalty had to be called.  Luís García blasted the penalty kick down the middle, hitting the underside of the crossbar, and scoring Espanyol’s second away goal of the season.

Comfortably holding that one-goal advantage despite Atlético slightly controlling both the possession and the flow of the match, Espanyol looked poised to go into halftime with the 0-1 lead, but in the final ten minutes of the first half, Atlético ramped up the pressure ten-fold, camping inside Carlos Kameni’s penalty area, and in the final action of the half, Atlético equalized despite the heroics of Kameni.

?Kameni did the best he could, first stopping Tiago’ header from Simão’s corner from six yards out and then blocking Diego Godín’s follow-up from point-blank range, but he could not stop Tiago’s second effort from just in front of the goal line as his defenders complained more about an offside call than trying to clear Kameni’s lines.

If a person went to Ladbrokes, Bwin, or any other betting place at halftime, the odds of Atlético Madrid winning the match would likely have been at even money or below.  In Espanyol’s lone away win against Mallorca, they took the lead with another Luís García penalty and never conceded the lead.  With such a devastating blow in the final seconds of the first half, few would have bet their savings on Espanyol to recover and win the match.

Espanyol struck again nine minutes into the second half due to a goalkeeping gaffe by the young starlet David de Gea, as a usually routine save on Pablo Osvaldo’s shot was bumbled away by de Gea to the right far post, where Joan Verdú ghosted in and cleaned up the mess.  Unlike after Espanyol’s first goal, where the lead seemed secure, the 1-2 scoreline looked like it would not hold up as Atlético pressed on to equalize again, and a classic Forlán – Agüero hookup in the 66th minute made the game all square for the second time.

Surely, Atlético would now deliver the final blow on an Espanyol club that fought well but would ultimately come up short on the road yet again.  After los rojiblancos blew three more scoring chances following their second equalizer, Pablo Osvaldo sealed the win for Espanyol with an outstanding volley that took all the technical skill he could muster.  Luís García’s cross from the right wing was slightly behind Osvaldo, and he knew that controlling the ball would have killed any chance of scoring, so he struck the ball sweetly with the laces of his boots to the upper right corner of the goal, and de Gea dove in vain as Espanyol showed for the first time this season the persistence and resiliency that comes with winning tough away matches.

Emotions and passions will run high in El Clásico on Monday night, but they will not likely spill over like the fracas that occurred at the end of the Atlético Madrid – Espanyol match, when Quique Sánchez Flores went ballistic on Luís García after Diego Godín clattered Javi López on the sideline.  Sánchez Flores claimed that García laughed at him and suggested to López to stay down to waste more time.  Sánchez Flores attempted to lift López off the ground, and the Espanyol players took exception, with Mauricio Pochettino coming into the scene to diffuse the situation and keep Sánchez Flores back from doing more harm than he had already done.

2-3 fulltime, and Quique Sánchez Flores continued his tirade at Luís García, and both his coaching staff and Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni had to restrain him from getting near García.

The little episode at the end of the match should not cloud the extraordinary performance of Espanyol, who dispelled some of the insinuations that they could not win away from home against the upper echelon clubs in Spain.  Will Espanyol finish in the top four and qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history?  Likely not, but unlike some of the talented Espanyol teams of the past decade that fell short of expectations, this team has a core of young stars that do not fear success.

While Raúl Tamudo will always be a club legend for Espanyol, the drama that surrounded him in the past two years, including his manager and former teammate Mauricio Pochettino phasing him out of the starting eleven as well as contract disputes with the board, needed to dissipate so that these young players could move on, and Pablo Osvaldo can now play with a freedom, knowing that Tamudo is not in his rear view mirror anymore.

With Pochettino’s young energy and the team’s young blood coming through the Espanyol academy into the first team, the future of Barcelona’s second club looks bright.  El derbi Barceloní between Espanyol and FC Barcelona will occur in Jornada 16, and while this match is usually played for pride rather than table positioning because Espanyol normally occupies the lower half of the table, the 153rd edition of the derby might be the most significant derby in decades.

Monday’s El Clásico can only hope to live up to this match between a Madrid and a Barcelona team.

Fueras de Juego

- The knives were out for Míchel González after Getafe went through another lifeless half against Sevilla, but somehow, with the help of a complacent Sevilla, Míchel’s team overturned the 1-0 deficit with three goals in the second half, including a Pedro Ríos shot that could have easily ripped through the back of the net because of it exhilarating velocity.  Sevilla has become the Atlético Madrid of this season, notching impressive wins over Valencia and Atlético Madrid while inexplicably losing to Hércules and Sporting Gijón by multiple-goal margins.

- While the neutrals will want a winner in El Clásico on Monday night, the one team that wants the match to end in a draw is Villarreal.  They took care of Real Zaragoza at La Romareda 0-3, and they currently stand four points behind Barcelona and five points behind Real Madrid.  The Yellow Submarine does not want either team to go too far beyond them, with the dying hope that they still have a chance to finish inside the top two.

- Whether Roberto Soldado meant to or not, his first goal in Valencia’s 2-1 win over Almería deserves the golazo of the week with an incredible bit of luck/skill to set up his shot at goal.  Bruno Saltor’s cross from the right wing came just a shade short for Soldado to head it toward another teammate, so Soldado backheaded it to himself to control the ball, then he juked a couple of Almería defenders and shot it past Diego Alves for the 1-0 lead.  If Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Lionel Messi performed such a skill, no one would question that they did it deliberately to control the ball, but gangly and awkward Roberto Soldado could not have possibly done that on purpose, or did he?

]]> 0 http://www.laligatalk.com/la-liga-preview-and-u-s-t-v-listings-for-jornada-12-nov-20-nov-22-3835 http://www.laligatalk.com/la-liga-preview-and-u-s-t-v-listings-for-jornada-12-nov-20-nov-22-3835#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:21:58 +0000 Andy Pineda http://www.laligatalk.com/?p=3835

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, on the banks of the Nervión River in Bilbao, has been universally praised as one of the most significant pieces of architecture in the past thirty years.

The Valencian Derby between Villarreal and Valencia jumps out as the headline match of the weekend in La Liga.  Since Villarreal rose to La Liga for the first time in 1998, their record at home against their neighbors Valencia is an impressive 7-2-2, including winning five of their last six meetings.  While Villarreal lost 3-1 at the Camp Nou last weekend against FC Barcelona, the Yellow Submarine kept receiving the plaudits from fans and media alike for their performance because they played their style without deviating from their philosophy and was successful with their passing football.

Valencia’s form, however, has taken a precipitous dip since they led the league coming off the October international break.  Los Che returned to winning ways in La Liga last Sunday with a routine 2-0 win over Getafe, their first victory in six weeks, but watching that match on Sunday night, Valencia had to exhaust little effort as Getafe bumbled around the Mestalla with no plan and no confidence.  Tino Costa’s first goal in Spanish football provided one of the goals of the season with a left-footed volley from his own chest pass, and Valencia will hope to carry that momentum into El Madrigal on Saturday evening against a Villarreal team that still feels as though they have a shot to finish in the top two.

Another one of the top matches of the weekend falls on the late Sunday kickoff between Real Sociedad and Atlético Madrid at the Estadio Anoeta.  La Erreala look as though they never spent the last three seasons in the Segunda División, as the triumvirate of Xabi Prieto, Joseba Llorente, and Antoine Griezmann have fueled the Sociedad attack with a fusion of power and flair.  As with most teams, Sociedad’s home form dwarfs their poor away record, and they have won four of their five home fixtures with the one loss coming at the hands of Real Madrid, although for most of that match, Real Sociedad had the upper hand.

Atlético Madrid, much like Valencia, has not maintained their blazing start to the season, and their prosaic 3-0 victory over Osasuna last weekend marked their first win in La Liga in a month.  Diego Forlán returned to the scoring ranks with a brace against Osasuna, and José Antonio Reyes continued as Atlético’s best player this season with speedy runs and accurate passing and crosses that severely troubled both Osasuna fullbacks Damià Abella and Spanish international Nacho Monreal.  Los Colchoneros have not won in San Sebastián in nineteen years, when trainer Quique Sánchez Flores’ predecessor, Abel Resino, protected Atlético’s goal as their goalkeeper, and Forlán and Sergio Kun Agüero will have to be at the top of their game if they have any chance of breaching Claudio Bravo’s goal.

For Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, they face Athletic Bilbao and Almería, respectively, before the 162nd edition of El Clásico commences next Monday night, and with both playing important group matches in the Champions League midweek, they both need to resist the urge of looking ahead to those matchups and worry about their upcoming opponents.  While Athletic has not defeated Real at the Santiago Bernabéu since 2005, Real’s most physically demanding matches each season are usually against Athletic, and for Barcelona, they have only won one out of three at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos, including an enthralling 2-2 draw last season, where Lionel Messi needed to score a double in order to squeak out a draw in Almería.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

Nov. 20

Villarreal vs. Valencia – 11:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Almería vs. FC Barcelona – 1:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Real Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao – 3:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Nov. 21

Espanyol vs Hércules – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Osasuna vs. Sporting de Gijón - 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478

Levante vs. Racing de Santander – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 479

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Málaga – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Sevilla vs. Mallorca – 12:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Real Sociedad vs. Atlético Madrid – 2:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Unfortunately, the Monday night football match between Getafe and Real Zaragoza at the Coliseo Alfonso Pérez will not be shown on US TV.

The Palacio de la Magdalena, the most visited site in the city of Santander, was built in the early 20th century as a summer home for the Spanish royal family.

The highlight match of the weekend will occur at the Camp Nou, where Villarreal will want to display their résumé as a legitimate threat to a dominion currently ruled by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.  After a topsy-turvy month of results where they looked somewhat hapless in away fixtures at Hércules and Sporting Gijón in La Liga and PAOK in the Europa League paired with impressive performances at El Madrigal against Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal will travel the three hour journey up the AP-7 motorway to accomplish two goals: defeat Barcelona to rise to second in the table and quash the growing notion that Villarreal cannot win important matches away from home.

If Villarreal were to at least achieve a result at the Camp Nou, it would not be a total shock because El Amarillo Submarino has been the only team in Spain not to lose at Barcelona in the past three seasons.  More specifically, Villarreal has ruined Barça celebrations the past two years.  Two years ago, with one win away from sealing the La Liga crown, Joseba Llorente scored in stoppage time to cap off a thrilling 3-3 draw that delayed the Blaugrana party, if only for another week.  Last season, after Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup to finish off an unprecedented six-trophy campaign, Villarreal spoiled the fête champêtre with an inspired performance from David Fuster (!) to come away with a 1-1 draw.

One reason why Villarreal enjoys success against Barcelona is that they play a similar style to the Catalans.  While Lionel Messi and David Villa combined to score thirteen goals in La Liga, second to the sixteen tallied by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín, Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar have quietly collaborated to score thirteen goals as well, and arguably Rossi and Nilmar’s chemistry with their interplay in the final third has been better than any other pair in Spain.  With Santi Cazorla returning to his ebullient best following an injury-riddled 09/10 campaign and Borja Valero adding another dimension to Villarreal’s flowing attack from the wing or in the middle, they have the depth and firepower to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Somewhat under the radar, Barcelona is slowly peaking at the perfect time.  With Real Madrid scoring off the charts and garnering most of the headlines in the Spanish press, Barcelona defeated previous league-leaders Valencia with a stirring second-half comeback and crushed Sevilla 5-0 without really hitting their top gear.  Anything less than Barça brilliance has become a mini-crisis now, and Pep Guardiola could not be happier that José Mourinho and Real Madrid has taken the spotlight away from his team as they continue to build up to El Clásico.

Barcelona and Villarreal have not disappointed in their last few meetings, and expect two teams that will attack each other for the entirety of the match with move after move of twenty to thirty pass works.  Villarreal has much more to gain and lose with the final result of this game on Saturday, and Juan Carlos Garrido will not hesitate to go after the win as a statement of their intent in La Liga this season.

Other intriguing matches this weekend include a matchup of impressive promoted teams in Hércules and Real Sociedad, a surprising Mallorca team that was bankrupt not too long ago against a Deportivo La Coruña team who has won their last two with a five-man defense and five goals, and Racing de Santander hosting Espanyol, who sits in the final Champions League spot despite losing four of their five matches away from the Cornellà-El Prat.

Nov. 13

Athletic Bilbao vs. Almería – 11:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Atlético Madrid vs. Osasuna – 1:55 PM on Gol TV HD

FC Barcelona vs. Villarreal – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Nov. 14

Hércules vs. Real Sociedad – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 477

Racing de Santander vs. Espanyol – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 478

Mallorca vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Real Zaragoza vs. Sevilla – 10:55 AM on Gol TV HD

Sporting Gijón vs. Real Madrid – 12:55 PM on Gol TV HD

Valencia vs. Getafe – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

Unfortunately, the Málaga – Levante match at La Rosaleda, Manuel Pellegrini’s first match in charge of Málaga in La Liga, will not be shown on US TV.