On the path Real Sociedad is heading, there will be no need to celebrate promotion to the Primera División as they did here in June because they will stay in La Liga.

For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness.  As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed from crippling financial woes, and in the case of Real Sociedad, they were forced to enter the ignominy of administration in 2007.

As late as the 2002-03 season, the Erreala finished second in La Liga, pipped at the death by Real Madrid by a mere two points.  Leading the Madridistas by a point in the penultimate round, Sociedad lost at Balaídos to Celta de Vigo 3-2 while Real Madrid humbled Atlético Madrid 0-4 at the Vicente Calderón with two braces from Raúl and the original Ronaldo.  It was no shame for Sociedad to lose at Celta, who would finish fourth that campaign to continue a six-season streak of top-seven finishes, but a final day 3-0 win at Anoeta over Atlético Madrid ultimately came in vain as Real handled Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the Bernabéu with another Ronaldo double to secure Madrid’s 29th Spanish crown.

That halcyon year, however, was sandwiched in between four seasons previous and four seasons afterward that saw Sociedad finish tenth or worse, and the man that is currently the president of the LFP, José Luís Astiazarán, eventually led Sociedad into the downward spiral as Real Sociedad president before being elected as the head of Spanish professional football in 2005.

With the core of that second-place team gone from Sociedad by 2007 (Xabi Alonso, Nihat Kahveci, Darko Kovacevic, Valeri Karpin, and Agustín Aranzábal), they finished five points from safety and were relegated.  With no parachute payments for the relegated teams like what the Premier League does for its relegated clubs, they could not bounce back into La Liga immediately, so three hard years with the likes of Numancia and Xerez promoted ahead of Real Sociedad only threw more dirt on their increasingly covered coffin.

What made the difference last season to earn promotion as the winners of the Segunda División?  Antoine Griezmann, please stand up.

Looking at Griezmann just for his physical numbers, he does not jump out as a physical specimen.  At a gangly 5′ 8″, his slight stature did not impress any of the clubs in his native France, and only in a chance encounter did the Real Sociedad scouts witness Griezmann’s burgeoning talent in a friendly youth match between Montpellier and Paris Saint-Germain in 2005.

At the tender age of 14 at the time, Sociedad offered Griezmann a one-week trial, then a second-week trial, and then a full youth contract to cross the border and train with the Sociedad youth team.  Climbing the ladder within the youth ranks of Sociedad, new Sociedad trainer Martín Lasarte saw enough of the young, 19-year-old Frenchman to give him his professional debut at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, and he immediately became a regular with the first team.  Slotted on the left of the three man attacking midfield in Lasarte’s 4-2-3-1 formation, he assisted in numerous goals for Carlos Bueno, Xabi Prieto, and Imanol Agirretxe while providing six goals of his own.

When Real Sociedad officially earned promotion on June 13, 2010, ironically it was a defeat of Celta de Vigo in the penultimate round, the same team that essentially tore the La Liga trophy away from Real in the penultimate round in 2003.

Coming into the 2010-11 La Liga season, Martín Lasarte set out a modest goal of avoiding relegation by reaching the forty-point mark, an aspiration held by all promoted teams.  If Lasarte stressed patience with this inexperienced team, their opening round 1-0 victory over Villarreal accelerated expectations for captain Mikel Aranburu’s club.  With a settled squad, a couple of new recruits in €2.4 million striker Joseba Llorente and €1.5 million striker Diego Ifrán, whom Lasarte coached while he was at Danubio in Uruguay, and a contract extension for Lasarte through 2012, the Sociedad board’s prudent practices under president Jokin Aperribay look to have returned Real Sociedad back into a stable first division club.

In a respectable ninth place with a chance to climb within one point of a Europa League place heading into the late Sunday kickoff against Atlético Madrid, Lasarte’s men felt confident that they could earn the three points against los colchoneros at Anoeta.

Sociedad had won four of its first five home matches with the one blemish coming against Real Madrid, where Sociedad deserved a share of the points, outplaying Real for large stretches of the match.  An Ángel di María golazo and a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick that came off Pepe’s back prevented Sociedad from a landmark victory.  Add to the facts that Atlético had not won in San Sebastián since 1991 and had never won at the Estadio Anoeta since it was opened in 1993 gave Sociedad more motivation to defeat Atlético Madrid.

For the first forty-five minutes, Real Sociedad’s defense, which had only given up two goals at home for the season, limited Atlético to potshots from outside the area and the odd header from corner kicks.  The txuri-urdin only had three shots for the entire half, but all three were on target and came on three separate scoring chances.  Their goal came from a slice of Antoine Griezmann magic, where he mesmerized Luís Amaranto Perea with his footwork and crossed to the six-yard box in a flash, where it is still unclear after many replays whether Tomáš Ujfaluši or Joseba Llorente got the final touch, but Llorente received credit for the goal.  On the two other scoring opportunities, David de Gea just got to the ball in the box before Llorente could get a touch, and Llorente’s extended foot in the air from Xabi Prieto’s cross was inches away from making contact with the ball and giving his team a priceless 2-0 lead.

While Atlético seized control in the second half while Sociedad sat back to protect their one-goal advantage, a fifteen second splice of time in the 71st minute turned the match around from a potential 2-0 scoreline for Sociedad to a 1-1 equalizer for Atlético.

Referee Miguel Ángel Ayza Gámez did not blow his whistle for an apparent handball on Tiago Mendes in the box after Ion Ansotegui flicked the ball in Tiago’s direction, and immediately after the no-call, Atlético countered and converted to equalize.  José Antonio Reyes started the lightning-quick counter-attack from the disputed call with a sixty yard diagonal ball that found Sergio Agüero in stride at the top of the penalty area, and with a two-on-two with the Sociedad defense, Agüero cut back the ball for Forlán in the box, and Forlán made no mistake with his effort to the left near post and past a stunned Claudio Bravo.  Naturally, the Sociedad players acted with justified disgust and dismay after Ayza Gámez refused the penalty calls, but one of the basic tenets of football is to play to the whistle, and they let their guard down for a few seconds, and Atlético capitalized for the tying goal.

If Sociedad felt wronged for Atlético’s first goal, their heads exploded after Atlético’s second goal because the linesman did not call Agüero offside even though he was more than a body length off.

Atlético Madrid would win the match 2-4, capping off nineteen years of frustration in San Sebastián, but Martín Lasarte summarized the match perfectly in his comments to MARCA following this loss:

“Losing is always a bitter feeling but harder to accept in certain circumstances.  We tried our best to get a result.”

On pace for fifty-one points and a mid-table finish, Real Sociedad is heading in the right direction both on and off the pitch.  While this loss to Atlético Madrid comes with an extra sting because of two no-calls by the referee crew that directly led to two Atlético goals, they can take solace in the idea that they controlled a potential Champions League team for seventy minutes without needing to play perfectly to keep their 1-0 lead.

These types of performances at home will keep Real Sociedad in La Liga for next season and the foreseeable future, and while Antoine Griezmann will likely get snapped up by one of the big European clubs within a year or two, the potential sale of their best talent since Xabi Alonso could continue the renaissance of a club that was an original founder of La Liga in 1928 and has been instrumental in weaving the fabric of Spanish football for the past century.

Fueras de Juego

- Juan Manuel Lillo and Pep Guardiola are close friends, stemming from their time together at Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa when Lillo was the manager and Guardiola was in his last year as a player.  When Guardiola’s Barcelona team hardly played at full form yet won at Almería 0-8 on Saturday, it did not give Guardiola any joy not only because he demoralized and crushed one of his mentors but because Lillo was subsequently sacked following the match.  The 0-8 scoreline tied Barcelona’s biggest away win in their history when they defeated Las Palmas 0-8 in 1959.  The aura of inevitability and fatalism in the crowd said all that needed to be said, as they did not even make the effort to boo, whistle, or jeer their team with Almería falling six, seven, and eight goals down.

- Not to be outdone by Barcelona’s performance, Real Madrid shook off any notion of a trap game against Athletic Bilbao with an emphatic 5-1 win at the Bernabéu.  Cristiano Ronaldo matched Lionel Messi’s hat trick with a hat trick of his own, and while Athletic made it hard for Real for the first hour of the match, an idea foreign to Almería against Barcelona, Real eventually turned on the class and shoved Athletic away with Barcelona now squarely in their crosshairs next Monday night.  Real does have a difficult match at Ajax in the Champions League in the midweek, but with qualification to the knockout round already secured, expect a much changed lineup for Ajax to have their best starting eleven healthy for El Clásico.

- Villarreal and Valencia played to a mildly entertaining 1-1 draw in the Valencian derby in the opening match of the round, but more importantly, the draw, combined with the Real and Barça wins, has enlarged the gulf between Real Madrid and Barcelona and the rest of La Liga.  Villarreal currently sits third, eight points behind Real Madrid and seven points behind Barcelona, and the only chance that Villarreal has to keep pace with them is for Villarreal to take care of business against Real Zaragoza while El Clásico ends in a draw.  It only took twelve rounds to separate Barça and Real from the rest of Spain, and with the new TV deal giving them 34% of the money (17% for each) while the other professional teams split the remaining 66%, Real and Barcelona could make it a two-horse race earlier and earlier in the coming years.

The titans of Spanish football will face off next weekend at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the traditional El Classico which will carry an even greater importance this time because it could decide the league title’s destination. The two clubs are tied on top of la Liga with the same number of points but Los Galacticos are one goal ahead in terms of the goals scored and conceded differential.

Barca have the stronger defensive line while the hosts who are led by record signing Cristiano Ronaldo have the better offensive record. While some might see this clash as a duel between Ronaldo and Barca’s Lionel Messi, this is far from the accurate truth as Los Galacticos have Gonzalo Higuain in their ranks and he is the club’s top scorer with 23 goals to Ronaldo’s 17. In Barca’s case Messi might be the star who is on a level above everyone else but his teammates have a crucial role and their contribution cannot be underestimated. Messi might be the top scorer in la Liga with a stunning ratio of 26 goals in 27 matches and he has provided 9 assists, but midfielder Xavi Hernandez and full-back Daniel Alves have both given 7 assists this season. Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has contributed 15 league goals including the important winner in the match between the two earlier this season.

Real Madrid have won all 15 of their home games so how will Barca cope with that and can they be the first to at least force a draw in Madrid? One key element for Barca will be how long their defenders can hold Real Madrid’s offensive weapons, particularly Ronaldo, in check. The responsibility will fall on the shoulders of club captain Carles Puyol who will have to lead the back-line by example and keep an eye on not just  on goal scorers Ronaldo and Higuain, but also be aware of the danger posed by Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Marcelo and Rafael Van der Vaart who all have at least 5 assists or more.

On the other hand, Los Galacticos will rely on home court advantage having won all their games at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in la Liga as well as the marquee players mentioned above. In addition, the Real Madrid defenders will also play a massive role since they will have to contain not just Messi but Swedish striker Ibrahimovic, midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta among others. This is shaping up into a clash of epic proportions and the supporters of the beautiful game will be hoping for a spectacle filled with goals and punctuated by fair play.

For the fans of either club the focus will be on achieving victory in order to push ahead with the drive for the Spanish title. Barca would like to retain their crown while Real Madrid are hoping to justify all their spending which reached stratospheric proportions. To some it might be  just about Ronaldo versus Messi but who will be celebrating at the end of the match could very well depend on the contribution of their teammates.

Gonzalo Higuaín scores the second goal to give Los Blancos their first lead in the match.

A gigantic banner covered one end of the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu before the match.  On this banner, the Grim Reaper and other scary creatures from movies and stories past sprawled across, and there was a message for their Madrid neighbors to the south, “Noche de Derby.  Vuestra Peor Pesadilla.”

In English, this means, “Derby night.  Your worst nightmare.”  This statement aptly describes Atlético de Madrid’s feeling whenever they have played Real Madrid in El Derbi Madrileño, the Madrid derby.  Including the two years that Atlético was in the Segunda División, Real Madrid has not lost to Los Colchoneros in ten years.  For further confirmations of Real’s dominance, Real Madrid only lost twice in the derby in thirty-one meetings since the 1992-93 season.

Even when Atlético Madrid won their last title in the 1995-96 campaign, when they finished seventeen points ahead of sixth-place Real Madrid (that season was the first of two seasons to include twenty-two teams in La Liga and forty-two matches in a season), Real Madrid won both meetings.

To say that Atlético Madrid and their supporters developed an inferiority complex would be quite an obvious statement.

Heading into the 169th edition of El Derbi Madrileño, each team composed a different agenda for this match.  For Real Madrid, keeping up with Barcelona has become a drama in itself, and for the second straight round, Los Merengues had to follow up a Barça win in order to maintain a tie at the top of the table (On a side note, Barcelona will again play before Real Madrid next weekend.  Barcelona’s home match against Athletic Bilbao will commence on Saturday evening, while Real Madrid hosts Racing de Santander on Sunday night.  If AS and Marca have not already run some articles on this latest LFP “conspiracy” favoring their Catalan rivals, those writings will come sooner than later.).

For Atlético Madrid, the mediocre play of the teams immediately ahead of them in the standings meant that fourth place and a Champions League spot might actually be viable.  When they defeated Racing de Santander in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, Atleti knew that they sewed up a Europa League place.  With Sevilla making the final of the Copa del Rey and most likely securing a top-six finish in the league, Atlético’s place in Europe was all but set in stone, whether it was as the finalist in the Copa del Rey or the winner of the competition.

Atlético was mired in twelfth place at that time, and it would take a quixotic journey to rise to a UEFA Champions League spot.  Sevilla, Mallorca, and the rest of the contenders (pretenders at this moment) trod water as Atlético Madrid strung a stretch of positive results together.  More than pure pride on the table, Atlético held real possibilities of climbing to fourth place.

When José Antonio Reyes scored for Atlético Madrid in the 10th minute, Real Madrid looked the more nervous and jittery team.  Real could not forge a consistent attack, and Atlético was efficient with their possession, eventually leading to Reyes’ goal, where Tiago, Sergio Agüero, and Reyes combined across the top of the box to give Reyes open space to slot the ball past Iker Casillas.

Up to the half-hour mark, Real still dominated possession but could not break down the Atlético defense.  Strange to say about Atlético, but with Juan Valera at right back and Tomáš Ujfaluši back into his natural central defensive position, cohesion actually existed in the back line.

Frustration began to envelop the Real players, and Cristiano Ronaldo, as he often does, felt as though he needed to all the work himself.  He went on individual runs and acted visibly disgusted almost every time his teammates did not provide the perfect ball for him.

Real Madrid kept chipping into Atlético’s resolute nature, but when Tiago miraculously blocked Gonzalo Higuaín’s from two yards out, and Ronaldo missed an open header from a pinpoint Xabi Alonso cross at the stroke of halftime, the Madridistas must have wondered if they were the ones suffering the nightmare.

Two events shaped what would transpire in the second half.  Juan Valera had to come out of the game in the 42nd minute due to injury, and his replacement, Luis Perea, received a staggering cheer from the Real faithful.  Perea can be a great defender at times, but he always has those “What the hell is he doing?” moments, and the Madridistas prophesied and envisaged one of those mistakes from Perea.

The other event involved the substitution of José Jurado in place of José Antonio Reyes to start the second half due to injury.  Reyes ran Marcelo ragged throughout the first half, and while Marcelo did have a karate-kick volley that forced Atleti goalkeeper David de Gea into a diving save, Reyes kept Marcelo from bombing forward at every opportunity.  Speedy wingers like Reyes, Jesús Navas, and Andrés Guardado have troubled Marcelo throughout his career, but Jurado, while an effective player and a good crosser of the ball, would not scare Marcelo into sitting in his own half.

The second half became a Real Madrid clinic in offensive football, culminating in a three-goal outburst in a span of thirteen minutes that silenced any doubts about a first derby win for Atlético Madrid since the beginning of this century.  A set piece, a brilliant cross-field ball, and a turnover by the Atlético defense in front of their own penalty box composed Real’s three goals respectively.  While Xabi Alonso, the author of that ineffable ball to Álvaro Arbeloa which led to the second goal, gifted Atlético their second goal, via a Diego Forlán penalty, with an inane handball from a Simão Sabrosa corner kick, Atlético de Madrid hardly threatened Iker Casillas’ goal throughout the second half.

The 3-2 final scoreline discredits how dominant Real Madrid was against their city rivals.

Real Madrid was so unworried about the final result that Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos both intentionally forced referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco to issue yellow cards to them late in the match, earning one-game suspensions because those were their tenth yellow cards of the season.  They will miss next week’s match against Racing Santander, so that they would not be in danger of missing El Clásico against Barcelona on April 10.

On pace to equal the record for most goals in a season with 107 by the 1989-90 Real Madrid team that included Pichichi winner Hugo Sánchez, Bernd Schuster, and four of the five members of La Quinta del Buitre, this year’s squad continues to focus through the tunnel vision set by their manager Manuel Pellegrini.  Another similarity between the 2009-10 Real Madrid team and the 1989-90 team is that they were both knocked out in the last 16 of the European Cup/Champions League despite high expectations.  John Toshack, manager of that record-breaking squad, and Pellegrini likely both spun those European losses as removing the distractions from domestic affairs.

Toshack and Real Madrid would win La Liga in 1989-90, and while Pellegrini’s path to the title is much more competitive than the nine point stroll (fifteen points if wins counted for three points as they are today instead of two points as they were back then), Pellegrini and his team would want nothing more than to replicate that team’s accomplishments.

As for the derby, those Madridistas are very quick.  As soon as Undiano Mallenco blew the final whistle, the fans unfurled a second message for Los Colchoneros:

“10 años sin ganar un derby… 28/3/10: RMCF 3 – ATM 2… La pesadilla continua.”

“Ten years without a derby win…  3/28/10: Real Madrid CF 3 – Atlético Madrid 2… The nightmare continues.”

Fueras de Juego

- RCD Mallorca needs to tell their fans to stay away.  For once this season, Mallorca supporters populated the ONO Estadi because Barcelona flew into town.  While Mallorca forced Pep Guardiola to use Xavi and Lionel Messi when Pep wanted to rest them ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal at Arsenal on Wednesday, it was not enough, as a suddenly hot Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in his third consecutive match to win a hard-fought 0-1 game against Los Barralets.

Jeffren Suárez got the start on the right of Ibrahimovic in place of Messi, and Jonathan dos Santos replaced Suárez late in the match.  For some reason, Bojan Krkic has fallen down Guardiola’s ladder to where dos Santos made his second ever appearance in La Liga for the blaugrana instead of Bojan making an instant impact off the bench.  Bojan has scored in his last two appearances in all competitions, and his lack of playing time will only help fuel the transfer rumors through the end of the season and into the summer transfer window.

- Xerez must have made a deal with El Diablo (the devil) because they won again on Sunday against a torpid Real Valladolid club that played as though they have little hope of staying in La Liga, even though they are only five points behind Real Zaragoza from safety.  Unlike their brash and polemic manager Onésimo Sánchez, Valladolid has played with a timid nature.  Valladolid striker Manucho, who promised forty goals before the season started, missed a couple of platinum opportunities to give his team a chance to come back against Xerez (Who would have said that at any time this season?), but he still has nine matches to score a mere thirty-eight goals and fulfill his vow.

- Xerez still lags seven points from safety, however, after Real Zaragoza put the hammer down on an unsuspecting Valencia 3-0 in the late Saturday kickoff.  When Zaragoza defender Jirí Jarošík nonchalantly back-flicked Gabi’s corner past a shocked César Sanchez to score the third and decisive goal, it capped off a poor Valencia performance that might not matter at the end of the campaign, as no team behind them is threatening them for third place.  Valencia finished with less than eleven men yet again, and this lack of discipline could come back to haunt them when they face Atlético Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Europa League.  As for Zaragoza, Xerez might be their only real threat to send them back down to the second division because Valladolid and Tenerife cannot buy a win as the season winds down.

- Villarreal looked like the imperious Yellow Submarine that continually finished in the top five in La Liga and ventured into the later stages of the Champions League.  Sure, the Sevilla team they faced on Sunday acted like a limp fish beaching in the sun, but with the Nilmar, Giuseppe Rossi, Joseba Llorente trio finally starting to work well together, along with the return of Santi Cazorla from chronic injuries, a two-point deficit in the race for a Europa League spot is definitely within reach, and the seven-point gap between themselves and fourth place is not impossible.

The Almería – Barcelona match had not concluded when Real Madrid took to the pitch, but a few minutes into their match with Sevilla, they knew that Barça slipped at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos and dropped two points with a 2-2 draw against Almería.  Expectations were that Real Madrid would not have the chance to grab at least a share of the lead away from the Blaugrana until the second Clásico meeting on April 11, but this unforeseen gift, wrapped in a bow by their archrivals to the northeast, laid at the doorstep of the Bernabéu for the Madridistas to open gleefully.

Unfortunately, Xabi Alonso put it into his own net in the 10th minute, and Ivica Dragutinovic scored an unlikely free kick that was meant to be crossed into a flood of players.  Iker Casillas and Xabi Alonso looked at each other with contempt as both expected one another to handle the harmless ball.  Xabi Alonso let the ball sail over his head, assuming that Casillas would catch it on the bounce.  Casillas anticipated Xabi Alonso to head the ball away to safety and therefore did not cover the left post.  The ball furtively sneaked into the bottom left corner of the net, and Sevilla held a 0-2 lead at the Santiago Bernabéu with 38+ minutes remaining.

A loss for Real Madrid against Sevilla, even in the capital city, would not have been a shocking revelation, and a defeat to the Andalusians would still have Los Blancos a mere three points behind Barcelona with thirteen matches left to overturn the deficit. Real Madrid manager Manuel Pellegrini entertained zero options of settling, as he removed Álvaro Arbeloa and Lassana Diarra from the action in the 55th minute and sent in two creative midfielders, Rafael van der Vaart and Guti, to revitalize the incessant but stagnant attack.

Observing that Sevilla had only one shot on target in fifty-five minutes, the unlikely Dragutinovic goal, Pellegrini concluded that there was little need for a second defensive midfielder and a stay-at-home left back.  Real Madrid played intricate football in the middle of the pitch, used both flanks effectively, and dabbled in a more direct, long-ball approach up to that point, but Sevilla goalkeeper Andrés Palop and his defensive line held firm without a breach of goal.  Los Nervionenses cared little that their two goals came courtesy of a Xabi Alonso own goal and miscommunication between Iker Casillas and Xabi Alonso on a Dragutinovic free kick.

Rafael van der Vaart and Guti certainly have the fecundity to create and exploit any gaps within the Sevilla defense, and each had differing problems with Pellegrini this season.  Van der Vaart was supposed to be gone in the previous summer transfer window.  He was not in Pellegrini’s blueprints to the point where Esteban Granero was given van der Vaart’s number 23 in the preseason.  Wesley Sneijder, exiled by Real Madrid and eventually sold to Inter Milan, more than suggested to van der Vaart that he should leave to join a club that wanted him.

Van der Vaart stubbornly stayed with Madrid, feeling as though he was good enough for the team and wanted to prove his Madrid doubters wrong.  While he has fought injuries throughout the season, van der Vaart showed himself to be the third attacking midfielder with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká.

As for José María Gutiérrez Hernández, that man known as Guti, Guti is and will always be Guti.  Perpetually and chronically incorrigible, he has gotten under the skin of every Real Madrid manager since he first made it to the senior squad.  If anyone tugs on his gossamer robe, he lashes out and leaves no one in his wake.

For a character like that, he should have been booted out years ago, but he still roams the pitch at the Santiago Bernabéu because of his truly world-class vision and passing distribution.  The term “world-class” is bandied around quite frequently, but for Guti, the label fits.  If he did not possess this type of talent, there is no way manager after manager would have kept this turbulent truculent on their squads.

Manuel Pellegrini could have easily phased out both van der Vaart and Guti if he let his ego get the best of him, but when the bell rung, he employed the players best suited for the situation rather than use others just because they did not vex him.  What Madrid needed in the final half-hour against Sevilla were players that forced Sevilla’s defensive and midfield lines to lose their shape.

Sergio Ramos getting R-rated after heading in the equalizer.

Whereas the field tilted toward Andrés Palop’s goal in the first half, this Madrid torrent in the second half completely inundated everyone with a red tinge.  A 60th minute Cristiano Ronaldo strike that benefited from a wicked Marius Stankevicius deflection and a 64th minute Sergio Ramos header from a van der Vaart corner turned the match completely around in the ten minutes since the substitutes entered the match.  Guti struck the crossbar, and Gonzalo Higuaín hit the post and the crossbar on two separate shots in the ensuing ten minutes after the Ramos equalizer, but Pellegrini was not done with his tinkering.

In the 75th minute, he made the bold move of withdrawing the €65 million Kaká in favor of Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer Raúl, who has made very few appearances since losing his starting spot early in the season.  Kaká had a decent game, but van der Vaart and Guti accomplished more in twenty minutes than Kaká did in seventy-five.  Pellegrini, soft-spoken but strong in his convictions, knew the gravity of the situation and wanted no less than three points.

An ultra-offensive 4-1-3-2 formation proved to be too much for Sevilla, as Rafael van der Vaart outmuscled Stankevicius for a rebound from three yards out and converted his scoring chance after Palop understandably gave up a rebound from Higuaín’s header in the second minute of stoppage time.

The euphoria felt and created by the players sent the Madridistas into a higher state of consciousness as they witnessed the most electric thirty minutes of the La Liga season.  Pellegrini, always the levelheaded statesman, put this match into its proper perspective when he spoke with Spanish sports daily Marca:

“There are still 39 points to play for.  These are three important points.  We will only be happy when our final objectives are obtained.  Now we depend on ourselves.”

With all the emotion spent on conquering this two-goal deficit against Sevilla, Real Madrid will have little time to recover because they host Lyon on Wednesday in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League tie down a single goal.  Whether they maintain this surging momentum into that match remains to be seen, and for all the plaudits and accolades they received on Saturday, a deluge of harsh criticism will be levied upon them if they fail to defeat Lyon and advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

That discussion, however, is for another day.  Real Madrid and Barcelona are tied at the top of La Liga with thirteen matches remaining.  Barcelona has the edge because they defeated Real 1-0 in November, and as the famous Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once quipped:

If you are first, you are first.  If you are second, you are nothing.

Real Madrid would not want it any other way.

Fueras de Juego

- Athletic Bilbao’s resurgence this season is due to many factors, including a stellar home record and Fernando Llorente leading the line, but some credit has to go to Gaizka Toquero, the perfect wingman to Llorente’s hold-up play.  Once a lower division vagabond with such illustrious clubs as SD Lemona, Sestao River Club, and SD Eibar, he caught the eye of Bilbao, although he was not in manager Joaquín Caparrós’ plans when Toquero first arrived in Bilbao.  He scored both of Athletic’s goals in their routine 2-0 win over Real Valladolid on Sunday, including a clinical finish off the short-hop to give his team an insurmountable two-goal advantage.

- Felicitaciones to Xerez as they won their first match away from home in the top flight after defeating an in-form Málaga 2-4 in a match that featured two red cards, nine yellow cards and a penalty miss and a penalty make by Xerez winger Momo.  Xerez manager Néstor Gorosito had an impossible task of keeping Xerez afloat after he replaced José Ángel Ziganda in January, and while Xerez is still ten points adrift of safety, Gorosito has instilled confidence in a team that had none before he arrived.

- The weekly drama that is Atlético Madrid came up with another plot twist, as Ibrahima Baldé scored in stoppage time to give Los Colchoneros an undeserved 1-1 draw.  A poor match in terms of quality, Diego Forlán was livid when he was substituted with thirty minutes left, and Atleti seemed to release the guillotine on itself after José Antonio Reyes received a straight red card for flailing his arm at Eliseu Pereira, although what little contact Reyes made on Eliseu sent him into “unfathomable” pain.  Clearly frustrated by Zaragoza’s bounty on him, he decided to take the law into his own hands in a half-hearted attempt to send a message.  If Atlético manager Quique Sánchez Flores has not already been prescribed Thorazine, Zyprexa, or any other antipsychotic drug because he has to deal with this club on a daily basis, he needs them now.

Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid
0-1 Ronaldo, 2’
0-2 Kaka (pen), 73’

With four wins in four league games and three clean sheets in the bunch, it’s statistically difficult to find fault with Real Madrid’s early season performances. They have ostensibly done everything right in their opening games: they have incorporated all the new faces into the mix, gotten big contributions from old favorites like Raul and Guti, and seen their world record signing get off to a record-breaking start.

Yet there were troubling signs amidst all the success. They didn’t look like much of a team even in their comfortable wins, only playing in sync with each other for brief stretches. The central midfield looked woefully bereft of ideas after injury knocked out Xabi Alonso for a few games. And that defense – god help them, they were trying, but they seemed to have no idea who was supposed to be where, looking particularly susceptible to counterattacks and set pieces.

In short, they looked exactly like they should: like a team full of new personnel searching for its identity. Everyone was adamant in the preseason that it would take time for the superstars to gel into a cohesive unit, but with two of the last three FIFA World Players of the Year, it’s hard not to get carried away in your expectations, hoping to see them set the world on fire from their first moments together. Instead, they showed flashes of brilliance interspersed with long stretches of almost catatonic malaise, uncertain in possession and positioning.

Wednesday’s game against Villarreal showed the beginnings of progress and a hint of what Manuel Pellegrini is trying to establish with this team. It was perhaps their least spectacular performance, a relatively pedestrian 2-0 win away to Villarreal, but the steadiness of their play was more impressive than any of the fireworks of previous games.

That’s not to say that this one didn’t have fireworks of its own, though. It took less than two minutes for Cristiano Ronaldo to get off the mark, sprinting upfield before darting inside and raking one past Diego Lopez to open the scoring. It was the second time in as many games that CR9 scored inside the first two minutes, both times on strikes as fabulous as his own sense of style. As in the game against Xerez, they took their foot off the gas a bit after the early goal, but this time they looked more confident in possession and sure of their ability to dominate the game with or without more goals. They were helped in this regard by the sending off of Gonzalo in the 35^th minute after he picked up his second yellow on a high kick to Kaka’s midsection.

Villarreal got themselves into the game a little more early in the second half, but to their credit, Real’s defense handled the attacks of the Yellow Submarine with considerable fluency. This was no mean feat, considering the back line had to be reshuffled at the last second when Garay suffered an injury in the pre-game warm-up, forcing Sergio Ramos to central defense and Lass Diarra to unfamiliar territory at right back. I’m sure Pellegrini will be thrilled to have both Sergio and Pepe back in the line-up come Saturday when they take on Tenerife, as the Portuguese international has finally finished serving his 10-game suspension for his notorious Getafe meltdown. They’re still not 100%, as Arbeloa is carrying a knee injury, but with Ramos, Pepe, and Albiol, they have the makings of a staunch defense.

Madrid put the game away on a disputable penalty call by Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez in the 73^rd minute. Marcelo made a good run to the end line, and when he attempted to send it back across goal, the ball struck Angel’s raised arm as he slid in to make the challenge. Having already gotten his goal for the game, Ronaldo stepped aside to let Kaka take the PK, which he converted, sending the keeper the wrong way and rolling it into the net. It was the Brazilian’s first goal for the club.

It was really a rather tepid effort by Villarreal in their first match against their former manager, but that shouldn’t take away from the improvements Real appeared to have made in this match. Guti, who started the match with the captain’s armband, helped control play for Madrid and greatly contributed to the effort to stabilize some of the team’s shaky tendencies. Cristiano’s crossing left a lot to be desired, and Higuain is a long way off linking up with his new midfield providers, but all in all it was a promising display. Perhaps I had the storyline wrong. It isn’t so much that this team of superstars is underperforming despite racking up the wins. Rather, they are continuing to secure victories even as they come into their own, surviving the growing pains without sacrificing any points along the way. Now if they could only find a legitimate left back, I could quit complaining entirely.

Real Madrid 5-0 Xerez
1-0 Ronaldo, 1′
2-0 Ronaldo, 75′
3-0 Guti, 78′
4-0 Benzema, 82′
5-0 Van Nistelrooy, 89′

Real Madrid moved to the top of the table Sunday, ahead of Barcelona on goal differential, after a 5-0 rout of Xerez that was a more difficult affair than the final score might indicate. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a second straight brace for his new club and did all the meaningful scoring, giving Real the two-goal cushion upon which they built their late-game goal flurry. Yet even with all the talent in the world – quite literally – wearing white on the pitch, many questions remain for Madrid after a win that was less dominating than one would expect against a newly promoted side.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the quarter of a billion Euros splashed out this summer, Real took the better part of 90 minutes to finally click as a team. Last week I railed against their defensive miscues, but a similar charge can be leveled against their offense, which continues to rake in the goals despite playing a haphazard, individualistic style of football. After Ronaldo scored on a zinger in the first minute, Madrid appeared to go into hibernation for the next 70+ minutes, creating little more than moments of individual brilliance in the midst of mediocre play. Xerez just kept plugging away, little engine that could style, and their midfield did a commendable job of jamming up the works and preventing Madrid from ever finding a rhythm. With no Xabi Alonso to pull the strings in midfield, Real were left with Gago and Lass playing the double-pivot and little creativity flowing from the midfield.

As much was made clear when Pellegrini yanked Raul and Kaka in favor of Granero and Guti, leaving CR9 to partner Benzema as the two out-and-out strikers. All of a sudden the ball was moving more fluidly and play was built up from the midfield to create opportunities for the attacking players. Xerez clung to the one-goal deficit for a surprisingly long time, and the Andalucian side even had a number of chances to tie the game. Their failure to provide any quality service into the box was eventually their undoing, though, and with a quarter of an hour remaining Ronaldo skied in the box to head home Granero’s corner and secure the victory.

After that, the floodgates opened. Benzema whiffed at the ball, missing it completely about eight yards out, leaving it for Guti to clean up and smash past Xerez keeper Renan. The young Frenchman got his shortly thereafter when he drove up the lefthand side, juked the defender out of position just enough, and then blasted a left-footed shot into the net for 4-0 and his first regular season goal with Real Madrid. Even Ruud Van Nistelrooy got in on the act two minutes from time, scoring Real’s fifth on a slotted shot that nutmegged the keeper and rewarded the standing ovation he got from the fans on his introduction.

It was an amazing final fifteen minutes that displayed, in a brief flourish, all that these new-look Galacticos are capable of. But the other 75 minutes painted a more worrying picture, one of a team still struggling to find itself amidst all the new signings and suffering some growing pains in the process. Xerez didn’t possess enough threats to really test them defensively, but in the absence of defensive pressure their offense showed its own lack of fluency for much of the game. Unlike the team’s defensive troubles, though, I’m not exceedingly worried about these offensive hicc-ups. They will be worked out, and in much less time than it will take to get the back line in order. And until all those kinks are ironed out, there will always be a Cristiano or a Kaka or a Benzema etc. etc. to pull another rabbit out of the hat to save them. Today, there were five rabbits to be found, four of them in quick succession, in the dispatching of Xerez. A bit more consistency and a lot more fluency will go a long way toward calming the nerves of the fans who expressed their anxiety as the lack of a second goal weighed heavier and heavier in this one. The goals will quiet the critics for now, but for the sake of La Liga I hope they find their game sooner rather than later.

It is mouth-watering just to imagine a match featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema taking on an opposing team which includes Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Xavi Hernandez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to name just a few.

The dream of many football fanatics has come true following a spending frenzy by Los Blancos which included the record signing of Portuguese Ronaldo from Manchester United. The club obviously made other big name signings and also fortified its defense with the hope of challenging the Catalan club for honours both in Spain and Europe.

Barca did not hold back and retaliated by capturing Inter’s Ibrahimovic though that came at a steep price. Inter received star striker Samuel Eto’o in return in addition to a hefty payment for the Nerazzurri. The proud Catalan club still has plenty of weapons upfront besides the famous names mentioned above. Andres Iniesta has become an integral cog in the team’s free-flowing approach and often contributes with decisive balls from midfield while young striker Bojan Krkic is beginning to emerge as a threat. Krkic’s playing time will still be limited with the presence of Henry and Ibrahimovic yet he is sure to get regular cameo appearances under Coach Josep Guardiola’s stewardship.

Barca’s strengths are not limited to the frightening forward lineup or the midfield’s flair and solidity but also the defense’s compactness under the leadership of Carles Puyol. While Xavi and Iniesta supply the attackers with the ammunition to score goals, the energetic Yaya Toure supports the defense and covers the space left by the midfielders roaming forward. Captain Puyol marshals the defense and has found an able deputy in the form of Gerard Pique.

As for Los Galacticos, Kaka and Ronaldo pull the strings from midfield and move forward to support Captain Raul and French striker Karim Benzema. Behind them former Liverpool star Alonso ensures the team ticks like a well-oiled machine while Mahamadou Diarra recovers plenty of balls, breaks up opposition moves and offers cover for the defense. Iker Casillas remains a trustworthy goalkeeper between the posts and often performs incredible saves while Raul Albiol and Alvaro Arbeloa were brought in to strengthen the defensive line.

Real Madrid was not able to lure French International and Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery leaving club President Florentino Perez visibly disappointed. While Barcelona appears to be more of a solid, free-flowing and united team, Los Blancos have yet to mesh together and are still reliant on individual talents and flashes of brilliance from stars such as Kaka.

So the question for La Liga and all football fans is probably best summed up in this question: Would you pick a cohesive yet very talented team like Barca or will you bet on Real Madrid winning titles through the contributions of the individual superstars? It is Barca’s impressive talent working for the collective good in a face-off with Real’s awfully talented superstars who are still relying on their skills to gel into a successful team.

Both Kaka and Ronaldo achieved success with their previous clubs but they have not played together prior to this season and Los Blancos have not won in Europe for a long time. On the other hand, Barca have won a historic treble last season and probably have the best player in the world at the moment in the shape of Leo Messi.

"Please, no acclaim, I'm just a humble footballer... who scored twice from two incredible free kicks."

The group stage of the Champions League began on Tuesday evening, and two La Liga outfits looked to initiate the exorcism of their personal demons.

Real Madrid and its galácticos played its first Champions League match of the season against an upstart FC Zürich team who, before the match, seemed more interested in whom they would swap shirts.  It is no secret of Madrid’s lack of success in the Champions League in the past five seasons, and even more than recapturing La Liga from FC Barcelona, Madrid desperately wants to regain their status as THE team in Europe.

For the first twenty-five minutes, the team in white played as though it showed why it spent millions of Euros to bolster its squad.  The only caveat was that FC Zürich wore the white kit and did not seem the least bit intimidated by Real Madrid, the men in black.  Rather than resorting to a direct, long ball approach with physicality as the answer, Zürich displayed a flowing game of football, including an audacious attempt at a back-heeled goal in the ninth minute.

The fans chanted, the electric atmosphere buoyed Zürich to outplay their modest abilities, and they truly believed they had a legitimate chance to obtain a result against Real.  Then Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take a twenty-five meter free kick and struck it with venom past Zürich keeper Johnny Leoni.  From that moment, Madrid stepped on the pedal and suffocated Zürich with their relentless offensive pressure.  By halftime, Real Madrid engineered a 3-0 advantage at the Letzigrund Stadion, and Zürich looked like the long shots that the odds makers thought of them.

For the first ten minutes of the second half, it was more of the same from Real Madrid.  Then on a sliding tackle of Johan Vonlanthen, Xabi Alonso apparently injured his right ankle, and Fernando Gago replaced him in the 59th minute when it was clear that he could not carry on anymore.  Madrid lost focus as they cruised with their three-goal lead, and in a span of one minute, they conceded two goals to Zürich, which gave them life once again.  While the first goal came as a result of a dubious penalty, similar to the Eduardo situation against Celtic, Real’s concession of a second goal less than a minute later against an inferior team was inexcusable for a club that has Champions League aspirations.  Real would score two late goals, including another free kick from Ronaldo, but they still have yet to show that they can consistently keep a tight defense.  Until that happens, the demons will hang around within the team.

"We could not score against APOEL at home!?!?"

Atlético Madrid’s demons were more of a recent phenomenon.  They tried to forget a horrendous 0-3 beatdown at the hands of Málaga and a lackluster 1-1 draw at the Vicente Calderón against Racing Santander by capturing a win against the Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia.  Even though APOEL was the bottom seed in Group D alongside Chelsea, FC Porto, and Atlético Madrid, none of those teams should underestimate this plucky side from Nicosia.  Only look to last season’s Champions League when group stage newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta wreaked havoc on a group that included Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, and Panathinaikos.

The first half was tactical with few chances.  The two best opportunities fell to the boot of Constantinos Charalambides, who made Atlético keeper Sergio Asenjo generate a terrific stop at his near post in the 8th minute and missed a splendid chance in the 43rd minute when a one bounce cross found his run inside the six-yard box and missed wide from four yards.  Sergio Agüero was the bright spot for Atlético as his tireless engine created space for his teammates as well as set himself for shots on goal.  Diego Forlán and Simão Sabrosa were held in check for the most part due to APOEL’s discipline and organization in defense.  Already under fire for their mediocre performances this season, the fans at the Vicente Calderón whistled at the players going into and out of the dressing room for the second half and deemed a 0-0 score unacceptable.

Atlético manager Abel Resino made an early substitution in the second half, sending in winger Maxi Rodríguez for the defensive midfielder Cléber Santana in the 51st minute because Maxi would bring more punch in the final third, and Atlético showed that they would be able to put the clamps on the APOEL attack without the extra defensive midfielder.  For the rest of the match, Atlético continually assailed the APOEL penalty area and goalkeeper Dionisis Chiotis.  APOEL rarely had possession, so this forced a strategy to camp ten men behind the ball in the hope that they would somehow protect a 0-0 draw and gain a point away from home.  Resino further added to the attack in the 67th minute by taking out right back Luis Perea in favor of forward Florent-Sinama Pongolle.

Atlético had seventeen shots, nine of those on target, in the second half but never breached the APOEL goal.  Man of the Match Dionisis Chiotis made some spectacular saves; the most important of those saves came in the third minute of stoppage time when his leaping save prevented another Forlán rasping bullet from heading toward the top corner of the net.  Forlán also had a free kick that struck the intersection of the post and the crossbar in the 84th minute.  Not withstanding Atlético’s poor start in La Liga, dropping points at home against APOEL when they also have to face Chelsea and FC Porto twice is the worst kind of start possible.  With Chelsea looking as the favorite to win Group D, these two points dropped could be crucial in deciding the second team in the group to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Together for the moment

The much-anticipated return of La Liga began with a scintillating match between the new galácticos of Real Madrid and the pesky Deportivo La Coruña, who always gives Madrid a run for their money, literally.  Because of the continued suspension of Pepe and the tendinitis suffered by Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid defense was not at full strength, and Ezequiel Garay and Álvaro Arbeloa started in their positions respectively.  All of Madrid’s big signings started, and they began in a fluid 4-2-3-1 formation with Lass and Xabi Alonso in central midfield and in front of the back four, Cristiano Ronaldo on the right of the three, Raúl on the left, and Kaká roaming in the middle behind the striker Karim Benzema.

Early in the match, Madrid played tentatively as expected, trying to figure the best strategy to incorporate the strengths of the new players.  They created a plethora of chances but did not construct the decisive pass to generate a genuine goal-scoring opportunity.  Then the magic materialized that los madridistas expected since the formation of this second galáctico team.

In the 26th minute, on another attacking situation, Kaká’s vision and audacity came to fruition.  Cutting inside towards the “D,” Kaká sensed the diagonal run of Karim Benzema and slotted a pass to him that traveled first between Pablo Álvarez’s legs, then between Juan Rodríguez’s legs to spot Karim Benzema.  Benzema then fired his shot first time, split through goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubía’s legs, and hit the post; Raúl cleaned up the rebound, and it was 1-0 Real Madrid.  It was debatable whether Benzema was onside when Kaká played his through ball to him, but nevertheless, that was why Florentino Pérez sought out these world-class players: for this kind of ingenuity and flair.

No sooner than four minutes later did Depor expose Real Madrid’s defense with a training ground free kick routine.  Depor caught Madrid sleeping, and Riki headed home the equalizer.  Madrid gave both Riki and Alberto Lopo an ample amount of space, and Riki ended up scoring, but to have two players so open from a relatively short free kick was inexcusable.

Real Madrid scored five minutes later on a penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo.  Lass made another decisive pass into the box for Raúl, and Aranzubía felled Raúl whilst trying to take the ball off his foot.  Ronaldo took the penalty with his famous stutter step and beat Aranzubía to retake the lead 2-1.  Ronaldo then showed his panache a minute later when he did a series of step-overs, breezed by the defender, and crossed a beautiful ball to Raúl in the box.  Unfortunately, for Real, Raúl’s shot went straight into Aranzubía’s stomach, but Ronaldo’s individual brilliance lit up the Bernabéu yet again.

The combination of Lass and Xabi Alonso controlled the midfield, akin to their rivals Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández at Barcelona, and they were able to keep possession and take possession back whenever Madrid lost the ball.  These two hold the key to unlocking opposing defenses; if they dictate the middle of the park, the front line will be able to be free to set up their one-two’s and other intricate positions.

The Real Madrid defense was caught ball watching in the first minute of the second half.  Andrés Guardado worked the left flank and crossed to Juan Carlos Valerón, where he had the ability to control the cross, take the shot, and score from the top of the penalty box.  No one was close enough to Valerón, and even when Ezequiel Garay attempted to close down Valerón’s shot, it was only in vain as Valerón blasted his shot passed a frozen Iker Casillas.  Garay and Raúl Albiol did not have the chemistry required for a central defensive pair, and that was the kind of situation where Madrid missed the calm and positioning of Pepe.

Real almost gave up a third goal in the 57th minute when Guardado again paced down the left wing and sent a heavenly ball to Valerón.  Valerón sliced through the center of the defense again but inexplicably sent his shot wide of the post.  Casillas had no chance, and from the six-yard box, it was harder to miss than to score, but somehow, Valerón managed to do so.  Depor paid for their missed golden chance when Lass scored three minutes later from just outside the “D”.

The final was 3-2 in favor of Real Madrid, and each of the new players had their distinct moments of skill.  Their defense needs major improvement, and maybe when Pepe and Sergio Ramos return, these defensive gaffes will not occur as often.  The statistics suggest that Madrid dominated the match with 59% of the possession, twenty-eight shots with eleven on goal, and ten corner kicks to Depor’s three.  When watching the match, there was always a feeling that Deportivo La Coruña could get a draw or even win.

Real is definitely still a work in progress, and it will take more than one match to develop the chemistry needed to gel as a unit.  Offense was not the problem last year, and they will likely surpass the eighty-three goals they scored in the prior season; however, they cannot expect to outscore teams on every occasion.  Benzema, Ronaldo, Kaká, Xabi Alonso, et al. will not be the problems.  If the back line continues to leak goals as if it were the Exxon Valdez, Real Madrid will not win La Liga or any other competition this campaign.

Since we are approaching the end of a decade, and since it’s summer,I thought I would offer up my La Liga Team of the decade. I set my team based on the best actual season had by a player in each position. It is not an aggregative list. It is not based on contributions over the course of a few seasons or a career. The players who had the best year of any player in the decade in their respective position are what make up this list.  Enjoy……

Formation: 3-5-2

Goalie-Santiago Canizares (2003/2004)

Lead Valencia to a league and UEFA Cup double as well as winning the Zamora trophy for himself. Was the custodian for a team who managed to combine rock solid defense with a flair for attack. Regarded as one of the premier keepers in world football at the time, this was his best season in a Valencia shirt.

Defender: Dani Alves (2006/2007)

Has been the best right back in La Liga consistently since breaking into the first team at Sevilla 2004. Was a huge threat on the right flank as Sevilla finished in 3rd place, only 5 points off champions Real Madrid. Won the Copa del Rey,as well as a second successive UEFA Cup that year. This was the season that established him as the premier attacking full back anywhere in the world.

Defender: Roberto Ayala (2001/2002)

One of the best defenders of his generation, Ayala showed A.C Milan what they could have enjoyed had they showed some faith in his incredible timing and reading of the game. A tough customer in defense, Ayala demonstrated class and leadership by leading Valencia to their first Liga title in 31 years. Also named Champions League defender of the year as Los Che lost in the final to Bayern Munich.

Defender: Carles Puyol (2005/2006)

Not the prettiest man in the list, nor the most technically gifted, but no one exemplifies heart more than Carles Puyol. Catalan through and through, Puyol showed why he was the deserved captain of the club as he balanced the potent Barcelona attacking power with his sound defensive abilities. Always one to jump into a tackle, Puyol makes up for his sometimes questionable decision making with his unique ability to hustle a ball out of danger on pure desire alone. Captained Barcelona to a second successive Liga title that year as well as a Champions League title, in which he was named UEFA best defender. No player represents what their club is more than this man.

Defensive Midfield: Xabi Alonso (2002/2003)

Came within two points of emulating his father by winning a Liga title with Real Sociedad, this was the year Xabi Alonso broke out. Xabi was the complete central midfielder, exhibiting uncanny positional sense, an ability to win the ball in tackles, as well as a knack for great ball distribution and a cannon for a right foot. He helped put Sociedad back on the football map(albeit briefly), and went on to claim the best Spanish player award courtesy of Don Balon. Real Madrid may have won the league this year, but all the success Xabi later enjoyed with Liverpool and with Spain was born here.

Defensive Midfield: Claude Makelele (2002/2003)

Forget about galacticos, this was the guy who lifted Madrid to the heights they enjoyed in the first part of the decade.  His departure to Chelsea in the summer of 2003 was seen as the scourge that caused the dramatic downfall of the first galactico area, a sentiment shared by former teammates Zidane, McManaman and Hierro. Makelele was a rock, managing the defensive load all the way to a Liga title against a pesky Real Sociedad team. Fresh off a Champions League title the year before, Makelele had to deal with increasing pressure as Madrid’s unbalanced side was top heavy with attackers. But he danced the dance ever so well, and wasn’t truly appreciated by Madrid, nor most Liga fans until he had departed for Chelsea. Solid, solid, solid.

Attacking Midfield: Juan Roman Riquelme (2004/2005)

One of the most enigmatic figures in Spanish football ever, when he was on his game no one in the world was better. Consistency has been the main hindrance his entire career, but for two magical years in the then unknown Villareal, he brought a tiny club to the brink of European glory. After a dreadful first European season at Barcelona, coach Manuel Pellegrini had enough faith in the precise passing ability of this temparmental Argentine, and built an entire squad around his abilities.  A 15 goal haul, coupled with a 3rd place finish made this Riquelme’s crowning achievement in Spain. Not too many players can place the title of artist in front of their name, but surely he is one who can.

Attacking midfielder: Ronaldinho(2004/2005)

This was the year Ronaldinho established himself as the best player on the planet. I would call you a liar if you said you weren’t put under his spell, even if it was for a short period of time. He did it all. He brought the Liga title back to Catalunya that year, which helped him earn his second consecutive FIFA Player of the year award as well as his first Ballon D’or. His recent fall from grace and form is made more sad when you consider the heights he reached only a scant few years back. His style and flair were breathtaking, his technique and trickery were out of this world, and his smile and enjoyment of the game was unmatched anywhere. Ronaldinho was one of a kind, and this season is what pushed him into the stratosphere of footballing transcendence, a feat only achieved by a select few before him.

Attacking Midfielder: Zinedine Zidane(2001/2002)

The greatest player of his generation, Zidane finally completed the holy trinity of  football prizes by taking Madrid to a record 9th Champions League title with one of the greatest goals ever scored in a major final. After arriving in Madrid as the most expensive player ever, Zidane didn’t disappoint in this, his first year in Spain. Although Madrid were disappointed to finish third, their concentration on winning the Champions League in their centenary year was no doubt a factor. Zidane justified every one of the 76 million euros spent on him. Although he didn’t enjoy the amount of domestic success he did later on in his Madrid career, the fact that he delivered such a beautiful product on the field in his first year in Spain makes me rank this as his best Liga season. The most elegant man ever to caress a football with his feet.

Forward: Nihat Kahveci (2002/2003)

I realize La Liga has played host to some glamorous forwards who have had solid seasons and won trophies with their respective clubs this past decade. However, no one has had the same impact as a relative unknown in their debut full season in Spain as Nihat did. After arriving from Besiktas during the winter transfer break the year before, Nihat only managed to net 1 goal in 11 appearances for Real Socieadad. This made it all the more unexpected when he scored 23 goals the following year as Sociedad came within a whisker of winning the most improbable of La Liga titles of recent memory. Finishing tied for second in the Pichichi that year, his goals skyrocketed Real Sociedad to heights it hadn’t seen in a long time. While definitely not a flash in the pan, the rest of his stay in Spain was marred by injury and he never quite rang the bell like he did in 02/03.  Brilliant strikers came before and have come since, but no one goal scorer has had more of an impact on his teams success than Nihat did in that magical year where the title almost returned to the Anoeta.

Forward: Lionel Messi (2008/2009)

The world at his fingertips, Leo Messi did it all this past season leading Barcelona to one of the greatest seasons in the history of club football, period. After making his Barca debut in 2004/2005, it was evident Leo was destined for greatness. There were flashes of brilliance, too many to list, but he was always in the shadow of Ronaldinho, as well as being prone to injury. This past year was when the full brunt of the weight of expectation fell on his slight shoulders, and did he ever deliver. 23 goals, the treble, and all around mind blowing play from a legend in the making. Messi handled the pressure of being the big dog at the Camp Nou amicably, and looks set to follow a hallowed path to greatness traveled only by a select few.

Subs bench:

Goalie: Iker Casillas (2004/2005)

Defender: Amedeo Carboni (2003/2004)

Midfielder: Xavi (2008/2009)

Midfielder: Luis Figo (2000/2001)

Forward: Roy Makaay(2002/2003)

Forward: Raul (2000/2001)

Forward: Samuel Eto’o (2005/2006)