Tuesday 21 May 2013, 09:46
When an email from Real Madrid popped into La Liga Loca’s overflowing inbox announcing a Florentino Pérez press conference for later that evening, even the slow-witted blog was able to work out what was...
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Monday 20 May 2013, 11:10
Good Day Barcelona The champions are still on course for a 100 point campaign, after a fairly humdrum 2-1 win over Valladolid in the pouring rain at the Camp Nou. The club also got to lift the league trophy...
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Friday 17 May 2013, 10:48
Read on to find out how a bit of mussel (ahem) may help Celta Vigo... Saturday Getafe (9th) v Valencia (5th) - 18.00 (local time) Those sneaky little monsters. A week or two back, La Liga Loca predicted...
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Thursday 16 May 2013, 11:08
The build-up to this season's Copa del Rey final has been curiously low key. This potentially stems from the lack of care and attention given to the competition by the Spanish FA (RFEF), who had to...
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Tuesday 14 May 2013, 10:20
Has the Spanish League become ridiculously easy to win? It says much that the Catalan press and Barcelona themselves have spent such a chunk of energy to justify why the weekend’s title win is still worthy...
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Monday 13 May 2013, 14:42
FourFourTwo.com's Spanish expert, Tim Stannard , rounds up the weekend's winners and losers from La Liga... Good Day Tito Vilanova It was a genuine privilege to see and hear the Barcelona boss...
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Friday 10 May 2013, 10:40
Friday Levante (12th) v Zaragoza (16th) - 21.00 In a wise move that no doubt pleased the club’s lawyers no end, Levante are shutting up shop in terms of the current match fixing scandal, with the club...
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Wednesday 08 May 2013, 12:41
One peculiarity you need to get used to when you move to Spain is the tendency for the locals to speak in a fashion that could only be described as 'direct'. In stuffier climes, a friend pointing...
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Tuesday 07 May 2013, 10:47
Our man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , rounds up the best and worst of the weekend's La Liga action Good Day Leo Messi This is becoming a bit of pattern. Leo Messi sits on the bench and Barça are being...
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Friday 03 May 2013, 11:39
FRIDAY Celta Vigo (18th) v Athletic Bilbao (14th) – 21.00 Valencia’s Ernesto Valverde is thought to be the first choice to replace Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic in the summer – should the Argentinian leave...
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Wednesday 01 May 2013, 10:55
Having come so near (well, nearish) to reaching the Champions League final, there were a fair few moans, groans and tears from the Real Madrid players after their whopping semi-final epic against Borussia...
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Tuesday 30 April 2013, 09:57
The reason there has been little or no local media criticism of Real Madrid's 4-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund is simple - all good (or bad) things come to those who wait. Why burn bridges with the...
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Monday 29 April 2013, 12:08
FourFourTwo.com's man in Spain, Tim Stannard , on the best and the worst of the weekend's la Primera action... Good Day Leo Messi Barely eight minutes after coming onto the pitch, little Leo popped...
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Friday 26 April 2013, 11:04
FRIDAY Rayo Vallecano (8th) v Osasuna (15th) - 21.00 It’s going to be a fine evening indeed for those Vallecas urchins who linger in the street, behind the gap where a football stand should be, to catch...
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Wednesday 24 April 2013, 13:04
Barcelona's battering by Bayern could only have been predicted by the King Egg-Head of experts, the most perspicacious of pundits, the elite of analysts. Like La Liga Loca’s local fishmonger. When...
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Tuesday 23 April 2013, 10:41
La Liga Loca should probably be knocking out an article a good thousand words long, stuffed to the brim with tactical analysis, historical precedents and maybe the odd graph to try and predict how Barcelona...
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Monday 22 April 2013, 09:52
FourFourTwo.com's man in Spain, Tim Stannard , runs the rule over the weekend's Primera action... Good Day Eric Abidal The French defender played the full 90 minutes against Levante, continuing...
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Friday 19 April 2013, 09:39
Pepe Mel - bird flipper Friday Mallorca (19th) v Rayo Vallecano (9th) - 21.00 While La Liga Loca is not suggesting Mallorca prove they are ‘4 Real’ in their battle for survival in the style of Manic Street...
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Wednesday 17 April 2013, 11:19
While Athletic Bilbao, Valladolid and Levante peer nervously down at the relegation fight, all three just need to be barely competent from this point onwards to avoid the trap door. The six teams listed...
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Monday 15 April 2013, 12:30
Good Day Cristian Tello and Thiago Alcántara Monday's Sport saw Barça's 3-0 win at Zaragoza as the club's 'Plan T', with the starting line-up not featuring Leo Messi, Gerard Piqué,...
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Friday 12 April 2013, 12:15
FRIDAY Betis (7th) v Sevilla (10th) - 22.00 (CEST) Readers with mid- to long-term memory will recall that Sevilla pummeled Betis 5-1 in the derby earlier this season. But while the side now lead by Unai...
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Wednesday 10 April 2013, 11:29
It was almost enough to bring a tear to La Liga Loca’s eye. Almost. No, not Málaga’s heartbreaking and somewhat controversial departure from the Champions League, but listening to a distraught Joaquín...
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Tuesday 09 April 2013, 11:28
La Liga Loca has a sneaky feeling. It’s a completely nonsensical, irrational feeling that flies in the face of all football logic - not unlike the concept of Riki scoring 12 league goals this season for...
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Monday 08 April 2013, 11:35
Good Day Eric Abidal There were two moving and inspiring moments during Barça’s 5-0 win over Mallorca. The first was the sight of Tito Vilanova back on the Camp Nou touchline, looking displeased as ever...
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Friday 05 April 2013, 09:47
FourFourTwo.com's Tim Stannard previews the weekend's action in La Liga Friday Granada (16th) v Betis (7th) - 21.00 CEST The home side in this Andalusian derby have completely ground to a halt...
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Wednesday 03 April 2013, 10:23
La Liga Liga has gone rogue. For too long, the blog’s attempts at Champions League previews have generally seen Málaga squeezed in at the end of the update behind all things Real Madrid and Barcelona....
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Tuesday 02 April 2013, 10:44
Good Day Leo Messi Beautiful symmetry from Messi, who last failed to score a goal in la Liga on 3rd November against Celta Vigo, 19 rounds ago. The Argentinean has now stuck away at least one effort in...
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Thursday 28 March 2013, 10:24
Saturday Rayo Vallecano (9th) vs Málaga (6th) - 16.00 (all KOs local time) As Málaga gear up for one major battle in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, another is on the horizon in the courts...
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Wednesday 27 March 2013, 10:43
It’s not often that La Liga Loca has the chance to be all fresh, brash and Rosie Pérez in White Men Can’t Jump with a huge, smug ‘told you so’. In fact, LLL has never previously had that opportunity. Recent...
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Tuesday 26 March 2013, 10:52
There’s some selective memory when it comes to the Spanish national team and their grand triumphs of recent years. In fact, it’s a mind wipe of science fiction proportions. While it’s true La Selección...
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Friday 22 March 2013, 11:47
From a Spanish viewpoint, it appears that the news of Michael Owen’s impending retirement has been met with either ambivalence or hostility from Premier League fans – especially at Liverpool, Newcastle...
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Wednesday 20 March 2013, 12:14
International breaks would be tremendously dull affairs were it not for footballers and managers shooting their mouths off, mindlessly ranting about how everything is rubbish and just not fair. La Liga...
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Monday 18 March 2013, 11:34
FFT's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , names the winners and losers of the weekend's La Liga action... Good Day Leo Messi & David Villa It’s apparently happy families again at the Camp Nou, after...
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Friday 15 March 2013, 10:16
Friday Deportivo (20th) v Celta Vigo (19th) - 21.45 (all kick-offs local time) Friday night sees the first of seven matches Deportivo coach Fernando Vázquez claims must be won if his side are to stay up...
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Wednesday 13 March 2013, 10:37
It only took a few seconds for pundits to begin pondering how Barcelona had managed to pull off a comprehensive 4-0 Champions League victory over AC Milan. Was it a pre-match talk to the players from Tito...
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Tuesday 12 March 2013, 11:31
While Pep Guardiola is busy breaking in his Lederhosen and learning about the madness of dative and accusative prepositions as the future Bayern Munich boss, the Catalan may be feeling a very small sense...
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Monday 11 March 2013, 12:00
FourFourTwo's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , wades through the weekend's La Liga action and separates the good and bad... RESULTS Fri 8 Mar Real Betis 2-1 Osasuna Sat 9 Mar Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Espanyol...
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Friday 08 March 2013, 11:40
Our man in Madrid Tim Stannard previews the weekend in La Primera… FRIDAY Real Betis (7th) v Osasuna (15th) – 21.30 There's been quite the saga with Betis midfielder Nosa Igiebor, who was lucky enough...
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Wednesday 06 March 2013, 11:30
“What do I think? Madrid fans, they are blind! Blind I tell you!” was the damning verdict from the blog’s Atlético-supporting café owner early on Wednesday morning. He was not best pleased at the prospect...
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Tuesday 05 March 2013, 11:46
La Liga Loca suspects that Cristiano Ronaldo will be a very happy millionaire megastar on Wednesday morning, irrespective of the result between Manchester United and Real Madrid. Not only will Ronaldo...
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Monday 04 March 2013, 11:45
Good Day José Manuel Pinto The much-maligned Barça goalkeeper could well be a busy bee for a couple of la Liga games, after a classic Víctor Valdés meltdown saw 'the short-tempered one' yelling...
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Friday 01 March 2013, 11:47
Our man in Madrid, Tim Stannard previews the weekend's action in Spain... FRIDAY Getafe (9th) v Zaragoza (17th) – 21.00 (all kick-offs Spanish local time) Scheduling a Getafe game at nine on a Friday...
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Wednesday 27 February 2013, 10:44
COPA DEL REY SEMI-FINAL Tue 26 Feb Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid (agg 2-4) Wed 27 Feb Sevilla v Atletico Madrid (1-2) If it were possible to pour all the aspects of the more... let’s say fervent (and definitely...
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Tuesday 26 February 2013, 11:33
A sympathetic La Liga Loca can only imagine that Undiano Mallenco must have received the news that he was set to be in charge of Tuesday’s Copa del Rey Clásico second leg with the weariest of sighs, knowing...
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Monday 25 February 2013, 12:40
LA LIGA Fri 22 Feb Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Real Sociedad Sat 23 Feb Mallorca 1-3 Getafe, Real Zaragoza 2-2 Valencia, Deportivo La Coruña 1-2 Real Madrid, Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla Sun 24 Feb Rayo Vallecano 1-2...
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Friday 22 February 2013, 09:53
Friday Athletic Bilbao (15th) v Real Sociedad (6th) - 21.30 (all kick-offs local time) La Real fans Gorka Santos and Ander Etxaniz had a bit of time to kill earlier this week - not to mention some pretty...
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Wednesday 20 February 2013, 12:05
If you ply your trade in the Catalan sports papers, you’ve pretty much got two options for your lead ahead of any Barça match: either a smug reflection on the club’s wonderful youth system, or a smug reflection...
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Monday 18 February 2013, 11:05
FourFourTwo.com's man in Spain , Tim Stannard , sums up the best and worst of the weekend's action from La Liga... Good Day Leo Messi It would probably be easier for the blog to simply compile...
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Friday 15 February 2013, 11:32
FRIDAY Sevilla (11th) v Deportivo (20th) – 21.30 (all times local Spanish) After defeat by Granada last Saturday, the soon-to-be-former Deportivo manager Domingos Paciencia offered his resignation in front...
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Wednesday 13 February 2013, 12:00
Cristiano Ronaldo must have woken up with the most despairing of sighs of Wednesday. Not because there was an early sign of zittage forming on his face ahead of a huge night at the Santiago Bernabéu, but...
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Tuesday 12 February 2013, 10:39
PSG train in the Mestalla ahead of Tuesday evening's match “Paris Saint Germain are the nouveau riche of Europe, but there are many things that money can’t buy - and that’s what Valencia have.” These...
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Monday 11 February 2013, 11:41
FourFourTwo.com's Spanish expert Tim Stannard rounds up the best and worst of the weekend's La Liga action... Good Day Andrés Iniesta The midday kick-off against Getafe certainly seemed to suit...
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Friday 08 February 2013, 10:55
FourFourTwo.com's man in Spain, Tim Stannard , casts an eye over the upcoming action in la Primera... Saturday Mallorca (19th) v Osasuna (17th) - 16.00 (all kick-offs local time) And so it came to...
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Wednesday 06 February 2013, 11:00
The attention span of the Spanish public may be too stretched to fully embrace Wednesday’s intriguing-looking friendly against Uruguay, which is quite naturally being played in Qatar. A series of domestic...
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Monday 04 February 2013, 13:21
Good Day Diego Costa Nobody seems to be best of friends on the pitch with the pugnacious Atlético Madrid striker, who was spat at by Betis defender Antonio Amaya, but the Rojiblanco massive certainly has...
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Friday 01 February 2013, 12:19
FRIDAY Valladolid (10th) v Athletic Bilbao (13th) – 21.30 On Monday, LLL attributed Athletic’s 3-0 win over Atlético Madrid – a victory Óscar de Marcos muses might have been the best performance of the...
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Wednesday 30 January 2013, 11:26
"You and your big mouth..." Like a saucy spat between two fiery Latino lovers, the bust-up between Marca and Real Madrid finished as quickly as it began - and just as it was starting to look...
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Tuesday 29 January 2013, 11:34
FourFourTwo.com's Spanish correspondent, Tim Stannard , sums up the latest round of La Liga action... Good Day Barcelona The 5-1 demolition of the ten men of Osasuna was the fifth time Barça had scored...
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Friday 25 January 2013, 15:30
FourFourTwo's Spanish expert Tim Stannard looks ahead to the weekend's La Liga action... Saturday Celta Vigo (17th) v Real Sociedad (9th) - 16.00 La Liga Loca caught Nihat Kahveci and Darko Kovacevic...
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Wednesday 23 January 2013, 14:38
It is estimated that around 10,000 fans had left Mestalla by half-time on Sunday night, with Valencia already 5-0 down against Real Madrid . Part of the battle for the east coast club is going to be getting...
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Tuesday 22 January 2013, 10:29
"I just want to spend four months alone, watching DVDs of Bar ç a losing..." With José Mourinho currently coming over a bit Howard Hughes and keeping himself to himself, instead sending lowly...
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Monday 21 January 2013, 16:02
FourFourTwo's man in Madrid Tim Stannard gives the lowdown on the weekend's Primera Liga action - it's Good Day, Bad Day... Fri 18 Jan Espanyol 3-2 Mallorca Sat 19 Jan Granada 2-0 Rayo Vallecano;...
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Friday 18 January 2013, 10:33
FourFourTwo.com's pain in Spain, Tim Stannard , previews the weekend's La Liga action... Friday Espanyol (16th) v Mallorca (18th) - 21.00 (all times local Spanish) It’s reinforcement time at Espanyol...
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Wednesday 16 January 2013, 14:28
First things first, it’s time to get the grown-up football talk out of the way, so bear with us for a moment. In the home leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final against Valencia , Real Madrid 's entertaining...
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Tuesday 15 January 2013, 13:08
On Monday, when La Liga Loca pondered on these very pages how much longer Míchel could hang on as Sevilla boss, few could have known that the answer would prove to be “about 20 minutes”. Saturday's...
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Monday 14 January 2013, 11:17
FourFourTwo's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , gives the lowdown on the weekend's Primera Liga action - it's Good Day, Bad Day... Good Day Barcelona Tito Vilanova was back on the bench after a...
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Friday 11 January 2013, 11:44
FRIDAY Athletic Bilbao (14th) v Rayo Vallecano (7th) – 21.30 (all kick-offs Spain local time) If La Liga Loca had any kind of heart, it would have shed a tear on Monday night after freezing its toes witnessing...
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Wednesday 09 January 2013, 10:57
Lately, LLL has been comparing José Mourinho to a twirly moustache-sporting pantomime villain. However, judging by the Bernabeu boos on Sunday night, there's nobody to shout "Behind you!"...
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Tuesday 08 January 2013, 10:50
At around eight o’clock on Monday evening Swiss time, there was only one place to be if you were anybody in the world of football: Zurich. Unfortunately, considering La Liga Loca is a complete nobody in...
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Monday 07 January 2013, 12:12
Good Day Tito Vilanova Just 17 days after surgery for a glandular tumour, the Barcelona boss was back on the bench at the Camp Nou. Inspirational stuff. Pedro La Liga Loca feels that it’s probably been...
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Friday 04 January 2013, 08:30
Friday Zaragoza (12th) v Betis (5th) - 21.30 (all kick-offs local time) Another transfer window means another attempt by Pepe Mel and his Betis bosses to hang on to the club’s more decent players. Once...
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Wednesday 02 January 2013, 14:24
(L-R) Mourinho, Vilanova, Oltra and new Deportivo boss Paciencia In last year's final episode of la Liga, desperate viewers were left dangling by their Primera-loving pinkies, thanks to a whopper of...
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Thursday 20 December 2012, 14:12
Thursday Rayo Vallecano (10th) v Levante (6th) - 20.00 (all kick-offs are local time) Once again, Rayo find themselves playing a game at the most inconvenient possible time for the club’s supporters, who...
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Wednesday 19 December 2012, 20:27
In the end, Barcelona fans were only able to celebrate the news of the contract renewals of three pillars of the club - Leo Messi, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol - for 24 hours. “Eternal” read the front...
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Tuesday 18 December 2012, 14:17
It’s a good job La Liga Loca is a fine physical specimen with cat-like reflexes, or it might not have been one of the few gossip-spreading muck-rakers to have witnessed José Mourinho stick his bottom lip...
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Monday 17 December 2012, 10:41
Good Day Barcelona Knowing that Real Madrid had dropped yet more points, Barça could have spread out a picnic rug in the centre-circle, read poetry, knotted daisies into each other’s air and let Atlético...
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Friday 14 December 2012, 13:32
SATURDAY Getafe (7th) v Osasuna (16th) – 16.00 (all kick-offs local Spanish time) Another tough gig for Getafe’s marketing bod will be trying to get the crowds packed into the Coliseum at the beginning...
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Wednesday 12 December 2012, 10:46
With all the aimless staring out the window that La Liga Loca likes to indulge in, the blog must admit that it is finding it quite hard to keep up with this football lark. Ooh! A green birdie just flew...
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Tuesday 11 December 2012, 12:12
Having dispensed with the ball-rolling formalities via Espanyol's firing of Mauricio Pochettino and Valencia's dismissal of Mauricio Pellegrini, here’s some more men who could find themselves at...
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Monday 10 December 2012, 11:55
Good Day Leo Messi La Liga Loca caught Leo Messi’s record-breaking performance in a bar spattered with Madridistas who were Béticos for 90 minutes, hoping that a knee-knackered Argentinean would either...
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Friday 07 December 2012, 09:27
FRIDAY Espanyol (20th) v Sevilla (11th) – 21.30: all kick-offs Spanish local time Sevilla president José María Del Nido isn’t having the best of times at the moment and it’s probably part of nature’s wonderfully...
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Thursday 06 December 2012, 13:00
Well, that’s certainly one way to get out of a pickle. On Wednesday, LLL brought you the news that Marca in a bit of a sulk had a completely different opinion on when Leo Messi would beat Gerd Müller’s...
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Wednesday 05 December 2012, 11:01
Valencia’s journey to Lille for Wednesday's Champions League clash probably wasn’t a fun affair for the players. La Liga Loca imagines that their monosyllabic midfielders will have had the volume on...
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Monday 03 December 2012, 11:51
RESULTS Sat 1 Dec Getafe 1-0 Malaga, Valencia 2-5 Real Sociedad, Barcelona 5-1 Athletic Bilbao, Real Madrid 2-0 Atletico Madrid Sun 2 Dec Granada 0-0 Espanyol, Deportivo 2-3 Real Betis, Celta Vigo 1-1...
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Friday 30 November 2012, 10:44
Friday Osasuna (19th) v Rayo Vallecano (8th) - 21.00 (all kick-offs local time) There’s been Spanish football in either league or cup form from last Friday through to Thursday, so why not continue this...
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Wednesday 28 November 2012, 13:52
Mauricio Pochettino arrived to save Espanyol halfway through the 2008-09 season as a bearded cheeky chubster, clad permanently in the tracksuit of the team for whom he had played for eight seasons in the...
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Monday 26 November 2012, 11:06
RESULTS Fri 23 Nov Real Sociedad 0-0 Osasuna Sat 24 Nov Real Betis 1-0 Real Madrid, Malaga 4-0 Valencia, Real Valladolid 1-0 Getafe, Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Mallorca Sun 25 Nov Levante 0-4 Barcelona, Atletico...
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Friday 23 November 2012, 12:32
Hot off the keyboard from our man in Madrid Tim Stannard , the preview of the four-day weekend's action in la Liga... FRIDAY Real Sociedad (9th) v Osasuna (19th) - 21.30 (all Spanish local time) And...
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Wednesday 21 November 2012, 12:06
With football fans being football fans, former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to get an awful lot of hostility from the Etihad crowd, who will have gathered on Wednesday evening hoping...
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Tuesday 20 November 2012, 10:22
As Mauricio Pellegrino looks around at a packed, excited Mestalla on Tuesday night, a stadium packed to the rafters with enthusiastic, loyal fans and watches his feisty Valencia players troop out to take...
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Monday 19 November 2012, 10:32
RESULTS Sat 17 Nov Osasuna 0-0 Malaga, Valencia 2-1 Espanyol, Barcelona 3-1 Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid 5-1 Athletic Bilbao Sun 18 Nov Deportivo 0-2 Levante, Celta Vigo 1-1 Mallorca, Getafe 2-1 Real Valladolid...
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Friday 16 November 2012, 08:30
Saturday Osasuna (20th) v Málaga (5th) - 16.00 (all kick-offs local time) Back-to-back home defeats to Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad had Manuel Pellegrini suggesting his team needed a dose of fresh...
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Wednesday 14 November 2012, 11:44
If La Liga Loca happened to be Spanish – or was handed a passport, Marcos Senna-style – and very, very good at football, then it would be tickled pink to be traveling to Panama on what is ostensibly a...
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Tuesday 13 November 2012, 12:44
La Liga Loca is just imagining the immensity of the frightful kerfuffle. A few minutes after the end of Sunday’s clash between Levante and Real Madrid - one that was both fiery and soggy - there was an...
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Monday 12 November 2012, 12:03
RESULTS Fri 9 Nov Real Betis 1-2 Granada Sat 10 Nov Rayo Vallecano 3-2 Celta Vigo, Espanyol 0-3 Osasuna, Real Zaragoza 5-3 Deportivo, Malaga 1-2 Real Sociedad Sun 11 Nov Real Valladolid 1-1 Valencia, Athletic...
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Friday 09 November 2012, 16:26
FRIDAY Betis (4th) v Granada (19th) - 21.30 (all times local) The tiny, tiny, tiny spark of hope for Granada fans during last weekend's 2-1 home loss to Athletic Bilbao, which saw the Andalusian side...
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Thursday 08 November 2012, 14:30
Thursday morning presented something of a tricky balancing act for the Catalan press, in the wake of Barcelona’s first Champions League defeat this season, and indeed the first on the road in the competition...
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Wednesday 07 November 2012, 14:23
On many occasions, LLL is delighted to be proved wrong. And that’s a good thing too, considering such circumstances tend to happen about 50 times a day. The most recent moment that the blog is aware of...
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Monday 05 November 2012, 14:17
RESULTS Sat 3 Nov Málaga 1-2 Rayo Vallecano, Barcelona 3-1 Celta de Vigo, Real Madrid 4-0 Real Zaragoza, Valencia 2-0 Atlético Madrid Sun 4 Nov Real Sociedad 0-1 Espanyol, Deportivo La Coruña 1-0 Mallorca...
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Friday 02 November 2012, 11:25
Saturday Málaga (3rd) v Rayo Vallecano (15th) - 16.00 (all kick-offs local time) It's quite incredible to think that, despite the brilliant performance of the Málaga players in la Primera and the Champions...
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Wednesday 31 October 2012, 14:49
Without his favourite playmate and wrestle-buddy Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho has cut a bit of a gloomy figure this season. OK, even gloomier than usual. Bickering with the press no longer gives the Portuguese...
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Tuesday 30 October 2012, 11:10
The serious side of the Copa del Rey kicks off on Tuesday night, but there will be disappointment for anyone expecting La Liga Loca's annual rant about how it's a useless competition rigged to...
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Monday 29 October 2012, 12:56
RESULTS Sat 27 Oct Espanyol 0-0 Malaga, Real Betis 1-0 Valencia, Celta Vigo 1-1 Deportivo, Rao Vallecano 0-5 Barcelona Sun 28 Oct Real Zaragoza 2-1 Sevilla, Levante 3-1 Granda, Athletic Club 1-2 Getafe...
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Friday 26 October 2012, 11:24
Saturday Espanyol (19th) v Málaga (3rd) - 16.00 (all kick-offs local time ) Málaga boss Manuel Pellegrini has largely kept a dignified silence over his one season spell as Real Madrid manager, aside from...
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Wednesday 24 October 2012, 10:27
Well, that’s decision sorted, then. Just a time machine and perhaps Richard Pryor as a drinking buddy required to put it all in place. In La Liga Loca’s Tito Vilanova movie-of-the-week biopic, the current...
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Monday 22 October 2012, 12:15
RESULTS Sat 20 Oct Deportivo 4-5 Barcelona, Valencia 3-2 Athletic Bilbao, Real Madrid 2-0 Celta Vigo, Malaga 2-1 Valladolid Sun 21 Oct Real Sociedad 0-1 Atletico Madrid, Osasuna 0-0 Real Betis, Granada...
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Friday 19 October 2012, 10:58
Saturday Málaga (3rd) v Valladolid (8th) - 16.00 CEST While the international break has afforded most of Málaga’s fairly stretched squad a nice rest ahead a fairly hectic period of league, cup and Champions...
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Wednesday 17 October 2012, 13:31
Like a criminal mastermind who has grown tired of giving the hapless police the run-around and is looking to be banged to rights for once, Spain gave France enough chances in Atlético Madrid's Vicente...
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Monday 15 October 2012, 10:27
A devastating, breath-taking display by Spain on Friday evening saw the world and European champtions tear apart their hapless opponents from Belarus. From the very first minute, Vicente del Bosque's...
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Friday 12 October 2012, 14:47
So there is something leakier in Bilbao than Athletic’s back four: the team’s dressing room. If matters weren’t bad enough for a club already suffering a pizza-ordering, Friends-box-set-sized hangover...
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Wednesday 10 October 2012, 14:37
It’s a bit pathetic, petty and ever-so-slightly-childish. So quite naturally, the hard-hitting, dirt-digging La Liga Loca is all over the spat between Pepe and Andrés Iniesta currently being fought out...
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Tuesday 09 October 2012, 09:25
RESULTS Fri 5 Oct Celta Vigo 2-0 Sevilla Sat 6 Oct Real Betis 2-0 Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid 1-1 Espanyol, Real Zaragoza 0-1 Getafe, Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Deportivo Sun 7 Oct Atletico Madrid 2-1 Malaga...
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Friday 05 October 2012, 10:04
FRIDAY Celta Vigo (14th) v Sevilla (4th) – 21.30 CEST Normally, the only things that excite the fish-obsessed fans of Celta Vigo are saucy stories involving sardines. But that was until the club reeled...
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Wednesday 03 October 2012, 16:55
La Liga Loca is planning a film of the last five months of Carles Puyol’s life. To do so, we will need a bit of money from FourFourTwo ’s coffers, a lease on Brian May’s hair and Bruce Willis under strict...
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Tuesday 02 October 2012, 14:41
It all began sometime last season, if not before - ten months in la Liga is about five years for everyone else. A reportedly heated training ground gripe involving Sergio Ramos and José Mourinho was said...
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Monday 01 October 2012, 13:08
RESULTS Sat 29 Sep Malaga 4-0 Real Betis, Real Sociedad 2-0 Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla 2-3 Barcelona, Valencia 2-0 Real Zaragoza Sun 30 Sep Espanyol 0-1 Atletico Madrid, Granada 2-1 Celta Vigo, Osasuna 4...
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Saturday 29 September 2012, 08:27
Saturday Valencia (15th) v Real Zaragoza (12th) - 16.00 CEST With all the hurly burly of last weekend’s football and various power outages, LLL didn’t find the time to bring everyone up to date with the...
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Wednesday 26 September 2012, 10:12
When watching a game of football that is so abysmal, so shockingly silly, so bereft of skill that neither side can string more than three passes together, there are two approaches to take. You can either...
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Monday 24 September 2012, 11:57
Good Day The Other 18 (and Barcelona) With Rayo and Real Madrid having a few electrical issues on Sunday night , the good news is that even more space is left in Monday’s sizzler for the rest of la Liga...
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Wednesday 19 September 2012, 14:52
Riveting, engrossing, shocking, stunning, sensational. Five words that describe José Mourinho’s press conference after Tuesday’s Champions League clash, as well as the 90-odd minutes of football that preceded...
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Tuesday 18 September 2012, 11:56
For some time now, La Liga Loca has been fashioning some kind of art-deco trinket that will function nicely as a special award for a special person. The idea of the prize is to hand it over to José Mourinho...
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Monday 17 September 2012, 13:56
RESULTS Sat 15 Sep Getafe 1-4 Barcelona, Malaga 3-1 Levante, Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid, Valencia 2-1 Celta Vigo Sun 16 Sep Espanyol 3-3 Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid 4-3 Rayo Vallecano, Granada 1-1 Deportivo...
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Friday 14 September 2012, 09:35
SATURDAY Málaga (3rd) v Levante (11th) – 16.00 (local time) After a summer of radio silence from Málaga’s owners and mere confusion from Manuel Pellegrini and the players, the club’s executive vice-president...
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Wednesday 12 September 2012, 11:03
Twas the early hours of last Saturday night at Athletic Bilbao’s training ground and not a squeaky mouse was stirring, aside from Brownie the Brave who was being kept awake by Marcelo Bielsa performing...
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Tuesday 11 September 2012, 09:17
Tim Stannard completes his summary of the summer transfer window in Spain... Real Madrid Due to the sales of a couple of Castilla players to the Bundesliga and the shipping out of Sergio Canales and Lassana...
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Monday 10 September 2012, 08:47
Part two of Tim Stannard's analysis of the summer transfer activity in Spain's top flight... Getafe The ongoing inconvenient lack of supporters and TV money sees Getafe the smartest shoppers in...
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Thursday 06 September 2012, 10:19
Part one of Tim Stannard's analysis of the summer transfer activity in Spain's top flight... Athletic Bilbao Bof! A horribly disruptive summer for the Basque side due to want-away players, hovering...
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Wednesday 05 September 2012, 10:45
La Liga Loca suspects that this whole business of Ronaldo being down in the dumps - which fills a huge international break news vacuum rather nicely - will end one of three ways. The first is that the...
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Monday 03 September 2012, 11:49
Good Day Barcelona It wasn't exactly a glittering Barcelona display in a 1-0 win over Valencia - much like the team’s previous three matches, come to think of it - but LLL is not sure there’ll be too...
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Friday 31 August 2012, 11:24
SATURDAY Celta Vigo (18th) v Osasuna (19th) – 16.00 local time Pity poor Celta Vigo, a side that everyone is just tickled pink about on their return to la Primera. Unfortunately, the team are finding their...
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Wednesday 29 August 2012, 08:15
“Er, hang on, this isn’t what Cristiano Ronaldo got,” must have been the thought passing through somewhere behind Luka Modric’s floppy-fringe as the midfielder trotted out onto the Santiago Bernabeu pitch...
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Tuesday 28 August 2012, 11:47
RESULTS Sat 25 Aug Malaga 1-1 Mallorca, Espanyol 1-0 Real Zaragoza, Real Betis 1-2 Rayo Vallecano, Real Sociedad 2-1 Celta Vigo Sun 26 Aug Valencia 3-3 Deportivo, Getafe 2-1 Real Madrid, Granada 1-1 Sevilla...
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Friday 24 August 2012, 10:58
Saturday Real Sociedad v Celta Vigo - 19.00 CEST What spirit! What gusto! What beautiful madness! Despite being tonked 5-1 on the opening day of the season, hopes are still high in sunny San Sebastian...
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Thursday 23 August 2012, 14:39
Woot! Woot! It’s Spanish Super Cup time! It’s the traditional curtain raiser to the new season in Spain, a chance for Barcelona and Real Madrid to begin yet another year of bickering, animosity and occasional...
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Tuesday 21 August 2012, 12:10
Ah, midnight on a Monday. The witching hour. A time for luurve, romance or perhaps just getting some shut-eye on a school night. What better moment to start the second half of Zaragoza against Valladolid...
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Monday 20 August 2012, 12:12
RESULTS Sat 18 Aug Celta Vigo 0-1 Malaga, Sevilla 2-1 Getafe, Mallorca 2-1 Espanyol Sun 19 Aug Athletic Bilbao 3-5 Real Betis, Real Madrid 1-1 Valencia, Barcelona 5-1 Real Sociedad, Levante 1-1 Atletico...
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Thursday 02 August 2012, 14:31
Not too long ago, La Liga Loca chewed on the bold notion that those running the game in Spain were boosting its popularity around the world by introducing professional wrestling style shenanigans into...
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Tuesday 31 July 2012, 11:35
What a mess. That’s the best description of Málaga at the moment. Heck, even themusually unflappable Manuel Pellegrini sounds thoroughly flapped, with the manager confessing during the club's tour...
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Friday 27 July 2012, 10:52
One of the many unjustified reasons for much of the Spanish football press not liking the cut of Manuel Pellegrini’s gib during his year as Real Madrid manager was that he was considered rather dull. The...
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Thursday 26 July 2012, 12:22
“New York, London, Paris, Munich, everyone talks about...errrm...Kaká!” Spanish transfer tittle-tattle has gone all retro, “Pop Musik” in relation to Real Madrid’s bench-warming salary-sucker, who is on...
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Tuesday 24 July 2012, 11:34
It may not be the best thing to say in terms of enticing people to eagerly read the next few hundred words, but examining an actual jammed-into-the-side-of-a-house window - from the wooden frame, to the...
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Wednesday 18 July 2012, 12:14
FourFourTwo's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , continues his summer round-up... Málaga In enormous contrast to last summer when it was ‘buy, buy, buy’ for Málaga with a series of seasonal signings, we...
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Monday 16 July 2012, 11:58
FourFourTwo's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , continues his summer round-up... Deportivo Redesigned Deportivo may be back in la Primera after a season spent slumming it in la Segunda, but that doesn...
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Friday 13 July 2012, 12:33
Athletic Bilbao It’s been a lousy summer so far for Athletic. Fernando Llorente was an outcast in Spain’s Euros victory and the club's other big hitters, Javier Martínez, Iker Muniain and Ander Herrera...
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Wednesday 11 July 2012, 15:00
If you’re going to compete with the Premier League and its terrific talents such as Lee Cattermole and Stewart Downing, then you’re going to have to get very creative indeed. And this is where the Spanish...
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Wednesday 20 June 2012, 16:17
Athletic Bilbao Not the best end to the season for Athletic Bilbao with two final failures – but an improved start to the summer: Marcelo Bielsa has signed up for another campaign of crouching and sporting...
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Tuesday 12 June 2012, 12:54
Being allowed to join the fun of the European Championships, and even scoring a goal in a warm-up game against South Korea, will have temporarily removed a huge sporting burden from Fernando Torres’ shoulders...
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Monday 11 June 2012, 13:10
You know you have a tough gig and are playing to a pretty demanding crowd when you’ve already lead your team to a World Cup win, yet still have hard-to-please types suggesting you don’t know what you’re...
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Friday 08 June 2012, 11:48
Although there are still some lingering questions regarding Spain's Euro 2012 side - which of the three striking options will fill David Villa’s boots, who will have the pleasure of standing alongside...
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Thursday 07 June 2012, 10:17
As the wonderfully potty-mouthed Manolo Preciado himself would have said, “f**k”. At around the same time as football fans were reading in Thursday’s morning papers that Preciado had been named as the...
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Wednesday 06 June 2012, 11:55
Out of all the bits of Spain that be, Galicia is by far LLL’s favourite. The least is a fairly hefty list involving Barcelona’s metro system, which feels like the opening titles of The Equaliser but with...
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Friday 01 June 2012, 11:01
Good old Tim Stannard continues his rundown of the Spanish season's successes and sucky messes Osasuna Final Position 7th LLL Rating A- Osasuna displayed all their strengths this season but turned...
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Thursday 31 May 2012, 14:39
Getafe Final Position 11th LLL Rating B- During a wee chat with LLL after the end of the season, Getafe boss Luis García had a ‘so-so’ sort of vibe about him when discussing how his side's season had...
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Wednesday 30 May 2012, 17:38
Athletic Bilbao Final Position 10th LLL Rating B+ Spain may be suffering from a fairly substantial economic crisis, but that’s certainly not an issue in the Basque Country, where a centre specialising...
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Thursday 24 May 2012, 09:58
The Spanish FA must wonder why they even bother with the Copa del Rey, as each time the final is played, there seems to be some kind of chronically awful kerfuffle in the match’s organisation. This is...
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Wednesday 23 May 2012, 15:38
La Liga Loca is today sticking its grubby little hand in the air to admit it doesn’t actually have a clue what it’s talking about. Perhaps not the most shocking news you'll hear today. LLL began the...
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Tuesday 22 May 2012, 13:04
If there’s one thing La Liga Loca turns its oversized nose up at, it’s gossip, tittle-tattle and unsubstantiated rumours. Actually, the blog is lying right through its belly button here. LLL loves all...
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Monday 21 May 2012, 16:06
Luis García is a football manager who seems to love his job. Win, lose or draw, the cheerful 39-year-old always seems to have a smile on his face, and as well the young coach might as the Getafe boss has...
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Friday 18 May 2012, 11:23
If Roy Hodgson thought his lot was a bad one – having to deal with a nasty tabloid press out to get him before a single England match, not to mention needing to pick Stewart Downing – it’s small beer,...
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Wednesday 16 May 2012, 14:36
Three days after Villarreal’s rather rapid relegation from la Primera, LLL suspects there are still sobbing supporters sitting in the stands in el Madrigal, their mouths opening and closing like goldfish...
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Tuesday 15 May 2012, 10:57
Good Day Real Madrid LLL had suspected Real Madrid may have been too giddy and ticklish to overcome a Mallorca side fighting for a Europa League spot, but the chance to pick up 100 points - and a rod for...
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Friday 11 May 2012, 10:33
Real Sociedad (14th) v Valencia (3rd) - 20.00 local time Unai Emery has decided to get as far away as possible from Mestalla, by Russian off to take over Spartak Moscow on a two year deal. Meanwhile, the...
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Wednesday 09 May 2012, 14:53
Wednesday’s Europa League final is another sure sign of why Atlético Madrid are known as one of the most unlucky, put-upon clubs in the world, in that most of a neutral bent watching the game will dearly...
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Tuesday 08 May 2012, 10:48
Good Day Leo Messi Cristiano Ronaldo is such a team player that the Real Madrid star probably wasn’t even aware Leo Messi had scored four goals to move five strikes clear in the Pichichi chase with one...
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Friday 04 May 2012, 11:37
After two days of exuberant partying, La Liga Loca is pretty much pooped. No, those celebrations were not in relation to Real Madrid sealing the league title on Wednesday evening, but instead the fact...
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Wednesday 02 May 2012, 10:46
Not for the first time, it’s the pasillo , rather than the potential end of the Primera title race, that dominates the headlines in the Spanish capital. For the uninformed, the pasillo is traditional guard...
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Tuesday 01 May 2012, 15:14
Normally, match-fixing allegations in Spain only come to light about two after the games have taken place and it’s far too late to do anything about them, not that there was ever any will to probe them...
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Monday 30 April 2012, 15:41
GOOD DAY Real Madrid A touch lucky at times – what with the perfectly good early goal disallowed for Sevilla, who proceeded to be somewhat hopeless in front of goal – but it was job done for Real Madrid...
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Friday 27 April 2012, 10:18
SATURDAY Getafe (11th) v Mallorca (12th) – 18.00 local time One of the coaches being linked with Unai Emery's job – the whiteboard-loving Valencia boss has apparently told his players he’s off in the...
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Wednesday 25 April 2012, 12:00
Tongues have never been as busy in Spain as they were on Wednesday morning, a statement that perhaps requires some clarification. In Madrid, they were being bitten. In Barcelona they were being used to...
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Tuesday 24 April 2012, 11:00
Considering Barcelona’s defence hasn’t really been the cause of the club’s annus...er...weekus very baduss - which has instead been down to a somewhat limp attack that relies rather heavily on Leo Messi...
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Monday 23 April 2012, 14:37
Good Day Real Madrid There was a beautiful silence in Spain on Sunday morning, aside from the cheering in the fancier bits of Spanish capital and the grumbling from the culé collective. The hush was thanks...
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Friday 20 April 2012, 09:19
Saturday Mallorca (13th) v Zaragoza (18th) - 18.00 (all kick-offs local time) Instead of investigating scoundrels stealing, embezzling, hiding or spending tax payers' money in the somewhat seedy area...
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Wednesday 18 April 2012, 10:40
Ha! La Liga Loca knew it! José Mourinho will be moving back to the Premier League over the summer, after all. That’s the only reason the blog can think of to explain why the Madrid manager didn’t follow...
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Tuesday 17 April 2012, 14:30
Let’s face it, Real Madrid have had a bit of cosy time of it in the Champions League so far this season. Unlike the other Spanish sides to enter the competition, they haven't had to deal with testing...
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Monday 16 April 2012, 15:35
Good Day Cristiano Ronaldo & Leo Messi It’s not just the goals which put the dynamic duo on 41 apiece that see Ronaldo and Messi in the Good Day section this week, rather the fact both players are...
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Friday 13 April 2012, 10:48
“Tonight, Matthew, La Liga Loca is going to be Jarvis Cocker.” Instead of a Stars in Their Eyes (is that still running in the UK? Is John Craven’s Newsround ?) rendition of Common People , the blog is...
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Wednesday 11 April 2012, 09:57
The flu being suffered by Adrían and Falcao, the existence of Luis Perea in defence, Diego Simeone’s limited tactical preparation of yelling "Passion! Grit! Cojones!" at his players, 13 years...
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Tuesday 10 April 2012, 11:42
RESULTS Sat 7 Apr Getafe 2-0 Sporting Gijón; Rayo Vallecano 6-0 Osasuna; Espanyol 2-2 Real Sociedad; Real Zaragoza 1-4 Barcelona; Real Betis 3-1 Villarreal Sun 8 Apr Levante 2-0 Atlético Madrid; Mallorca...
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Friday 06 April 2012, 08:30
Saturday Getafe (10th) v Sporting (20th) - 18.00 (local time) Sporting manager Javier Clemente’s space shuttle-sized gob got him into a bit of hot water this week. During a press conference on Sunday,...
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Wednesday 04 April 2012, 11:14
Whenever supporters of Real Madrid and Barcelona whine, bleat and stomp their feet about how they are so, so, so hard done by when it comes to referees, La Liga Loca always reminds such complainants of...
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Tuesday 03 April 2012, 10:51
A small gesture can speak about 500 words in Spanish. Handily, that’s about the length of a typical column/rant/stream of consciousness from one of the millions of pundits churning out footballing bits...
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Monday 02 April 2012, 14:47
Good Day Real Madrid La Liga Loca will happily put its neck on the line and say Madrid's 5-1 victory at Osasuna was the best 90 minute league display for Real Madrid this season. It was a game in which...
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Friday 30 March 2012, 13:57
SATURDAY Racing (18th) v Granada (17th) – 18.00 local time A match between relegation rivals is almost certainly going to see the dreaded ‘final’ tag being used one or two times this weekend. But this...
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Thursday 29 March 2012, 10:04
Admiration for a defensive job well done, sulking about an attack that failed to break through and a touch of referee-moaning thrown into the mix. That was the Barcelona press reaction to Wednesday night's...
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Tuesday 27 March 2012, 15:23
For about 10 minutes every day, La Liga Loca gets to be José Mourinho. Well, the José Mourinho of 10 minutes or so during Madrid’s Champions League press conference ahead of Tuesday's game against...
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Monday 26 March 2012, 11:59
Good Day Real Madrid By refusing to speak to the media, José Mourinho and his players are - a) sulking, or b) standing up for their right to protest against evil refereeing injustice, it all depends on...
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Friday 23 March 2012, 12:18
When is a run-of-the-mill 1-1 draw away from home not a run-of-the-mill 1-1 draw away from home? When Real Madrid are involved, that’s when. A referee evidently not especially fond of backchat, along with...
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Wednesday 21 March 2012, 13:37
The moment Lionel Messi and his supporters had long been waiting for finally arrived on Tuesday evening. But for those paid good money and under threat of the sack unless gushing things are written about...
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Tuesday 20 March 2012, 11:34
A large, dark shadow has fallen across the land in la Liga. No, Maniche isn’t blocking out the sun again, the Lord of Doom, the King of Crying, the Price of Appalling Football, Miguel Angel Lotina has...
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Monday 19 March 2012, 14:39
RESULTS Sat 17 Mar Granada 2-1 Sporting Gijón; Real Zaragoza 1-1 Osasuna; Getafe 1-0 Real Sociedad; Sevilla 0-2 Barcelona; Rayo Vallecano 3-0 Real Betis Sun 18 Mar Levante 1-0 Villarreal; Mallorca 2-1...
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Friday 16 March 2012, 11:46
Saturday Granada (16th) v Sporting (19th) – 18.00 (all KOs local time) Thought Sporting were in trouble, second-from-bottom of the table and three points from safety? Well, you are quite, quite wrong....
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Wednesday 14 March 2012, 13:58
Pep Guardiola may have felt a touch...heavier on Wednesday. No, the Barça boss hasn’t been on the Maniche diet - the extra weight was caused by a significant section of the Catalan media grabbing hold...
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Tuesday 13 March 2012, 12:01
Apart from sporting a new natty haircut, one of the most noticeable aspects of José Mourinho over the past couple of weeks has been the Madrid manager’s rather generous way of praising the opposition ...
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Monday 12 March 2012, 15:20
Good Day Cristiano Ronaldo & Gonzalo Higuaín More steamrolling striking action from the poaching pair with Ronaldo picking up league goal number 32 of the season and the supposedly out-of-form and...
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Friday 09 March 2012, 14:47
Saturday Málaga (5th) v Levante (4th) - 18.00 (all KOs local time) It’s high time for LLL to stick its head around the door at fourth-placed Levante to see if there's any talk of Europe yet, rather...
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Wednesday 07 March 2012, 14:34
La Liga Loca read somewhere that the then backwater, boiling, hellhole of Madrid was made capital of Spain as all those lobbying the King on behalf of other cities were united in thinking it was a truly...
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Tuesday 06 March 2012, 10:56
Imagine, if you will, the Barça and Madrid football media as particularly troublesome seven-year-olds. See, that wasn’t so hard was it? At the moment, Real Madrid are sitting as smug as can be, with their...
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Monday 05 March 2012, 14:28
Good Day Gonzalo Higuaín Criticised in some quarters for failing to deliver against Rayo last week in place of the injured Karim Benzema, the Argentinean striker was under pressure to pull out a few goals...
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Friday 02 March 2012, 11:50
Saturday Mallorca (15th) v Osasuna (7th) - 18.00 (local time) Remember Emilio Nsue? No? Up-and-coming young Spanish striker? Well, the Mallorca forward was certainly in that cat basket last year, but he...
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Wednesday 29 February 2012, 11:35
Thanks to the magic of television and the odd newspaper report, it has come to the attention of most Spain fans that Fernando Torres hasn’t exactly been the most prolific of forwards of late. Indeed, most...
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Tuesday 28 February 2012, 10:28
Should the great leaders at FourFourTwo ever grow tired of LLL’s showbiz demands and cut the blog loose, starvation and playing the accordion badly in the Madrid metro awaits. LLL certainly isn’t going...
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Monday 27 February 2012, 16:44
RESULTS Sat 25 Feb Racing Santander 1-1 Sporting Gijón; Real Betis 1-1 Getafe; Málaga 5-1 Real Zaragoza; Espanyol 1-2 Levante Sun 26 Feb Villarreal 2-2 Athletic Club; Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid; Valencia...
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Friday 24 February 2012, 10:40
Saturday Betis (12th) v Getafe (14th) - 18.00 (local time) A broken arm for central defender Lopo in last weekend’s Espanyol clash saw Getafe exploring the possibility of trying to bring in cover using...
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Wednesday 22 February 2012, 14:14
While Andre 'the new Mourinho' Villas-Boas didn’t exactly enjoy his night out in Naples with Chelsea, the original version had a fairly decent time of it in Russia, with his Real Madrid side drawing...
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Tuesday 21 February 2012, 10:45
The sign at La Liga Loca ’s bus stop showed the temperature in Madrid to be -3 early on Tuesday morning. However, it didn’t feel that cold to the blog, despite the fact that it was wearing its favourite...
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Monday 20 February 2012, 15:30
Good Day Real Madrid There was an awful lot of boasting in the Madrid press concerning the ease with which José Mourinho’s side beat Racing 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu - even though Racing were down to...
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Friday 17 February 2012, 14:48
If ever a manager had a tough job, it’s José Ramón Sandoval at Rayo Vallecano. Last season, the club’s entire future depended on achieving promotion to la Primera with a squad of players who weren’t being...
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Friday 17 February 2012, 11:13
SATURDAY Getafe (12th) v Espanyol (5th) – 18.00 (local time) Whilst Rayo are busy raising ticket prices, across town Getafe are dropping them to get more than a handful of fans into the Coliseum for Saturday...
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Monday 13 February 2012, 15:29
RESULTS Sat 11 Feb Racing Santander 0-0 Atlético Madrid; Osasuna 3-2 Barcelona; Real Betis 2-1 Athletic Bilbao Sun 12 Feb Espanyol 0-2 Real Zaragoza; Málaga 3-1 Mallorca; Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Getafe; Valencia...
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Friday 10 February 2012, 11:21
Saturday Racing Santander (18th) v Atlético Madrid (7th) - 18.00 (local time) “Courage! Passion! Cojones! Courage! Passion! Cojones!” has been the very clear message from Rojiblanco coach Diego Simeone...
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Wednesday 08 February 2012, 14:36
This week in Spanish football will see some dreams ending, some beginning and some sort of about to start, but not quite. It's not unlike the semi-conscious, leg twitching, gurgling slumber induced...
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Tuesday 07 February 2012, 10:54
Spain’s twin cities are split over which direction to run in Tuesday morning's papers. Over in Barcelona it’s all about Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia and Dream Boys president...
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Monday 06 February 2012, 11:46
RESULTS Sat 4 Feb Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad, Getafe 0-1 Real Madrid, Mallorca 1-0 Real Betis, Levante 1-1 Racing, Athletic Bilbao 3-3 Espanyol Sun 5 Feb Atletico Madrid 0-0 Valencia, Real Zaragoza 1...
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Friday 03 February 2012, 11:00
Saturday Mallorca (15th) v Betis (13th) - 18.00 (local time) The side run by Joaquín Caparrós had a major boost on Wednesday, when Mallorca failed to land misfiring forward Javier Arizmendi from Getafe...
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Wednesday 01 February 2012, 16:26
It is with a heavy heart – and yes, LLL does have one – that the blog must report the firing of Manuel Preciado. The long-time Sporting manager, smoker and swearer extraordinaire has been through horrendous...
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Tuesday 31 January 2012, 10:43
To the those still finding their way around la Liga, Osasuna are constantly referred to in Spain as a very ‘British’ team. It is a description that is simultaneously both complimentary and insulting to...
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Monday 30 January 2012, 17:00
Good Day Real Madrid It was a very familiar story at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. Real Madrid started off at a snail’s pace, waited until the opposition had scored an unlikely goal - Zaragoza in...
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Friday 27 January 2012, 16:20
SATURDAY Espanyol (5th) v Mallorca (14th) – 18.00 (local time) Oh dear. A Copa del Rey quarter-final knock-out over two legs by the mighty Mirandés sees Paul from Barcelona getting a special guest appearance...
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Thursday 26 January 2012, 13:15
FourFourTwo.com's Primera pundit Tim Stannard presents the final part of his half-term report card... Real Sociedad - current position 15th The mission for la Real this season is to try and gain some...
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Wednesday 25 January 2012, 15:08
FourFourTwo.com's Spanish specialist Tim Stannard continues to run the rule over the first half of the 2011/12 season in the Primera Liga... Levante - current position 4th Given Levante are in the...
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Tuesday 24 January 2012, 10:38
FourFourTwo.com's man in Madrid Tim Stannard runs the rule over the first half of the 2011/12 season in the Primera Liga... Athletic Bilbao - current position: 7th Within the space of a couple of weeks...
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Monday 23 January 2012, 14:21
Good Day Real Madrid In what may have been a big middle finger to all the critics, José Mourinho switched from fielding nearly every available defensive player - as he did against Barcelona - to playing...
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Friday 20 January 2012, 11:30
Saturday Espanyol (9th) v Granada (17th) - 18.00 (local time) Good grief, Espanyol will be quivering in their Catalan boots ahead of next week’s Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg clash with lower league...
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Thursday 19 January 2012, 13:04
Given the the feeling among the Madrid-based press that this time Real Madrid manager José Mourinho would finally show Barça who was boss, it’s no great surprise that their reaction to Wednesday's...
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Wednesday 18 January 2012, 15:14
Tuesday was another happy day in Marca ’s extreme graphics department. In previous weeks the Photoshop-wielding group had been called upon to put together an incredibly disturbing photograph that morphed...
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Tuesday 17 January 2012, 11:21
Those who are still dipping their pinkies into the steamy waters of La Liga may not be aware of exactly what the 'Villarato' is. This term - oft-used in Spanish football - was coined by Madrid...
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Monday 16 January 2012, 12:21
Good Day Gonzalo Higuaín, José Callejón Both Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo looked a little lost in the hurly burly of the second half of Madrid’s 2-1 win over Mallorca, when pretty much every forward...
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Saturday 14 January 2012, 09:56
Saturday Zaragoza (20th) v Getafe (12th) - 18.00 (local time) More institutional disharmony at bottom-of-the-table Zaragoza saw four members of a board only appointed on the 30th December quitting in a...
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Wednesday 11 January 2012, 14:02
Real Madrid's sturdy midfield ‘trivote’ and Málaga’s reliably hopeless attack took us all a giant leap towards two more Clásicos, starting next week. Oh joy. A 1-0 Madrid win described by Marca as...
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Tuesday 10 January 2012, 15:39
After hours of its passengers and crew screaming, hollering and generally making a bit of a racket, the dead in the water Barça boat was finally thrown a lifeline by FIFA’s passing luxury liner. Rather...
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Monday 09 January 2012, 13:34
Good Day Karim Benzema The striker is the current French toast of the town - no, he hasn't been covered in egg yolk, though whatever the on-fire forward does in his own free time is his business. It...
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Friday 06 January 2012, 14:44
Saturday Racing Santander (19th) v Zaragoza (20th) - 18.00 local time La Liga returns from a Christmas slumber with a clash between the two biggest football boot-wearing disaster zones in la Primera. Racing...
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Thursday 05 January 2012, 09:39
Aside from eye-poking, mumbling, slouching, wearing body-warmers and being a prolific conspiracy theorist, José Mourinho's one defining characteristic as a manager is that he doesn’t tend to openly...
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Tuesday 03 January 2012, 12:00
A holiday-celebrating LLL turned its back for just a few minutes and found la Liga had been up to all kinds of naughtiness, like a toddler smearing doo-doo onto a freshly painted wall. It's just one...
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Wednesday 21 December 2011, 12:19
The fact everyone had actually been gathered together to talk about a football match had been pretty much forgotten in the Atlético Madrid press room on Tuesday evening. Instead, the pre-match conference...
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Tuesday 20 December 2011, 16:14
Outside Spain, the billionaire’s paradise of Marbella is known as a sizzling, sunny spot to park a North Sea ferry-sized yacht and put one’s Russian or Middle Eastern feet up for a while. Within the country...
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Monday 19 December 2011, 11:45
The mission set by the evil FourFourTwo masters sounded an easy one at first. Pick your la Liga XI to take on a side from the Premier League. “Easy,” thought LLL “Barcelona with a couple of Real Madrid...
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Monday 19 December 2011, 11:43
Good Day José Mourinho The Madrid manager still looked utterly miserable after his team’s 6-2 victory over Sevilla, and as well he might considering he had to face endless questions from ranting local...
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Friday 16 December 2011, 12:50
Two weeks ago Barcelona 4-0 Rayo Vallecano Already played thanks to Club World Cup-enforced rescheduling, but LLL would have said 4-0 anyway Saturday Mallorca (11th) v Getafe (13th) - 18.00 (local time...
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Tuesday 13 December 2011, 11:53
Having spent the last two years building up Cristiano Ronaldo into some untouchable God-like figure, the Madrid press have changed tack this week, unleashing a rather brutal two days of knocking the Barça...
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Monday 12 December 2011, 12:35
Good Day Pep Guardiola Another trip to the Santiago Bernabeu for the Barça boss and yet another triumph for his Dream Boys, with Guardiola yet to be defeated as a manager in the heart of Mordor. After...
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Friday 09 December 2011, 11:24
Saturday Levante (4th) v Sevilla (5th) - 18.00 (local time) It could be striker switcheroo time at the Sánchez Pizjuán over the winter transfer window, with Frederic Kanouté possibly off to join Samuel...
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Thursday 08 December 2011, 12:17
If England had won back-to-back European Championship and World Cup titles, there would have been motions in Parliament calling for the national side to withdraw from all future competitions. After all...
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Wednesday 07 December 2011, 13:49
They let themselves down, they let la Liga down, they let the blog down and most of all they let poor Unai Emery down, their coach who lost the battle of being the coolest young manager on the block to...
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Tuesday 06 December 2011, 11:54
It was the kind of comment that gets La Liga Loca quite cross. Arms folded, feet stamping cross. It was the kind of comment that drags the reputation of supposedly the best league in the world through...
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Monday 05 December 2011, 12:18
Good Day Angel di María He may something of a diving, face-clutching, faking little so-and-so, but he's still having an extraordinary campaign with Madrid. Saturday’s fairly routine 3-0 victory over...
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Friday 02 December 2011, 12:17
Saturday Sporting (18th) v Real Madrid (1st) - 18.00 (all kick-offs local time) One of the season’s finest moments came during the AS awards ceremony dinner held on Monday - not the usual location for...
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Monday 28 November 2011, 09:00
Good Day Real Madrid Another win over Atlético Madrid was not the remarkable part of a fine Saturday night for José Mourinho’s men - although his side were given a bit of a footballing leg-up by the meanie...
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Friday 25 November 2011, 11:41
Saturday Rayo Vallecano (10th) v Valencia (3rd) - 18.00 (local time) In a brilliant bit of Saturday night scheduling, it has been decided that if you happen to be a fan of both Rayo and Atlético or Getafe...
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Thursday 24 November 2011, 13:34
Much like this blogger doing his household chores, the Spanish football collective attempted a perfect clean sweep this weekend, but couldn’t quite finish the job. The Champions League chumps of the la...
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Tuesday 22 November 2011, 12:30
In the same way that English hacks got their panties in the biggest of bunches over whether John Terry and Wayne Bridge would shake hands after their tabloid love tales were published 18 months back, Catalan...
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Monday 21 November 2011, 14:06
Good Day Real Madrid It was no wonder José Mourinho leapt upon a startled José Callejón and demanded a piggy-back during the 3-2 win over Valencia. It was a huge sign of relief during a tense match from...
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Friday 18 November 2011, 09:33
Saturday Villarreal (13th) v Betis (12th) - 18.00 (local time) In a moment that was pure Alan Partridge, José Antonio Bosch tried to answer the simple question of whether the Betis board were supporting...
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Wednesday 16 November 2011, 15:22
It was a result that left Costa Rica supporters reasonably content, England fans a little less confident than a few days ago, and the Spain posse feeling more than a little peeved. Fans of the World and...
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Tuesday 15 November 2011, 10:14
That a football coach is managing to refrain from physically assaulting members of the opposition technical team, insulting rival coaches or being rude about their own players, bosses and various institutional...
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Monday 14 November 2011, 11:12
Being World and European Champions, which as most LLL readers will probably be aware is the position Spain currently find themselves in, has allowed everyone in the country - especially certain groups...
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Thursday 10 November 2011, 12:35
A Mohican-sporting young punk renewing a contract with his club in Brazil shouldn’t really be moving any mountains in Spain, but that’s what’s happening on Wednesday, with 'Real Madrid starlet'...
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Tuesday 08 November 2011, 11:24
On Monday, LLL was boldly predicting to anyone and anything that would listen – on this particular occasion, a Labrador and a pigeon – that by the end of the week Atlético Madrid would be on the hunt for...
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Monday 07 November 2011, 12:34
Good Day Real Madrid José Mourinho joked - as much as The Special One is capable of doing the whole humour thing - that he didn’t know what meal the players would be eating ahead of Sunday’s 'experimental'...
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Friday 04 November 2011, 12:46
Saturday Mallorca (14th) v Sevilla (5th) - 18.00 local time Saturday sees former Betis boss and fan Lorenzo Serra Ferrer and a frantic former Sevilla manager Joaquín Caparrós teaming up to try and lead...
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Wednesday 02 November 2011, 10:40
Poor Leo Messi continued to stumble along on Tuesday night, still haunted by his lonely, desperate crisis of confidence; the beginning of the end of his career, the ghoulish ‘ooooooo’ in 'doomed'...
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Tuesday 01 November 2011, 11:11
RESULTS Sat 29 Oct Barcelona 5-0 Mallorca, Real Sociedad 0-1 Real Madrid, Valencia 3-1 Getafe, Villarreal 2-0 Rayo Vallecano Sun 30 Oct Atletico Madrid 3-1 Real Zaragoza, Malaga 2-1 Espanyol, Osasuna 2...
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Friday 28 October 2011, 10:25
LLL imagines that when the sixty-or-so million Euros were pumped into Málaga over the summer, the club’s Qatari owners weren’t expecting the dreaded talk of ‘finals’ steaming into view as early as October...
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Wednesday 26 October 2011, 10:51
Barcelona beat Granada 1-0 on Tuesday night, but you wouldn’t really guess it from the somewhat muted response in Wednesday morning's papers. And as well it might be, as Pep’s Dream Boys were restricted...
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Tuesday 25 October 2011, 12:03
On catching a glimpse of the latest La Liga table, the reaction of the sports media in Barcelona and Madrid must have been akin to that of a rather slow-witted individual gawping at a 3D 'magic eye'...
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Monday 24 October 2011, 14:06
Good Day Levante La Liga Loca suspected rather gloomily that Levante might choke when presented with the opportunity to move to the top of the table during Sunday’s late game against Villarreal. This was...
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Friday 21 October 2011, 09:54
Saturday Sporting (20th) v Granada (18th) - 18.00 (local time) Despite Sporting losing to Sevilla last Sunday, a defeat that saw the Asturian side remain rooted to the bottom of the table, their performance...
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Wednesday 19 October 2011, 10:40
When it comes across English football, the delicate and snooty LLL is rather like Frasier ’s Niles Crane confronted with an evening of cage fighting – in that it finds it crass, brutish, violent but also...
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Tuesday 18 October 2011, 10:46
The challenge facing Marca ’s graphics department on Monday was a significant one. They were required to take photographs of six Real Madrid players and squeeze them onto the shells of six bullets. And...
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Monday 17 October 2011, 13:14
GOOD DAY Gonzalo Higuaín, Leo Messi The awesome Argentinians have now scored 18 league goals between them this season. Both starred in comfortable victories for Real Madrid and Barcelona against Betis...
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Friday 14 October 2011, 10:42
SATURDAY Mallorca (10th) v Valencia (5th) – 18.00 (local time) LLL’s lonely life without Joaquín Caparrós didn’t last too long, thank the merciful gods. After leaving Athletic Bilbao over the summer with...
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Wednesday 12 October 2011, 12:31
It would appear that yet another attribute of the calm, collected and possibly frequently napping Vicente del Bosque is that the Spain manager isn't one to hold a grudge. Well, not when it’s not completely...
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Tuesday 11 October 2011, 13:21
Like a Getafe fan club meeting, Pep Guardiola is a lonely voice crying out in the darkness. A couple of weeks ago, the Barça boss pleaded for institutional peace at the Camp Nou between his current and...
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Monday 10 October 2011, 14:51
The international break in Spain is normally dull at the best of times, but especially so this last week, what with Vicente Del Bosque’s men having qualified for Euro 2012 way back in 2007. As a result...
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Friday 07 October 2011, 11:44
Moral outrage, rare but admirable sarcasm and a spot of burying heads in the sand. These have been the main reactions in the Spanish press to the brutal sanctions handed out by a doddering old codger to...
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Tuesday 04 October 2011, 12:03
“It’s a scandal!” screamed headline on the front cover of Tuesday’s Mundo Deportivo , alongside a picture of a grinning Leo Messi sitting on his backside. “What’s a scandal?” thought La Liga Loca, trying...
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Monday 03 October 2011, 14:59
Good Day Barcelona A hands-up confession from La Liga Loca to kick things off. For the first half of the Barcelona game on Sunday, the blog was trying to get home from the Vicente Calderón at the same...
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Friday 30 September 2011, 08:30
Saturday Osasuna (12th) v Mallorca (11th) - 18.00 (local time) Probably the least surprising managerial change of the season saw Michael Laudrup agreeing terms to leave Mallorca earlier in the week. Supporters...
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Wednesday 28 September 2011, 10:10
In a way, the Madrid press are like ratings-hungry soap opera writers. They love nothing more than killing off footballers 'for good', only to then bring them back to life in an improbable fashion...
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Tuesday 27 September 2011, 11:17
Both Barcelona and Real Madrid can claim to have been more than entertaining in their respective weekend victories. The first 15 seconds at the Santiago Bernabeu, for example, were particularly compelling...
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Monday 26 September 2011, 14:30
Good Day Leo Messi An un-flippin’-believable performance from the scruffy-haired Argentine genius, who has now scored 12 goals with nine assists in all competitions this season. La Liga Loca was catching...
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Friday 23 September 2011, 11:24
Saturday Sevilla (5th) v Valencia (2nd) - 18.00 (local time) Having been ditched by most of the clubs that were supposedly supporting his campaign against financial inequality in la Liga, Sevilla president...
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Thursday 22 September 2011, 10:36
La Liga Loca has a feeling in its special place that something fishy is going on. Very fishy. Just when there was a clamour in Spain for Barcelona and Real Madrid to open the vault to their Manhattan-sized...
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Tuesday 20 September 2011, 12:11
It’s a little like a game of taunting tig. This time last week the Madrid press were chuckling and cheerfully waving in Barcelona’s direction after Pep’s Dream Boys dropped points to Real Sociedad. Some...
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Monday 19 September 2011, 14:58
Good Day Roberto Soldado Fernando Torres’ comedy blunder against Manchester United may have edged the Valencia striker a rung nearer the Chelsea man’s spot in the Spanish side after Soldado’s fifth goal...
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Friday 16 September 2011, 11:58
Saturday Sporting (19th) v Valencia (2nd) - 18.00 With the burning topic of the week in Spain now being whether Cristiano Ronaldo is as handsome as the Portuguese player clearly thinks he is, the country...
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Wednesday 14 September 2011, 11:45
The Champions League only really starts for LLL when the blog reads the annual “Real Madrid are going for La Décima!” headlines in the local papers. It’s a call to arms for Madrid’s 10th European Cup crown...
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Tuesday 13 September 2011, 13:55
It’s all very well Barça being the Goody Two-Shoes, helping old ladies across the road kind of club with their wholesome values, but that doesn’t help at all when it comes to any kind of confrontation...
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Monday 12 September 2011, 15:36
Good day Real Madrid A good day for José Mourinho’s side, not through their own sterling efforts in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Getafe, but rather for getting away with four goals - including a dodgy penalty...
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Friday 09 September 2011, 14:24
SATURDAY Real Sociedad v Barcelona The debate over the ethical ins and outs of Barcelona’s deal with the Qatar Foundation rumbles on in Catalunya, with ruminations over the serious impact the partnership...
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Friday 09 September 2011, 10:28
Spain’s unsurprising 6-0 win over Liechtenstein on Tuesday night sealed a wrinkle-free qualification through to the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and the Ukraine. And that got LLL ’s noggin a-bogglin'...
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Tuesday 06 September 2011, 16:19
Well, who’d have thunk it? A club president in Spain keeping their word. The gentleman to manage this monumental achievement is Sevilla big-wig José María del Nido, with his threat to overthrow the forces...
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Monday 05 September 2011, 14:52
Having been cruelly booted out of San Mamés over the summer with his boss losing the presidential election, Joaquín Caparrós was perhaps on the look-out for a bit of adventure. The former Athletic Bilbao...
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Friday 02 September 2011, 12:37
Our man in Spain, Tim Stannard , completes his run-down of the summer's transfer action from la Liga... Mallorca Michael Laudrup’s side hung on as long as they could to keep the want-away creative...
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Thursday 01 September 2011, 13:00
With the transfer window now closed, Tim Stannard assesses the wheeling and dealing of Spanish football's finest... Atlético Madrid A whopper of an overhaul of last season’s squad saw first teamers...
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Wednesday 31 August 2011, 10:15
Far from being concerned by the alarming and tedious ease with which Real Madrid and Barcelona waltzed into the top two spots of the league table after just one round of matches - Madrid didn’t clamber...
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Tuesday 30 August 2011, 10:44
Our man in Madrid Tim Stannard returns with his weekly round-up as another season of Primera Liga action finally gets underway... Good Day Cristiano Ronaldo You can only imagine the Madrid man’s Ben Stiller...
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Friday 26 August 2011, 10:18
Saturday Sporting v Real Sociedad After an epic late night session of Sergio Ramos proportions, the Spanish League (LFP) and Players’ Union (AFE) finally came to an agreement and gave each other a hearty...
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Wednesday 24 August 2011, 11:07
La Liga Loca must admit that it is currently strutting about in the good old US of A and enjoying five successive days of breakfast buffets and maple syrup-drenched bacon yummy goodness, and is therefore...
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Tuesday 23 August 2011, 09:00
Those football fans in Spain unable to stay up to the ludicrous time of one in the morning last Wednesday to see Spain’s Supercopa second leg clash, but who wanted to catch up with all the net-busting...
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Friday 19 August 2011, 11:15
Sporting Last Season 10th Prediction 10th LLL has a sneaky feeling that Manuel Preciado’s sixth season in charge in Gijon is going to be his most comfortable one, with no repetition of last year’s relegation...
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Thursday 18 August 2011, 12:14
Rayo Vallecano Last Season 2nd in Segunda Prediction 20th (relegated) Having enjoyed the festivities in Rayo’s peculiar three-sided stadium for the promotion party and the subsequent booze-up in Vallecas...
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Wednesday 17 August 2011, 13:56
Málaga Last Season - 11th Prediction - 5th To be in the Champions League or to be in the Europa League, that is the question for Málaga this season after a summer splurge of some €58 million on nine new...
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Tuesday 16 August 2011, 12:41
Espanyol Last Season - 8th Prediction - 12th An odd campaign for Espanyol last season saw the Pericos duking it out with the big boys for the first half the year - over-performing enormously in the process...
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Monday 15 August 2011, 13:56
Athletic Bilbao Last Season 6th Prediction 6th A change of president at Athletic during the summer produced a change of coach. Argentinian loon Marcelo Bielsa replaces the rather hard-done-by Andalusian...
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Friday 12 August 2011, 14:09
Strike threats are not that unusual in Spanish football; there have been two in the past eight months. The first came in December from the Players’ Union (AFE) over salary payment issues for its members...
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Wednesday 10 August 2011, 11:57
Alarm bells were ringing in the Marca offices on Monday. The hotline to Florentino’s office was flashing red. The security doors slammed shut to prevent anyone from leaving the premises. The unthinkable...
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Tuesday 09 August 2011, 14:43
This summer, LLL has been a bit ‘Carry On’ with a plethora of Sid James phwoarrs and Kenneth Williams matrons and raised eyebrows. While not wholly unusual for the blog, this behaviour has been especially...
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Monday 08 August 2011, 14:20
The friendlies are all but over, the endless waffle and piffle concerning Cesc and Neymar have been banished to the inside pages, Karim Benzema has been reborn for the 15th time and Leo Messi is back in...
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Tuesday 02 August 2011, 16:10
Fran Mérida, Atlético Madrid Surely LLL can't be alone in completely forgetting about the existence of the Atlético Madrid midfielder formerly known as the "new Fabregas". Apparently, the...
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Thursday 28 July 2011, 12:22
La Liga losing one of its brightest stars. Atlético Madrid in all kinds of trouble up front. Still not enough to knock their attention-sucking neighbours from the front pages of Marca and AS on Thursday...
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Tuesday 26 July 2011, 17:47
LLL has no doubt at all that Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea's goodbye letter to Atletico Madrid supporters last week is somewhat connected to his earlier farewell press conference at the...
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Monday 25 July 2011, 14:12
There was grinning and gushing, shrieking and spurting in the Catalan capital last weekend, as there was finally something for Barça fans to talk about aside from how stupendously superior they are to...
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Thursday 21 July 2011, 16:07
LLL's Tim Stannard completes his temperament-testing tour of the Spanish top flight Sevilla Mood – In the happy bunny camp of cheer Canny Sevilla supporters already sensed their team’s ‘end of a cycle...
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Wednesday 20 July 2011, 16:45
La Liga Loca's Tim Stannard continues to ponder exactly how fans of La Liga's twenty clubs will be feeling, as their heroes (and the rest) return to pre-season training... Osasuna Mood – Violent...
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Tuesday 19 July 2011, 16:13
For the second time this week, La Liga Loca's Tim Stannard puts on his corduroy jacket, polishes his leather couch, cranks up some soothing Kenny G and assesses the mental wellbeing of the fans of...
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Monday 18 July 2011, 16:05
La Liga Loca's Tim Stannard puts on his corduroy jacket, polishes his leather couch, cranks up some soothing Kenny G and assesses the mental wellbeing of the fans of all twenty clubs in la Primera...
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Friday 15 July 2011, 11:32
While the Catalan press is stuck in an endless Alexis Sánchez-Cesc Fabregas loop of infinite doom, over in Madrid it’s party time. The forces of Mordor are over in Los Angeles for a 13 day pre-season jaunt...
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Wednesday 13 July 2011, 12:05
MAY The title-race had already been done and dusted for what felt like decades before Barcelona’s 1-1 draw with Levante that mathematically sealed the deal for Pep’s Dream Boys, to kick off three days...
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Monday 11 July 2011, 10:52
Last Thursday marked the pre-season's first bout of conspiracy theorising and childish screams of ‘it’s not fair!’ in the ongoing media war between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It was the day after the...
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Thursday 07 July 2011, 15:49
APRIL In April, football fans either wanted to clap their hands and bark like drunken sea lions in giddy excitement or tear their hair out in boredom and frustration. This was all because of the playing...
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Tuesday 05 July 2011, 18:35
"Boy for sale! Boy for sale!" Despite five weeks of headlines promising a world of transfer activity, there has so far been the total sum of diddly-squat going on in regards to players coming...
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Monday 04 July 2011, 11:28
MARCH March began with Diego Forlán’s sulks and snippy comments to the press that he wasn’t exactly opposed to the concept of leaving Atlético supposedly leaving his teammates a tad miffed. El País claimed...
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Friday 01 July 2011, 13:09
There was Pep Guardiola enjoying his holidays in Italy, playing a bit of golf, making nice with Johan Cruyff and sussing out which Serie A club will be the one he's going to manage next, when Marca...
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Wednesday 29 June 2011, 14:41
FEBRUARY Diego Forlán's season-long sulk continued with comments made to Marca suggesting that he had long since given up winning over the Atletico Madrid fast. Some Rojiblanco supporters felt that...
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Tuesday 28 June 2011, 15:02
With Spain in the midst of a heatwave - it was 30 degrees in Madrid at nine in the morning for frack's sake - the lethargic, sweating sports press have given up the ghost a little as far as second...
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Monday 27 June 2011, 12:35
JANUARY If the culé collective’s sense of self-worth had drooped a little thanks to December’s announcement that Barcelona would be jumping into bed with the Qatar Foundation and leaving UNICEF as sloppy...
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Friday 24 June 2011, 11:35
Kun Agüero had a cunning plan. Drop the stink-bomb to his Atlético Madrid bosses that he wanted out; leg it to Argentina; wait for the offers to come rolling in – preferably from Real Madrid to save the...
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Wednesday 22 June 2011, 15:07
DECEMBER Another month in la Liga began with Spain more than a little freaked out by the memory of a chastened, crestfallen José Mourinho admitting that the better side won a game of football, without...
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Tuesday 21 June 2011, 10:31
NOVEMBER A rampant Real Madrid began November on top of the table with the Capital City media so desperate to praise the club’s Special One that they were gouging each other’s eyes out and scrapping in...
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Monday 20 June 2011, 12:16
Are you sitting down? If not, find a perch immediately. For LLL has some shocking news to reveal: Spain's football bosses have had a good idea. Launching a play-off process for promotion to la Primera...
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Friday 17 June 2011, 12:44
“Good effort, pats on the back and hip, hip, hooray!” is Friday's message from LLL, with Barcelona and Real Madrid proving that they don’t need football to have an unseemly cat-fight and keep everyone...
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Wednesday 15 June 2011, 16:40
When you ask the president of one of the clubs involved in a draw to actively participate in it too, you're always asking for trouble. But that's what the Spanish FA did when letting Pablo Córdoba...
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Wednesday 15 June 2011, 12:31
LLL has a tiny brain when it comes to football tactics. Public questions about how a manager should improve their flagging side during a game are normally answered with a muttered "tell them to play...
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Tuesday 14 June 2011, 13:16
OCTOBER Real Madrid ended October above Barcelona after perfect month – essential in a league where dropping a single point is as advisable as jamming your todger in a toaster. Pep’s Dream Boys carelessly...
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Monday 13 June 2011, 14:43
September The month may have begun with the odd and more than a little disturbing sight of Atlético Madrid at the top of the table, but it ended with the very pretty picture of Valencia and Villarreal...
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Friday 10 June 2011, 15:54
If you apply a couple of tweaks to our universe - and to the one inhabited by Marca for good measure - then we’d all be enjoying Barcelona and Barcelona ‘B’ playing in la Primera next season in a tiki...
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Wednesday 08 June 2011, 11:41
August The month began as most do in la Liga - with a big, stinky controversy fishier than a Valencia pavement café which was only cast aside by the Spanish press when José Mourinho said something particularly...
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Tuesday 07 June 2011, 15:30
Pretty much the only workers in Spain making any kind of decent money these days - legally, that is - are contract lawyers. These legal eagles have been locked in boardrooms around the country trying every...
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Monday 06 June 2011, 15:26
Tim Stannard wraps up his end-of-season review of La Liga with the final five Primera clubs... Sevilla Final Position - 5th LLL Prediction - 5th It could have been worse. That’s perhaps the most polite...
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Friday 03 June 2011, 11:17
Our man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , continues his round-up of the 2010/11 Primera Liga season... Mallorca Final Position - 17th LLL Prediction - 13th Mallorca’s last day scrap against relegation was more...
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Thursday 02 June 2011, 15:25
Our man in Spain, Tim Stannard , continues to look back on another incredible year in la Primera with the second installment of his review of the seaon... Espanyol Final Position - 8th LLL Prediction ...
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Wednesday 01 June 2011, 10:49
The end of the season is upon us so it’s time for Part One of LLL ’s annual ratings and slatings - heavy on the slatings, to be fair - of the season of every team in la Primera, along with each side's...
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Tuesday 31 May 2011, 09:30
While many will argue Barcelona’s masterclass against Manchester United on Saturday was the best Champions League-related performance of the season, La Liga Loca would suggest such praise is misplaced...
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Friday 27 May 2011, 12:07
As well as having to deal with carbon monoxide, choking fumes and the hot air generated by Boris Johnson, the poor, suffering people of London are now also having to cope with Barça’s gargantuan smug cloud...
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Wednesday 25 May 2011, 15:20
Spanish football club presidents would love to tie managers up. No, not with twine to a railway line, but on minute-by-minute contracts stuffed with “I’ve just grown so tired of seeing your stupid, ugly...
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Tuesday 24 May 2011, 15:43
For Atlético Madrid to enjoy one full day of post-season stability was a good effort all round, in retrospect. A stiff upper lip, brave little soldier, "here, have a lollipop" style 'good...
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Monday 23 May 2011, 14:51
Good day Barcelona With little, bowl-headed Bojan wearing the captain’s armband for Barcelona as reward for a splendid A- in PE, LLL feared the worst for Pep’s Dream Boys at Málaga. A defeat for Barça...
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Friday 20 May 2011, 14:38
Saturday Malaga (9th) v Barcelona (1st) Remember Quincy Owusu-Abeyie? No? Had a good start to the season? Fast? Used to play for Arsenal? Oh. Ok. Well, that's not too surprising considering the winger's...
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Thursday 19 May 2011, 15:17
According to modern footballing wisdom, Barcelona’s success is built on the four pillars of Leo Messi’s goals, Xavi’s passing...and...er...Leo Messi’s goals and Xavi’s passing. But on this particular occasion...
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Tuesday 17 May 2011, 11:29
Not sure who to root against in this weekend's la Liga’s relegation rumble? Uncertain of which club is least deserving to stay in the top flight for another year of their miserable, pointless lives...
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Monday 16 May 2011, 14:42
Good Day Cristiano Ronaldo The usually dominant evil half of LLL would be tickled pink to see Cristiano Ronaldo whacking shot after shot over and beyond Almería’s goal in vain this weekend, as the apparently...
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Friday 13 May 2011, 11:22
Barca may have already sealed the title, but that doesn't mean there's not still plenty to be decided in La Liga. Tim Stannard gets the crystal ball out, again... SUNDAY Almería (20th) v Mallorca...
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Wednesday 11 May 2011, 11:45
In Wednesday’s competition to see who can point out that Barça can win the title in a matter of hours in the most dramatic way possible, it somehow felt as if the heart of the Madrid press simply wasn...
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Tuesday 10 May 2011, 13:56
The titters are only just dying down around Spain after the double teaming by Marca and AS on Monday which saw both papers claiming that the Pichichi top goalscorer prize was the only contest that really...
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Monday 09 May 2011, 15:08
Good Day Andrés Iniesta A shimmy and shammy as purty as a Tennessee beauty queen saw Iniesta glide through a sluggish Espanyol defence to set Barcelona on their way in what was, considering the bust-ups...
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Friday 06 May 2011, 13:58
SATURDAY Getafe (18th) v Almería (20th) Getafe president Angel Torres appears to have linked his club’s one win since February – the 1-0 win over Sevilla three weeks ago – to the fact that the stadium...
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Wednesday 04 May 2011, 17:41
Like Pep Guardiola, LLL is taking a lie down, a deep breath and thanking our all-powerful lizard leaders that the fiesta of four Clásicos is over. It’s been nearly three weeks of squabbles and suspensions...
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Tuesday 03 May 2011, 11:49
RESULTS Sat 30 Apr Real Madrid 2-3 Real Zaragoza, Real Sociedad 2-1 Barcelona, Deportivo La Coruna 0-1 Atlético Madrid Sun 1 May Almería 0-1 Sevilla, Levante 0-0 Sporting Gijón, Málaga 3-1 Hércules, Racing...
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Thursday 28 April 2011, 12:59
The empty chair in the press area next to LLL never stood a chance. Kicked repeatedly when Pepe was sent off, kicked repeatedly after Leo Messi’s two goals saw Barca place one foot in next month's...
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Wednesday 27 April 2011, 14:28
On Tuesday, it really did feel as if the respective camps participating in the toddler-esque festival of bickering between Barcelona and Real Madrid simply weren’t trying hard enough, worn down perhaps...
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Tuesday 26 April 2011, 10:52
Good Day Barcelona It was time for a spot of role reversal for Madrid and Barcelona on Saturday night. Pep’s Dream Boys were the team grinding out a narrow home win and scoring with their only shot on...
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Thursday 21 April 2011, 15:12
When the immensely unhinged Lluís Mascaró, writing in Wednesday’s edition of Barça-barmy Sport , declared in a fit of hysteria that the Copa del Rey final was “a battle between good and evil, between generosity...
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Tuesday 19 April 2011, 11:37
“So, do you think the referee tonight was biased?” “Eh?” “Do you think the referee tonight was biased?” “What?” “DO YOU THINK THE REFEREE TONIGHT WAS BIASED?!” That’s the way hundreds of post-game conversations...
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Monday 18 April 2011, 14:02
RESULTS Sat 16 Apr Getafe 1-0 Sevilla, Málaga 3-0 Mallorca, Almería 0-3 Valencia, Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona Sun 17 Apr Real Sociedad 2-1 Sporting Gijón, Levante 2-1 Hércules, Deportivo La Coruña 2-0 Racing...
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Friday 15 April 2011, 12:09
Saturday Getafe (16th) v Sevilla (5th) Persuading Getafe fans to turn up to the Coliseum in their heaving dozens is a tough business when the team is doing well, so it is a near impossible task when the...
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Wednesday 13 April 2011, 14:23
With his headshot staring out from the back page of this morning's Barcelona-themed Mundo Deportivo like a particularly camp but extremely furious agony uncle, journalist Lluís Mascaró is a seething...
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Tuesday 12 April 2011, 14:24
Relations between Zaragoza and Getafe were frosty even before Monday night’s fiery relegation battle in La Romareda. The visiting club president, Angel Torres, had been more than vocal in threatening to...
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Monday 11 April 2011, 14:33
Good day Barcelona Another slightly flat, unsatisfactory performance from Barça in the 3-1 win against Almería, but it didn’t need to be a particularly pumped up one considering two away trips to Ukraine...
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Friday 08 April 2011, 10:38
Saturday Athletic Bilbao (5th) v Real Madrid (2nd) Some big questions sprung up in regards to Kaká’s surprise squad inclusion and subsequent appearance in Tuesday’s Champions League win over Spurs. Is...
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Wednesday 06 April 2011, 14:44
Tuesday certainly started well enough for Spurs fans, who made this week’s Champions League trip to the Spanish capital. The first gaggle stumbled into Madrid’s Plaza Mayor just shy of 10.30 in the morning...
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Tuesday 05 April 2011, 11:13
José Mourinho is looking mean and moody on the front cover of Monday’s edition of AS . Then again, the Madrid manager is always looking mean and moody. But in this particular photograph it looks as if...
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Monday 04 April 2011, 14:22
Hold onto your hats - it's Tim Stannard 's whistle-stop round-up of the weekend's action from Spain... Good Day Pep Guardiola Though the coach will have to repeat the “league is not won yet...
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Friday 01 April 2011, 11:34
Saturday Real Madrid (2nd) v Sporting (15th) Two things were working against Real Madrid's supposedly cunning plan to play this match on Friday in order to get extra napsies ahead of Tuesday’s visit...
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Wednesday 30 March 2011, 13:18
“Hay Liga!” “The league is on!” cried the hat-throwing, joyous press in the Spanish capital on Wednesday morning. Normally that clarion call is reserved for when Real Madrid get to within 20 points of...
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Tuesday 29 March 2011, 14:18
“Potato field” is the en vogue phrase in Spain this week, along with the usual vulgarities about one’s mother and an unmentionable act involving a bowel release and a glass of milk that pepper day-to-day...
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Monday 28 March 2011, 12:48
Police helicopters buzzing about; beer-fueled fans pouring through the turnstiles; TV cameras squeezed onto the narrow strip of grass separating the pitch and stands - Rayo Vallecano's Estadio Teresa...
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Friday 25 March 2011, 10:25
With no definitive answer given as to whether or not next weekend's Primera matches will be called off thanks to a strike, the fact the fixtures have now been assigned referees is at least some progress...
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Wednesday 23 March 2011, 11:58
It’s as if the head of the Spanish league woke up one morning and thought, “Hey! La Liga already has a well-deserved reputation for being run by a cretinous bunch of feckless, incompetent, douche-nozzles...
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Monday 21 March 2011, 15:49
GOOD DAY Barcelona An awful week off the pitch with the news of Eric Abidal and the outlandish insinuations of doping coming from the direction of the Spanish capital came to a relatively happy end with...
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Friday 18 March 2011, 11:47
Saturday Real Mallorca (9th) v Zaragoza (16th) A bit of a sobering start to this week’s previews until the usual trivial, gossiping nonsense kicks off with a report of the press conference given on Wednesday...
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Wednesday 16 March 2011, 15:11
There’s a whiff of something stinky in the air in Madrid - and this time it’s not the illegally high levels of air pollution in the atmosphere. Well, it is but there is something more. It’s the dank whiff...
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Tuesday 15 March 2011, 13:55
La Liga Loca will begin today’s ramblings with five words likely to have those legal eagles at FourFourTwo HQ spitting their afternoon coffee and crumpets rather spectacularly over their computer screens...
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Monday 14 March 2011, 13:51
Good Day Real Madrid Not exactly a vintage performance in the opening 45 minutes for Madrid, with the crowd murmuring in discontent - which was some attempt at noise, at least - with their side going in...
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Friday 11 March 2011, 10:42
SATURDAY Almería (19th) v Atlético Madrid (8th) A fine win last Saturday over Villarreal restored Atleti's pride, respect and even some dignity, with the Rojiblancos returning to the furious fight...
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Wednesday 09 March 2011, 15:03
Until around 22.30 on Tuesday night, Arsene Wenger had a well-earned reputation in Spain for being a bit of an avuncular, Dumbledore type figure: unthreatening, cultured and a proper gent famous for relishing...
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Monday 07 March 2011, 14:29
GOOD DAY Pep Guardiola Not too much to talk about with Barcelona and their 1-0 home win over Zaragoza best described as perfunctory. But it’s a better day for Pep Guardiola, who got the go-ahead to leave...
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Friday 04 March 2011, 11:10
Hay Liga and Hay Caramba! The Spanish title race is bursting with fruity excitement once again after an imperious Real Madrid thrashed sorry Málaga on Thursday night and Barcelona slipped up for the second...
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Wednesday 02 March 2011, 13:36
Poor Diego Forlán. It seems that nobody loves the little fella these days aside from his hot supermodel lady friend. And himself. And maybe his curling tongs. A fun story broke in El País , this week,...
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Tuesday 01 March 2011, 16:14
Hip Hop Hooray! One round of la Liga has now properly put to bed, with Málaga’s match against Almería on Monday night rounding off the action - but don't even think about pausing for a moment to catch...
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Monday 28 February 2011, 12:47
Good Day Barcelona A certain Madrid-mad Primera pundit was last week trying to convince LLL that Barcelona were 'in crisis' having dropped points against Sporting in la Liga and been beaten by...
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Friday 25 February 2011, 10:34
SATURDAY Sporting (16th) v Zaragoza (18th) The traditional footballers' "final" countdown was kicked off at the beginning of 2011, with Atlético’s Tomas Ujfalusi claiming that his club had...
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Wednesday 23 February 2011, 14:17
"If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em" is the response from the Madridista press the day after a night before which featured Real Madrid’s latest failure to beat those dastardly Frenchies, Lyon, at...
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Tuesday 22 February 2011, 14:27
Despite being accused in the Twitter-world last week by a particularly sensitive culé of forming part of an anti-Barcelona, pro-Madrid Spain-based journalistic conspiracy, La Liga Loca must confess that...
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Monday 21 February 2011, 14:49
GOOD DAY Leo Messi Little Leo was insanely good in spells in Barcelona’s 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao that should steady a few nerves in the Catalan capital without the need to resort to a swift drink...
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Friday 18 February 2011, 10:27
Saturday Valencia (3rd) v Sporting (16th) If the wind blows in the right direction for Sporting, this season, it could be a painful summer for goalscoring hero-boy, David Barral. The forward, who won Sporting...
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Wednesday 16 February 2011, 15:15
Always looking to see a glass half empty and teeming with algae, LLL was all with the despair, sighing and forehead-slapping when it was announced that Barcelona and Arsenal would be thrown together in...
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Tuesday 15 February 2011, 14:43
In any normal, functioning, right-thinking dimension, the return of Raúl to Spanish shores for the first time since heading off to Schalke would have produced the journalistic equivalent of marching bands...
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Monday 14 February 2011, 14:58
Good Day Iker Casillas The Madrid captain only had to work just the one-and-half minutes after his sending off against Espanyol on Sunday and now gets next weekend off too. Lucky so-and-do. This has LLL...
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Friday 11 February 2011, 10:14
Saturday Atlético Madrid (8th) v Valencia (4th) Predicting Quique Sánchez Flores’ demise at Atleti has been a tricky old business for the past few months - every time it seems that the trap door is about...
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Wednesday 09 February 2011, 14:59
Despite not appearing to enjoy one micro-second of his job – then again, no manager in la Liga seems to get any fun out of a season in Spain at all, aside from Joaquín Caparrós, and he isn’t right in the...
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Tuesday 08 February 2011, 17:01
Should Atlético Madrid lose to Valencia on Saturday and Quique Sánchez Flores be given the elbow, then it will blooming well serve the Rojiblanco manager right for opening up a can of stinky, wriggly worms...
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Monday 07 February 2011, 18:42
GOOD DAY Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo Li'l Leo's hat-trick against Atlético and Ronaldo's brace against Real Sociedad – ending what for him was something resembling a drought for normal...
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Friday 04 February 2011, 11:23
Saturday Athletic (6th) v Sporting (12th) Athletic Bilbao ended up being a bit of a big mover in the winter transfer market, with the €8.5 million purchase of Zaragoza’s Ander Herrera, who will join up...
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Wednesday 02 February 2011, 15:07
It would be fair to say that Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second legs throw up a wonderful win-win situation for anti-Madridistas in the Catalan capital, where LLL has learned through in depth investigations...
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Tuesday 01 February 2011, 14:52
If the Premier League’s final day of the winter window was a giant paella of SKY TV excitement, la Liga’s was a manky grain of rice sitting at the side of the pan with just six piddling transfers being...
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Monday 31 January 2011, 12:44
Good Day Barcelona A seven point lead at the top of the table, an old foe in Hércules slain, a record for consecutive league wins equalled with 15 straight Primera victories, three strikers in the top...
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Friday 28 January 2011, 11:46
SATURDAY Mallorca (9th) v Sporting (15th) Poor Sporting full-back José Angel is currently caught in a bit of a tug-of-love - but not in the Ever Banega sense - and being pulled between Malaga, his boyhood...
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Wednesday 26 January 2011, 14:15
Whilst Mrs Mourinho may have bought The Special One a brand new grey overcoat to brood into for The Special One’s 48th birthday on Wednesday, his club president got something extra yummy for José as a...
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Tuesday 25 January 2011, 14:51
First off, LLL must deal with the formalities by wishing a very happy Enrique Cerezo Day to all those readers lucky enough to be dodging hurricanes and gangland drug-trafficking motorboat gun battles in...
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Monday 24 January 2011, 14:02
Good Day Barcelona Once again, not a great deal to say about a game that was over in 94 seconds, when Pedro scored his fifth goal in five consecutive league games. Marca and AS both grumbled that the Canary...
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Friday 21 January 2011, 13:46
Saturday Sevilla (10th) v Levante (19th) A rather manic sounding Marca are claiming that Real Madrid should have had 19 penalties this season, so Merciful Zeus - LLL can only imagine what would have been...
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Wednesday 19 January 2011, 15:30
The nightmare scenario for the money men of Real Betis came horribly true with Barcelona’s 5-0 tonking of the Seville side in last weeks Copa Del Rey quarter-final first leg. Then again, LLL is not even...
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Tuesday 18 January 2011, 16:23
If you thought the wonderful world of Barcelona was feeling tingly and tangly last week after the frenzied French kissing of Leo Messi by Sepp Blatter at the FIFA awards - figuratively speaking, of course...
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Monday 17 January 2011, 14:43
Good Day Barcelona Playing Málaga just after seeing Real Madrid drop two platinum-precious points against Almería could have gone one of two ways for Barcelona. Pep’s Dream Boys could have choked and had...
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Friday 14 January 2011, 14:26
Saturday Villarreal (3rd) v Osasuna (15th) Juanfran’s departure for Atlético Madrid means that there is no-one left in the Osasuna squad who can whack in those beloved hoofed balls into the box for the...
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Wednesday 12 January 2011, 14:10
The main preoccupation with the Spanish football press this week was getting their panties in a bunch over what they felt was the criminal decision of a group of footballers, managers and journalists independently...
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Tuesday 11 January 2011, 09:00
It’s going to happen one day. LLL is sure of it. One fine, tranquil evening, a manager in la Liga will stroll into a press room, sit down in the hot seat, take the first question which is guaranteed to...
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Monday 10 January 2011, 11:48
Good Day Barcelona Pep’s Dream Boys - as officially endorsed by FIFA on Monday night, according to the local press - beat Deportivo using the most basic trick in the tactical book against the Galician...
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Friday 07 January 2011, 10:59
Saturday Málaga (16th) v Athletic Bilbao (8th) One of the strangest interview moments in LLL ’s long, painful career was attempting to speak to Julio Baptista many moons ago. The blog asked the Brazilian...
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Tuesday 04 January 2011, 16:19
RESULTS Sun 2 Jan Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Deportivo La Coruña, Barcelona 2-1 Levante, Sporting Gijón 1-2 Málaga, Sevilla 1-0 Osasuna, Valencia 2-1 Espanyol Mon 3 Jan Villarreal 2-0 Almería, Real Zaragoza 2...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Fernando Llorente, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Espanyol, Valencia, Manuel Pellegrini, Cristiano Ronaldo, Getafe, Pedro, Simao, Alvaro Negredo, real mallorca, Juan Mata, Almeria, Levante, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Real Zaragoza, Sporting Gijon, Unai Emery, Atlético Madrid, Borja Valero, Deportivo la Coruna, Hércules, Málaga, Royston Drenthe, Ricardo Costa, Manuel Preciado, Javier Aguirre, Esteban Vigo, Sergio Asenjo, Chica, José Antonio Reyes, Valentín Botella, Diego Forlán, Freddie Kanoute, Gaika Toquero, Adrián, Toño, José Pinto, Ustaritz Aldekoaotalora Astarloa, Mikel San José, Jesus Navas, Braulio, Martín DiMichelis, Aritz Aduriz
Tuesday 04 January 2011, 14:44
Stop holding your breath! After listing the best quotes from the first six months of what we must now call 'last year', your very own Tim Stannard completes the job… July “It doesn’t help having...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Barcelona, Malaga, Manuel Pellegrini, Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, Victor Valdes, Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell, raul, Hercules, Diego Forlan, Almeria, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Pedro Leon, Andres Iniesta, Sporting Gijon, Unai Emery, Walter Pandiani, Royston Drenthe, Iker Casillas, Manuel Preciado, Joan Capdevila, Martin Lasarte, Aitor Ocio, Esteban Vigo, Juanma Ortiz, Sara Carbonero, Fernando Amorebieta, Johan Cruyff, Schalke
Friday 31 December 2010, 15:18
Our very own Tim Stannard runs through some of the more questionable quotations from the last 12 months of Spanish football... January “I’ve got to look for players who won’t let me down...some of them...
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Wednesday 22 December 2010, 11:56
The first question put to Aitor Karanka by journalists on Tuesday was one of an existential bent: “why are you here?” All José Mourinho’s assistant could do was dodge the honest answer that the Bernabeu...
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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 11:44
And there was La Liga Loca thinking, as it skipped out of the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday with the clock about to strike midnight, that things were more or less done and dusted until after Christmas. Clubs...
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Monday 20 December 2010, 14:39
Good Day Pedro The Canary-Islander once again showed the kind of form that pushed him into Vicente Del Bosque’s World Cup squad with a brace against Espanyol - LLL has never seen his little legs move as...
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Friday 17 December 2010, 11:43
Saturday Villarreal (3rd) v Mallorca (10th) Of course, handed the chance to take part in the Europa League without actually qualifying for it, Mallorca’s bosses would have turned down the opportunity as...
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Tuesday 14 December 2010, 15:18
For a man whose love of a logo is so strong he’s more turned on by the drivers’ brand-plastered overalls than the pit girls at Formula One races, Monday couldn’t have been better for Sandro Rosell. It...
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Monday 13 December 2010, 14:50
Good Day Barcelona The fact that Real Sociedad are no suffering saps - or Real Madrid perhaps - makes the 5-0 win for ‘Qatar Foundation presents Pep’s Dream Boys!’ over La Real so darned impressive. It...
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Friday 10 December 2010, 09:30
Saturday Getafe (9th) v Villarreal (3rd) It’s pats on the back all round for Marca this week, firstly for recognising that a football club named Villarreal exists and that they are doing spankingly well...
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Wednesday 08 December 2010, 12:50
There are times when La Liga Loca is quite glad it doesn’t live in Barcelona, despite its beach and all that Gaudi architecture stuff. This week is one of those occasions. And not just because of the hell...
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Tuesday 07 December 2010, 15:27
Clearly Atlético Madrid club president, Enrique Cerezo, had steam whizzing out of his ears when he cast doubts over the immediate future of his coach at the Vicente Calderón by claiming there were no doubts...
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Monday 06 December 2010, 14:09
Good Day Barcelona To be quite honest, the blog is utterly bored with all the nonsense in Spain surrounding Pep Guardiola supposedly controlling the bigwigs of la Liga and Spanish FA by asking for the...
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Friday 03 December 2010, 11:15
Saturday Levante (16th) v Atlético Madrid (7th) The modern, hurly-burly world is not an easy place to live in at the moment. Unemployment, Sepp Blatter, Autotune-themed songs everywhere. So take a little...
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Wednesday 01 December 2010, 15:13
Ideally, La Liga Loca should be passing on to pastures new two days after the Clásico, by bringing its loyal and beloved readers the latest gossip from Getafe or the rumblings at Racing. But the Spanish...
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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 13:18
It’s always a fine sign that a thorough spanking combined with a bespoke *rse-handing-on-a-plate has been dished out when the big fat losers start moaning and groaning that the opposition are bad winners...
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Monday 29 November 2010, 14:06
Good Day Espanyol Another gem of a prediction from La Liga Loca warned potential punters from wasting good money on Espanyol getting a win in the Vicente Calderón on Saturday night, considering their fourth...
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Friday 26 November 2010, 10:47
Saturday Zaragoza (20th) v Villarreal (3rd) It was a truly bone-warming, wonderful sight to see the greying flat-top of Javier Aguirre back in la Liga again taking charge of his new club against Getafe...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, real mallorca, Hercules, Almeria, Levante, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Real Zaragoza, Sporting Gijon, Racing
Wednesday 24 November 2010, 14:36
La Liga Loca is really going to have to send a box of choccies and a big manly hug in José Mourinho’s direction some time soon, as the mischievous Real Madrid manager is - like Maniche’s pizza boy - delivering...
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Tuesday 23 November 2010, 14:53
The big, bold notices splattered across the morning Marca in the run up to a meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona usually either bring La Liga Loca to blubbering, shuddering tears of desperation or...
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Monday 22 November 2010, 14:44
Our man in Madrid, Tim Stannard , rounds up the weekend's action from La Liga in traditional fashion - by mercilessly mocking those who did badly... Good Day Real Madrid and Barcelona “Real Madrid...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Racing Santander, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Barcelona, Espanyol, Atletico Madrid, Juan Carlos Garrido, Deportivo la Coruna, Michael Laudrup, Sergio Ramos, Felipe Caicedo
Friday 19 November 2010, 10:29
SATURDAY Villarreal (3rd) Valencia (4th) There’s going to be a moving, flower-petalled, violin-filled reunion in El Madrigal on Saturday when World Cup Portuguese pugilist Ricardo Costa comes a-callin'...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Fernando Llorente, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Manuel Pellegrini, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, Sporting, Zaragoza, Alvaro Negredo, Real Sociedad, Markus Rosenberg, Almería, Atlético Madrid, Hércules, José Mourinho, Leo Messi, Málaga, Miguel Angel Lotina, Royston Drenthe, Ricardo Costa, Manuel Preciado, Joan Capdevila, Javier Aguirre, Guiseppe Rossi, José Aurelio Gay, Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder
Wednesday 17 November 2010, 14:34
A combination of Spain’s economic crisis, club coffers as empty as Villarreal’s trophy cabinet and the utterly misguided notion that bench-sitting stability is a good thing has meant just two coaches have...
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Tuesday 16 November 2010, 14:44
Pep’s not talking about it. José is keeping his trap well and truly shut for once. Even the players are bored of the whole affair before it has even begun. What everyone is so reluctant to discuss in Spain...
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Tags: Fernando Llorente, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marca, David Villa, Kaka, AS, Mundo Deportivo, Sport, Iker Casillas
Monday 15 November 2010, 12:59
It's that time of the week again - Tim Stannard runs through the winners and losers of the weekend's action in Spain... GOOD DAY Real Madrid Well, the ever-so-mature “You smell of poo! No, YOU...
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Friday 12 November 2010, 11:22
SATURDAY Athletic (10th) v Almería (16th) LLL would not be at all surprised if Cristiano Ronaldo trotted out at El Molinón on Sunday with his wee fisties covered in bandages from hammering at walls and...
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Wednesday 10 November 2010, 15:06
No wonder ankle-knacked Córdoba manager Lucas Alcaraz was going more than a little loopy on his crutches and struggling to stay upright in the touchline mud in a rainy El Sardinero stadium. His side had...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Villarreal, Deportivo, Espanyol, Manuel Pellegrini, Valladolid, Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, Hércules, José Mourinho, Málaga, Miguel Angel Portugal, Lucas Alcaraz, Bojan, Christian Fernández, Calle, Juanito, Córdoba, Royston Drenthe
Tuesday 09 November 2010, 13:56
A growing and probably quite unhealthy obsession with the concept of Unai Emery caused La Liga Loca to spend Monday musing whether the Valencia manager actually enjoyed his job. It certainly didn’t look...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Barcelona, Sevilla, Deportivo, Valencia, Getafe, Zaragoza, Osasuna, Unai Emery, Almería, Atlético Madrid, Juanma Lillo, Leo Messi, Míchel, Quique Sánchez Flores, Stale Solbakken, FC Copenhagen, José Antonio Camacho, Tomás Ujfalusi’s, Miguel Angel Lotina, Racing, Miguel Angel Portugal, Joaquín Caparrós, Mehmet Topal
Monday 08 November 2010, 16:15
The best and worst of the La Liga weekend... GOOD DAY Ricardo Carvalho Off the field, the Real Madrid defender has a delicate, almost ladylike way about him not too dissimilar to that of another footballing...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Villarreal, Espanyol, Manuel Pellegrini, Cristiano Ronaldo, Getafe, Sporting, Zaragoza, Mallorca, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Javier Arizmendi, Almería, Arnau, Atlético Madrid, Borja Valero, Deportivo la Coruna, Ezequiel Garay, Gerard Piqué, Hércules, Javi Marquez, José Mourinho, Joseba Llorente, Juanma Lillo, Julio Baptista, Leo Messi, Málaga, Míchel, Nacho Novo, Quique Sánchez Flores, Raúl Albiol, Ricardo Carvalho, Roberto Carlos, Santi Cazorla, Víctor Váldez, Walter Pandiani
Friday 05 November 2010, 11:47
SATURDAY Real Sociedad (11th) v Racing Santander (12th) With Sevilla, Villarreal, Atlético Madrid and Getafe (opponents of Barcelona) all having a lie-in after Thursday night Europa League action, two...
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Wednesday 03 November 2010, 13:48
The Barcelona players are single-handedly destroying the notion that footballers are more than comfortable playing away from home, as it has been almost a year since Pep’s Dream Boys managed to get their...
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Tuesday 02 November 2010, 12:09
If you were one of those immensely irritating ‘look on the bright side’, ‘glass is half full’ weirdo, optimistic types, then you would probably interpret the Valencia players being booed and jeered by...
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Monday 01 November 2010, 14:28
Our man in Madrid rounds up the weekend's action in Spain with the latest installment of Good Day, Bad Day. Good Day David Villa The Barcelona-barmy sports papers have more sensitive skin than that...
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Friday 29 October 2010, 11:18
Saturday Valencia (4th) v Zaragoza (20th) Zaragoza got the teeniest of boosts during the week with a midweek win at Betis in the Copa del Rey. But it looks set to be the Seville side that will eventually...
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Wednesday 27 October 2010, 15:36
In an ideal world, Barcelona-based Mundo Deportivo referring to Bojan Krkic as the “clone of David Villa” would have been praise enough to send the 12-year-old striker off to bed with his glass of warm...
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Tuesday 26 October 2010, 14:16
For those who have been reading La Liga Loca for a year or two now it’s probably best to rejoin today’s ramblings a couple of paragraphs further down. It’s Copa del Rey rant time again. The Copa del Rey...
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Monday 25 October 2010, 14:45
Good Day Cristiano Ronaldo Gah! Last week, LLL had to take one for the team, hold its nose tightly and admit that the self-loving sensation had had a fairly decent game for Madrid after two goals and two...
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Friday 22 October 2010, 13:34
Saturday Real Zaragoza (20th) v Barcelona (4th) There’s trouble at mill at bottom-of-the-table Zaragoza, with shirty Italian defender Matteo Contini getting chucked out of training on Wednesday for being...
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Wednesday 20 October 2010, 14:40
It was the toughest of tests on Tuesday night at the Santiago Bernabeu, but it was a thorough examination that was ultimately passed with aplomb. The final verdict from La Liga Loca was that the evening...
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Tuesday 19 October 2010, 15:03
Although Florentino Pérez couldn’t wait to sling Manuel Pellegrini’s hook as soon as he began his tenure at Castle Greyskull - mainly because he failed to either look or sound like Arsene Wenger or Rafa...
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Monday 18 October 2010, 14:43
The best and worst of the weekend's Spanish football, in handy tapas-sized dishes... GOOD DAY Cristiano Ronaldo It causes LLL immense mental and physical anguish to do so, but the blog must admit that...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Gonzalo Higuain, Racing Santander, Jose Mourinho, Barcelona, Sevilla, Carles Puyol, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, Getafe, Joan Laporta, Mallorca, Almeria, Levante, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Andres Iniesta, Jesualdo Ferreira, Real Zaragoza, Sporting Gijon, Luis Garcia, Asier del Horno, Mista, Diego Costa, Diego Castro, Cesar Sanchez, Ariel Nahuelpan, Diego Alves, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Ibai, Markus Rosenberg, Adrian Colunga, Xavi Hernandez, Gaston Sangoy
Friday 15 October 2010, 11:07
Our man in Spain gives us his views on the upcoming weekend's action in la Liga... Saturday Atlético Madrid (7th) v Getafe (6th) It’s been a strange couple of weeks for Diego Forlán, which began with...
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Thursday 14 October 2010, 09:40
If a former English FA bigwig had revealed he had been repeatedly contacted over allegations of match-fixing in the Championship, but with no resulting action taken, then the national press would have...
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Tuesday 12 October 2010, 12:36
Nine days without any fresh, meaty action in La Liga to feast on sees Spain’s sports dailies moaning and groaning like skeletal zombies who have not been able to nosh down on tasty human flesh for a good...
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Monday 11 October 2010, 11:57
It was the kind of game Harry Redknapp would have loved had he been a national team manager and widely successful at the job to boot. “I woz daaahn to the bare bones,” he would have tooted. “Eight of the...
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Thursday 07 October 2010, 15:22
La Liga Loca had always wondered why footballers had such a love of wearing oversized headphones for their Kindlepadplayerthingymejigs. It had assumed it was because they were idiots. But now the blog...
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Tuesday 05 October 2010, 14:24
Poor José Aurelio Gay isn’t going to be enjoying the next few days a great deal, despite the break from all the lunacy of La Liga, mainly because his time-out could well become a permanent one with the...
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Monday 04 October 2010, 15:28
Good Day Real Madrid Shameful, disgraceful, shocking and appalling. La Liga Loca obviously isn’t talking about the six goals scored in Real Madrid’s win at the Bernabeu, rather the one from open play conceded...
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Friday 01 October 2010, 15:01
Saturday Real Zaragoza (20th) v Sporting (17th) When looking for news on a specific team on the Marca and AS websites, the blog constantly has to remember the two different ways the organisations make...
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Wednesday 29 September 2010, 15:31
If disgruntled Manchester United fans had been forced to endure what poor old Valencia supporters have been through in recent years, then they would probably have gone to even more extraordinary measures...
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Tuesday 28 September 2010, 11:34
For months now, the Spanish press have been performing their solemn duty of trying to make José Mourinho go completely postal, but sadly with little success. However, on Monday evening, it was joy to the...
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Monday 27 September 2010, 15:30
Good Day Valencia Despite Unai Emery having a bit of moan about Sporting being allowed back into the game at times, on Saturday, the Asturian side were knocked senseless within nine minutes after goals...
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Tags: Barcelona, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Manuel Pellegrini, Getafe, Zaragoza, Real Sociedad, Mesut Ozil, David Trezeguet, Filipe Luis, Juanma Lito, Alvaro Alvarez, Pedro Leon, Andres Iniesta, Joaquin Caparros
Friday 24 September 2010, 12:55
Round three of la Primera finished just a day before round four which finished just two days before the start of round five. La Liga Loca hasn’t seen this much frenzied, frenetic activity in Spain since...
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Wednesday 22 September 2010, 16:24
Those who suggest - often quite forcibly - that LLL has absolutely no clue about anything are probably quite right. The blog went to bed (extremely late thanks to evil Spanish TV bosses) having watched...
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Tuesday 21 September 2010, 15:14
Saturday 2 a.m in the departure lounge of Vitoria airport and José Mourinho was spouting off to a gaggle of excited, thrusting press types. Had he persuaded the Israelis to suspend settlement building...
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Monday 20 September 2010, 15:34
Good Day Valencia Poor Valencia. Three wins from three, a tricky derby victory away at Hércules and the best start to the season since the 1993/94 campaign, and yet it’s Leo Messi’s brand new ankle joint...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Villarreal, Espanyol, Valencia, Cristiano Ronaldo, Levante, David Trezeguet, Jose Antonio Camacho, David De Gea
Friday 17 September 2010, 17:03
Round 3 preview, featuring toilets, pie and Shakira.... SATURDAY Espanyol (12th) v Almería (14th) Considering grey skies and rain have returned to the Spanish capital after a horribly sunny summer, LLL...
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Wednesday 15 September 2010, 15:01
To boo or not too boo, that is the question. Well, it certainly is up at Castle Greyskull these days where the big bouncy topic of conversation has been whether ‘tis right to jeer rather than cheer when...
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Tuesday 14 September 2010, 12:09
La Liga Loca has got an awful a lot in common with Pep Guardiola. We're not talking about the Barça manager’s hairline that has not so much receded since he took over at the Camp Nou, as retreated...
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Monday 13 September 2010, 11:16
Good Day Hércules Well, LLL didn’t see that one coming and anyone else who predicted Barcelona being butt-rumbled at the Camp Nou is a liar, liar, pants of fire - apart from Hércules coach, Esteban Vigo...
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Friday 10 September 2010, 11:36
Saturday Barcelona v Hércules There is something peculiar going on at Marca . Well, there is something even more peculiar going on at Marca than normal. Just look at the face of the paper’s director Eduardo...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, Sporting, La Liga, Zaragoza, Mallorca
Wednesday 08 September 2010, 17:12
See. Even when La Liga Loca is completely wrong, it’s right. While the blog was suggesting that the Argentina v Spain friendly was the flounciest of flimflams, something to tune into if there was nothing...
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Tuesday 07 September 2010, 11:02
La Liga Loca was going to waffle on about Spain’s clash with Argentina on Tuesday night. Then the blog suddenly remembered that it didn’t really give a hooping hoot about international football. And definitely...
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Monday 06 September 2010, 12:25
It must be tough being David Villa at times. Not just because of the hours spent every morning to get that tiny under-lip beard the Barça striker sports just so. Whilst everyone causes such a frenzied...
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Friday 03 September 2010, 11:22
La Liga Loca may be fairly ambivalent to the whole concept of international football - a bit like the Europa League, but not as high-octane - but it really looks forward to the break in the domestic game...
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Wednesday 01 September 2010, 18:12
Like Kaká, the spanish summer is on its last, knackered legs. Grey, rumbly clouds hang above Madrid and all those who still have jobs have returned to them and are not happy at all about the notion judging...
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Tuesday 31 August 2010, 10:16
It's back, it's back - Tim Stannard's Good Day, Bad Day is back for a whole new season of La Liga action! Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell people you're totally indifferent towards...
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Thursday 26 August 2010, 11:34
Tim Stannard rounds off his preview of the coming La Liga season with a look at Sevilla, Sporting, Valencia, Villarreal and Zaragoza Sevilla Poor Sevilla. The club was once the fresh-faced, buxom-boobed...
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Wednesday 25 August 2010, 10:15
Tim Stannard continues his preview of the coming La Liga season. Today it's the turn of Mallorca, Osasuna, Racing Santander, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad... Mallorca The return of Michael Laudrup...
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Tuesday 24 August 2010, 09:00
Espanyol Just to start this blog on a rare serious point, last season couldn’t really have started much worse for Espanyol having lost Dani Jarque just before the campaign kicked off. So this time around...
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Monday 23 August 2010, 09:00
Almería Merciful Zeus, this one isn’t going to take long. Over the summer, some players nobody in their right mind has ever really heard left Almería and some more joined. Manager, Juanma Lillo, is still...
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Wednesday 18 August 2010, 11:57
If the front cover of Marca is to be believed - which it never should be, really - Real Madrid have landed themselves an absolute charmer of a footballer in Mesut Özil. According to Wednesday’s edition...
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Monday 16 August 2010, 12:20
On Saturday night, LLL was considering breaking a firm blog tradition by sacrificing its precious time to watch a pre-season friendly. In this case, the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup between Sevilla...
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Thursday 12 August 2010, 11:00
Plopped outside on the blog’s feeble excuse for a terrace - so small just one creaky chair and a daring volunteer can fit on it, if they are not overly afraid of heights - is an object that is football...
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Tuesday 10 August 2010, 11:49
La Liga Loca loves a good moan. Really, really loves it. More than sleeping, in fact. And that show where Jennifer Love Hewitt talks to ghosts through the medium of her boobs. In a mere eight-minute spell...
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Friday 06 August 2010, 13:09
Maybe a crutch-clasping Kaká could have turned up at his Real Madrid medical just over a year ago looking like Mr Bump and still passed it with flying colours. Maybe what now appears to be the less-than...
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Wednesday 04 August 2010, 15:53
After La Liga Loca poo-pooed the notion that there was as much chance of a Spanish journalist swilling around for answers in the country’s latest match-fixing scandal as Sergio Ramos dedicating his life...
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Monday 02 August 2010, 12:20
August has landed in Spain like a giant oven of doom with the country transitioning smoothly from its normal hectic three breakfasts, eight coffee breaks, four phone-calls to mother and a long lunch working...
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Thursday 29 July 2010, 15:51
If the legal defense of “but it’s not fair!” was a valid argument then La Liga Loca would never have had to flee England so swiftly after that Waitrose cheese-rage incident. The blog may even have gotten...
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Wednesday 28 July 2010, 12:43
It’s a fairly testing task for the folks at Marca to hold just one coherent thought in their tiny little minds at any one time, never mind two. But that’s the contorting conundrum in the complex realm...
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Monday 26 July 2010, 17:00
For a wee while, La Liga Loca was concerned that incoming Barcelona president Sandro Rosell was going to be a tad bland. The blog felt in its stagnant waters that he would be the type to spend hours talking...
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Thursday 01 July 2010, 15:55
Pity poor Diddy David Silva and his very sucky summer. At one point it all looked so promising for the midfielder-forward type thing - with dreams of a spectacular World Cup followed by a move to Real...
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Tuesday 15 June 2010, 09:30
When two powerful Spanish political types heartily embrace upon meeting, it’s rarely a sign of friendship. Instead, it’s a chance to demonstrate who’s on top and riding the other like a bucking bronco...
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Monday 07 June 2010, 11:28
José’s first week in charge of Real Madrid largely involved scowling his way through radio interviews, scowling whilst pottering about the training centre and scowling through meetings where the club’s...
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Friday 04 June 2010, 11:35
José Mourinho has been and is about to be gone on his hols. Cesc is still at Arsenal. David Villa has finally left the Mestalla and Atlético won’t be following their annual manager-firing tradition, this...
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Thursday 03 June 2010, 09:56
In his seven years as the King of Cataluyna, Joan Laporta has been very good for Barcelona. During his spell as president, Joan has moved on from the hindrance of having a girl’s name by guiding the team...
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Monday 31 May 2010, 17:00
The first clue the blog had that The Special One had entered the room was the cacophonous click of cameras and cries of ‘hijo de ***’ from the 15 strong flashmob of cameramen jostling and jarring to get...
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Friday 28 May 2010, 14:41
The biggest and most important news story in Spain this week comes from Marca, who have discovered something that may ultimately cost the Spain side any chance of World Cup glory this summer. Although...
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Thursday 27 May 2010, 12:08
One of the many theories being bandied about by Madridista Mulder types is that Florentino Pérez will be standing behind José Mourinho as he writes his team sheets next season, clearing his throat in a...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema, Jose Mourinho, Barcelona, Sevilla, Guti, Manuel Pellegrini, Atletico Madrid, Joan Laporta, Florentino Perez
Monday 24 May 2010, 13:22
La Liga Loca hasn’t particularly got anything against Italian football, but it was really rooting for Bayern Munich, on Saturday night. Actually, LLL’s pants are totally on fire. The blog has gone very...
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Friday 21 May 2010, 12:04
The moustachioed maestro, Vicente del Bosque, has two rather chewy challenges lying on his footballing plate, this summer. The main one of course is to win the World Cup - an achievement that would surely...
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Wednesday 19 May 2010, 17:08
Thanks to Merciful Zeus Himself, the Copa del Rey - the barnacle on the bottom of the good ship la Liga - comes to an end in the Camp Nou on Wednesday night. And if you think that LLL is being a tad disrespectful...
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Tuesday 18 May 2010, 10:53
Before the blog kicks off with its normal rants and raves - and it has some whoppers stored up today - it is going to begin with some fluffy news and the most insanely brilliant concept ever conceived...
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Monday 17 May 2010, 11:57
Good Day Leo Messi (Sighs) Leo Messi really is no fun at all. What was the first thing he did to celebrate his 34th league goal of the season? Ran to the stands to hug his Mum, that’s what. Shocking behaviour...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Guti, Manuel Pellegrini, Marca, Getafe, La Liga, Alvaro Negredo, Mallorca, Rodri
Friday 14 May 2010, 11:47
Saturday (18.00 Spanish time) Athletic (8th) v Deportivo (who cares) It’s like raaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiin on your wedding day. And it’s like Deportivo being involved in the only match of the weekend that has...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, Sporting, La Liga, Zaragoza, Mallorca
Wednesday 12 May 2010, 13:30
The first job of Atlético fans when realising their away goals-loving team had snuck through to a European final was not to pinch themselves to make sure they weren’t dreaming, but to jam their hands into...
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Tuesday 11 May 2010, 12:42
The English Premier League is now done and dusted with its oh-so-riveting final day of drama and no-one really cares about boring old Serie A, anyway - apart from the excellent Serie Aaaargh of course...
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Monday 10 May 2010, 11:43
Good Day Barcelona Inaccuracy, exaggeration, sensationalism and downright provocative, childish flimflam are just four of the characteristics LLL is proud to possess. But this week it has an excuse for...
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Thursday 06 May 2010, 14:25
He may have a stupid, shiny face you want to whack with an ironing board, Tom and Jerry style, but Cristiano Ronaldo certainly can play a bit. The most expensive footballer on the planet has got the Madridista...
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Wednesday 05 May 2010, 16:19
For just a few moments, Real Madrid fans shuffled to the front of their sofas, not quite believing what they were seeing. It wasn’t Guti tracking back or Royston Drenthe’s reappearance from the party paradise...
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Tuesday 04 May 2010, 11:20
Good Day Real Madrid Madrid at their very worst are just as watchable as Barça at their best. A defensively suicidal performance saw the second-placed side make an absolute dog’s dinner of what should...
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Friday 30 April 2010, 12:06
Saturday Tenerife (19th) v Racing (15th) A final knuckle-whitening round of midweek matches on the horizon sees seven games kicking off on Saturday evening so la Primera’s prima-donnas don’t get too tired...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, Sporting, La Liga, Zaragoza, Mallorca
Thursday 29 April 2010, 15:01
For once La Liga Loca is in full agreement with both Madridista papers - José Mourinho must come to the Santiago Bernabeu. But rather than waiting until the start of the summer, the blog is insisting that...
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Wednesday 28 April 2010, 13:00
Most football writers haven’t been within a million miles of a professional sports team - including LLL, aside from four trophy-filled years in Juve’s backline - so when it comes to talking about the game...
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Monday 26 April 2010, 13:55
Good Day Zlatan Ibrahimovic It’s no wonder the Barcelona players and press have been desperately trying to get the Camp Nou crowd used to the largely unfamiliar notion of cheering rather than booing players...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Gonzalo Higuain, Barcelona, Villarreal, Javier Clemente, Getafe, Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mallorca, Manucho, Salvio
Friday 23 April 2010, 11:26
Saturday Barcelona (1st) v Xerez (20th) The probable feeling from Barcelona fans in regards to Saturday’s match against lowly Xerez is that there couldn’t be a better opponent as a bounce-back from their...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Racing Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Valencia, Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, Sporting, La Liga, Zaragoza, Kaka
Thursday 22 April 2010, 09:51
There’s a wearily familiar three stage process for the start of every single, blooming game of football in La Liga, these days. 1) Both sets of players troop out to the tinny-sounding, Marxist lyric-possessing...
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Wednesday 21 April 2010, 15:13
A Catalan columnist of a more reasonable bent may have reflected on last night’s defeat against Inter and some of the refereeing decisions that seemed to go against the coach-crazy visitors and give a...
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Tuesday 20 April 2010, 12:11
It was the kind of story that brought out the Daily Mail-reading, ‘God help us if there’s a war’ side of LLL. Those poor Barcelona bunnies having to travel to Milan...by bus. The agony...the torture.....
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Monday 19 April 2010, 12:55
Good Day La Liga Whether it’s down to the relentless rain in Madrid clearing away the weekend barf-patches from the barrio, or the thought that an Icelandic volcano might spare LLL from having to sit through...
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Tags: Barcelona, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Espanyol, Manuel Pellegrini, Valladolid, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, Quique Sánchez-Flores, Sporting, Juan Carlos Garrido, Victor Valdes, La Liga, Diego Lopez, Juan Cala, Joan Laporta, Simao, Zaragoza, Alvaro Negredo
Thursday 15 April 2010, 16:30
Marca ’s somewhat hopeful - perhaps ludicrous - suggestion that the oh-so prolific Riki!!! would continue his stunning run of not scoring many goals in quite a lot of games came to nothing in the Camp...
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Wednesday 14 April 2010, 15:07
La Liga Loca nearly put its shoulder out last night, during a vigorous session of patting itself on the back. That’s what it told its inquisitive neighbours, anyway. Normally, the blog’s Primera predictions...
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Tuesday 13 April 2010, 13:09
The blog has so many stories desperately trying to burst out of its insufficiently-sized brain. Joan Laporta kicking his bestest childhood buddy out of the Barcelona presidential race. Guti’s Country Life...
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Monday 12 April 2010, 13:52
Good Day Barcelona Some 24 hours after the final whistle had blown on el Clásico, pundits on Spanish TV were still pulling apart every shot, every tackle and every save from Saturday’s game. But there...
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Tags: Gonzalo Higuain, Barcelona, Ever Benega, Sevilla, Villarreal, Tenerife, Malaga, Deportivo, Javi Martinez, Espanyol, Kristian Vadocz, Valencia, Manuel Pellegrini, Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo
Friday 09 April 2010, 10:26
Saturday Málaga (16th) v Sevilla (4th) The rest of world may not give two flying hoots about this weekend’s fixtures aside from The One, but LLL certainly does. Apart from the Deportivo game. And maybe...
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Wednesday 07 April 2010, 14:46
The reaction of two Madridista maniacs known to LLL in response to Leo Messi’s lightshow at the Camp Nou was understandably less than positive. And more than a little rude even to the blog’s hard-bitten...
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Tuesday 06 April 2010, 09:00
Good Day Pep Guardiola When LLL first read the Barcelona line up to face Athletic Bilbao, it assumed that the Dream Boys’ boss had finally lost his mind or staggered into the dressing room half-cut and...
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Tags: Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Bojan Krkic, Joaquin, Ever Benega, Sevilla, Jermaine Pennant, Villarreal, Carles Puyol, Dmytro Chygrynskiy
Friday 02 April 2010, 12:00
Saturday Zaragoza (17th) v Málaga (15th) Although the midfielder was last seen choking on Leo Messi’s dazzling dust a couple of weeks ago, as one of the many victims of the forward’s wonder goal in La...
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Wednesday 31 March 2010, 13:28
For Barcelona, this season's Champions League isn't about unprecedented back-to-back victories. It isn't about Cesc Fabregas returning home to the Catalan capital. It isn't even about tanning...
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Tuesday 30 March 2010, 16:13
It was tough call for LLL on Monday night: an evening with a Heroes box set or tuning into to Athletic Bilbao v Racing Santander? One option meant several hours of acting like a loon and threatening to...
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Monday 29 March 2010, 15:04
Good Day Real Madrid LLL is being extremely kind-hearted in plonking Real Madrid in the good day section, but a win’s a win’s a win’s a win - although slightly less so when Atlético Madrid are involved...
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Thursday 25 March 2010, 14:22
When the time comes for clog-popping and meeting the Big Man upstairs, every one likes to think that it will be an ethereal affair akin to getting on a magic boat to Elfland. Or whispering fond farewells...
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Wednesday 24 March 2010, 14:50
La Liga Loca doesn’t have shelves full of journalism awards for nothing, you know. Even though they may technically be home-made. From tin cans. But the blog did soothsay that if Sevilla failed to grab...
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Tuesday 23 March 2010, 15:12
Due to a certain Argentinian’s rather impressive performances over the past eight days, the Spanish sports media has been Messier than Ever Banega’s monitor... except for one pathetically predictable part...
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Monday 22 March 2010, 14:09
GOOD DAY Leo Messi Zaragoza manager José Maria Gay claimed after Sunday’s game that when his side forced Messi out onto Barcelona’s right wing, they were able to deny the Argentinian both space and opportunities...
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Friday 19 March 2010, 12:32
Saturday Xerez (20th) v Tenerife (18th) Tenerife boss, José Luis Oltra, cuts a lonely figure down in the doom zone by being the only manager in the bottom five to have started the campaign with his club...
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Wednesday 17 March 2010, 17:15
Fortunately for Manolo Jiménez, La Liga Loca’s opinion holds very little sway with Sevilla’s big-wigs - or the big-wigs of any organisation you care to name - so the blog’s urgings for time to be called...
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Tuesday 16 March 2010, 14:54
Once upon a time in Spain, the words “Sevilla are on the TV!” would clear the streets in microseconds as footie lovers of all shapes and sizes dashed off to see the most sensational side in the world strut...
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Monday 15 March 2010, 13:00
RESULTS Sat Mar 13 Getafe 3-0 Mallorca, Sevilla 1-1 Deportivo, Sporting Gijon 0-0 Athletic Bilbao Sun Mar 14 Almeria 1-0 Malaga, Barcelona 3-0 Valencia, Racing Santander 0-0 Real Zaragoza, Real Valladolid...
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Friday 12 March 2010, 13:15
Saturday Getafe (8th) vs Mallorca (4th) La Liga Loca has been busy scratching away in a very literal sense due to the various skin conditions picked up after its last visit to the Vicente Calderón. The...
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Thursday 11 March 2010, 16:00
At the start of the season, journalists lucky enough to be working for Marca and AS had three stock questions they would ask Real Madrid’s footballers whenever they saw them: Would you like to win the...
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Wednesday 10 March 2010, 10:58
BLOGSWAP! Ahead of the Real Madrid vs Lyon game, FFT.com's impressive new signing James Horncastle pops over from The French Connection to explain why both sides will go ionto the game extremely nervously...
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Tuesday 09 March 2010, 12:00
La Liga Loca learned two things during its cheeky visit to the UK over the weekend, and one on its return to Spain. Brighton appears to have morphed from a pleasing, chill-out crusty-friendly paradise...
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Friday 05 March 2010, 11:30
Saturday Deportivo (6th) vs Tenerife (19th) Deportivo and Zaragoza met in court this week over the ongoing transfer saga concerning Queen Angel Lafita, who moved from the former to the latter at the end...
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Wednesday 03 March 2010, 16:30
There are four distinct approaches adopted by Spain's sports papers in handling Wednesday's friendly with France: previewing it, ignoring it, complaining about it and extrapolating the pants off...
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Tuesday 02 March 2010, 10:30
If the Barcelona press are trying to fend off the lustful advances of Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid towards David Villa and lure the Asturian to the Camp Nou couch with a playful pout, then...
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Monday 01 March 2010, 15:30
RESULTS Sat Feb 27 Barcelona 2-1 Málaga, Getafe 0-2 Real Zaragoza, Tenerife 1-5 Real Madrid Sun Feb 28 Atlético Madrid 4-1 Valencia, Deportivo Xerez 1-1 Espanyol, Racing Santander 0-2 Almería, Real Valladolid...
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Saturday 27 February 2010, 00:00
Saturday Getafe (8th) vs Zaragoza (17th) In one of the more surprising - some might say, utterly insane - moves of the season, the Spanish League has decided to hand the best supporters of the year award...
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Wednesday 24 February 2010, 16:00
If Spain’s leading sports dailies were to remove their noses from Cristiano Ronaldo’s groin for just the briefest of moments - especially in the case of Marca , Wednesday’s edition boasting a disturbing...
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Tuesday 23 February 2010, 12:00
Cunning old goat that he is, Pep Guardiola has lowered expectations to such an extent that a Jens Lehmann hat-trick in a 3-0 defeat against Stuttgart on Tuesday would be a fine result for his Dream Boys...
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Monday 22 February 2010, 14:00
Good Day Manuel Pellegrini Cristiano Ronaldo may have been elevated into sun-shining-from-his-waxed-posterior deity status by the Madridista press after Sunday’s fine display against Villarreal, but La...
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Friday 19 February 2010, 13:00
Saturday Deportivo (6th) vs Xerez (20th) When the bean counters have finished stacking up the euro bills in the musty, smoky back offices of Riazor on Saturday night, instead of stuffing the notes into...
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Wednesday 17 February 2010, 13:00
After running down the blamestorming tick list of referees, a grand Spanish FA conspiracy, UEFA, Barcelona, the Anglo-Saxon media and referees again, the Madridista press had to resort to old-fashioned...
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Tuesday 16 February 2010, 11:30
“We’re going to show that we're Real Madrid,” growled a mean and moody Esteban Granero from betwixt the pages of Tuesday’s Marca . La Liga Loca is assuming the grungy midfielder doesn’t mean “by getting...
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Monday 15 February 2010, 15:00
RESULTS: Sat Feb 13 Xerez 0-3 Real Madrid, Sporting Gijón 1-1 Valencia, Villarreal 2-1 Athletic Bilbao Sun Feb 14 Atlético Madrid 2-1 Barcelona, Espanyol 2-0 Deportivo La Coruña, Getafe 2-2 Almería, Racing...
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Friday 12 February 2010, 12:00
Saturday Sporting (13th) vs Valencia (3rd) La Liga Loca has never understood a footballer’s inability to hold two thoughts in their tiny, newt-sized brains at any given time. We mere mortals have to juggle...
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Wednesday 10 February 2010, 12:30
When former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón popped up in the news last week, La Liga Loca realised how much it desperately missed the batty old crackpot. It has been just over a year since a tearful...
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Tuesday 09 February 2010, 12:00
Now, La Liga Loca has no idea if it all stems from a post-Franco distrust of authority figures or the persistent culture of blame-shifting, finger-pointing and responsibility-dodging. But Spain has an...
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Monday 08 February 2010, 17:00
RESULTS: Sat Feb 6 - Valencia 2-0 Valladolid, Real Madrid 3-0 Espanyol, Barcelona 2-1 Getafe. Sun Feb 7 - Zaragoza 2-1 Sevilla, Racing Santander 1-1 Atletico Madrid, Osasuna 1-0 Tenerife, Mallorca 1-0...
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Friday 05 February 2010, 12:00
Saturday Valencia (3rd) vs Valladolid (17th) As will be discovered with Robert Pires later on in the blog, the tendency for older, clapped-out footballers failing to grasp the notion that their leaden...
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Wednesday 03 February 2010, 17:00
Bernd Schuster says the concept is “ridiculous.” Vicente del Bosque muses that “the door is open.” Sport claim that he can’t change his ways at 33. Penelope Cruz screams “in the name of all that is holy...
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Tuesday 02 February 2010, 10:30
Two clubs normally defined by their square-jawed, steadfast ways have reacted to poor results in the last round of matches to pull the lever marked “Gaaah!” by firing their coaches. The sudden departures...
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Monday 01 February 2010, 14:30
RESULTS Sat Jan 30 Deportivo La Coruna 1-3 Real Madrid, Espanyol 1-0 Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Gijon 0-1 Barcelona Sun Jan 31 Atletico Madrid 0-2 Malaga, Getafe 0-0 Racing Santander, Sevilla 2-1 Valencia...
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Friday 29 January 2010, 13:00
Saturday Espanyol (14th) vs Athletic (8th) Once his chores are done of an evening, his homework completed and piano practice endured, little Iker Muniain is allowed a little downtime before being packed...
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Wednesday 27 January 2010, 17:00
While the prize for Florentino Pérez after his own victory was the chance to gaze at the Santiago Bernabeu whilst drooling “mmm... office blocks...” Homer Simpson-style, the reward for Barcelona’s next...
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Tuesday 26 January 2010, 11:30
If Real Madrid actually had a pair they’d take the Cristiano Ronaldo banning business on the chin - or rather the nose - like poor old flat-faced Patrick Mtiliga had to. NEWS , Mon Jan 25: Mtiliga nose...
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Monday 25 January 2010, 15:00
Good Day Dani Alves La Liga Loca is uncertain whether Dani Alves’ goal was a mishit cross or flukey shot. But it isn’t that bothered about finding out, really. It was just a cracking strike and topped...
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Friday 22 January 2010, 12:00
Saturday Sevilla (6th) vs Almería (15th) With four straight defeats and just one win in seven in la Liga, Sevilla suck royally at the moment. Perhaps the only thing keeping coach Manolo Jiménez in his...
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Wednesday 20 January 2010, 16:00
The footie agenda in Spain for this week is supposedly dominated by the increasingly curious Copa del Rey and its quarter-final stages. But as neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona are playing any part in...
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Tuesday 19 January 2010, 11:00
Like many of the old boots that turn up on Spain’s ever-popular gossip programmes boasting of a night of passion with a bullfighter or Sergio Ramos (or both), a large chunk of la Liga’s grounds are either...
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Monday 18 January 2010, 15:00
Good Day Mallorca Wham, bam, thank you Mam! Six second-half minutes was all it took for Mallorca to bang in a couple of goals against Deportivo and make it a ludicrously exceptional nine home wins from...
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Friday 15 January 2010, 14:00
Saturday Osasuna (14th) vs Espanyol (13th) And it’s straight to News from Sweden courtesy of thelocal.se with a truly intriguing tale of what would constitute a relatively normal night out for La Liga...
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Thursday 14 January 2010, 10:00
For the past couple of days the blog has been doing tours of the block wracking its tiny brains trying to think of something meaningful that Maxi Rodríguez has contributed to the Atlético Madrid cause...
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Tuesday 12 January 2010, 14:00
“Clatter, clatter, clatter, bang!” went La Liga Loca’s smoking telex machine with a missive from the FFT ogres demanding a best XI of the past decade in Spanish football. “Get lost. Impossible,” was the...
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Monday 11 January 2010, 17:00
Good Day Atlético Madrid Quique Sánchez Flores’ tactic of insults, humiliation and good old-fashioned physical torment towards his players in the wake of the midweek defeat to Recreativo has proved so...
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Friday 08 January 2010, 13:00
Saturday Valladolid (13th) vs Atlético Madrid (11th) Normal service has resumed at Atleti after Saturday’s win over Sevilla. With club president Enrique Cerezo declaring that lifting the Copa del Rey in...
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Wednesday 06 January 2010, 22:30
Leg or breast? Spicy stuffing or a smearing in some special sauce? Just two of the decisions often made by Sergio Ramos over his winter break, as well as being the culinary choices on offer at Christmas...
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Tuesday 05 January 2010, 14:00
Just before Christmas, the proud people of Spain gave the recession the finger, downed tools and aren’t due to pick them up again until next week with the Three Magic Kings business still to come. But...
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Monday 04 January 2010, 14:30
RESULTS Sun Jan 3: Almería 1 - 0 Xerez Getafe 1 - 0 Real Valladolid Mallorca 2-0 Athletic Bilbao Osasuna 0 - 0 Real Madrid Racing Santander 2 - 0 Tenerife Real Zaragoza 0 - 0 Deportivo La Coruña Sporting...
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Friday 01 January 2010, 11:30
January “What! Do you want to die?! I’m a professional! Respect my work! Show me respect!” - Carlos Kameni, perhaps the biggest, hardest person La Liga Loca has ever come to face-to-face with, scares a...
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Tuesday 22 December 2009, 14:30
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, La Liga Loca is telling you why... ...cos Joan Laporta will smack you over the back of the head with a bottle of Cava, bundle you into a van...
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Monday 21 December 2009, 11:30
Good Day Atlético Madrid La Liga Loca is in an uncharacteristically frisky mood, having woken up to a big bunch of snow in Madrid. But the responsible BBC-listening blog is well aware that this is bad...
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Friday 18 December 2009, 16:00
Saturday Xerez (20th) vs Barcelona (1st) Put every penny you own or can beg, steal or borrow on a 2-0 win for Barcelona on Saturday night. And perhaps go for a victory with goals from Henry and Zlatan...
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Wednesday 16 December 2009, 14:30
Although not necessarily true, but for the purposes of today’s offerings it is a useful observation to make that the Brits are, by and large, an armpit-scratching, knuckle-dragging, pea-brained breed addicted...
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Tuesday 15 December 2009, 14:00
The roots of the existential animosity between Espanyol and Barcelona are now lost in the mists of time, but ready to be uncovered by Simon Schama in a 37-part BBC series. Precambrian anthropologists claim...
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Monday 14 December 2009, 10:00
Weekend results: Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol, Valencia 2-3 Real Madrid, Sporting 0-1 Sevilla, Atletico Madrid 1-2 Villarreal, Almeria 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna, Getafe 2-1 Tenerife, Osasuna 0-1 Mallorca, Racing...
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Friday 11 December 2009, 13:00
Saturday Zaragoza (17th) vs Athletic (8th) Spanish sports station, Canal Plus, have decided that it would be a whizzy idea to wire up a flock of Primera coaches to monitors to see just how dangerously...
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Wednesday 09 December 2009, 10:30
On Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola must make the toughest choice of his short but astonishing managerial career: how to battle the incredible Ukrainian cold in Kyiv during Barcelona's Champions League...
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Tuesday 08 December 2009, 10:00
It was almost a year ago to the day that former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón carved part of La Liga Loca’s soul out with a rusty chisel by sacking Bernd Schuster as punishment for winning the league...
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Monday 07 December 2009, 10:00
Weekend results: Deportivo La Coruna 1-3 Barcelona, Real Madrid 4-2 Almeria, Sevilla 1-1 Valladolid, Xerez 0-2 Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Valencia, Espanyol 0-4 Racing, Malaga 1-1 Osasuna, Mallorca...
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Friday 04 December 2009, 12:00
Weekend fixtures: Sevilla vs Valladolid, Xerez vs Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid vs Almeria, Deportivo La Coruna vs Barcelona, Tenerife vs Sporting, Espanyol vs Racing, Mallorca vs Zaragoza, Malaga vs Osasuna...
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Thursday 03 December 2009, 12:45
If there’s a reason why La Liga Loca is feeling especially cranky and crazed, today, it’s because it was up until the ungodly hour of MIDNIGHT watching Xerez and Barcelona hoof the ball about an athletics...
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Wednesday 02 December 2009, 10:30
Atlético Madrid are not wholly unlike dogs in that they run to a completely different time scale as the rest of the known universe. Whereas one human year supposedly represents seven for our canine buddies...
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Tuesday 01 December 2009, 09:30
WEEKEND RESULTS Sat Nov 28: Sevilla 2-2 Málaga, Valencia 1-1 Mallorca, Sporting Gijón 1-0 Villarreal Sun Nov 29: Atlético Madrid 4-0 Espanyol, FC Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid, Racing Santander 0-1 Deportivo...
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Friday 27 November 2009, 10:00
Saturday Sporting (7th) vs Villarreal (11th) Giuseppe Rossi’s agent claimed this week that his client could well make a summer move away from Villarreal and... and... and... sorry. Stuff el clásico, as...
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Wednesday 25 November 2009, 12:00
In response to AS cranking up their Barcelona brickingthemselvesometer last weekend, La Liga Loca has decided to give a debut airing to its own fiendishly brilliant contraption, the barçasmugometer. And...
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Tuesday 24 November 2009, 09:00
Through no fault of its own, on Monday afternoon La Liga Loca had to spend 20 minutes of its short human life listening to a Spanish sports talk radio station. It was 20 minutes of a group of very, very...
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Monday 23 November 2009, 11:00
Good Day La Liga Loca There was no hot date with Sara Carbonero this week. Well, there was, but that’s a story for our grandkids. Instead, it’s a very, very, very good - nay, exquisite - day for La Liga...
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Friday 20 November 2009, 14:00
Saturday Tenerife (15th) vs Sevilla (3rd) Today’s ramble starts in the second division, where La Liga Loca has a sneaky feeling Tenerife might be residing come the start of the next season. Regular readers...
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Wednesday 18 November 2009, 10:00
Barcelona’s next presidential elections could still be up to six months away, but this hasn’t stopped a gaggle of candidates beginning their ablutions to take over from the current King of Catalunya, Joan...
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Tuesday 17 November 2009, 10:00
The Spanish league’s main sponsors will have you know that there's is the best in the world. Well, that may be so, but these days la Liga feels more like a particularly insane series of ‘My Name is...
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Monday 16 November 2009, 10:00
When Fabio Capello opined that “Spain are not as strong as Brazil as they don’t defend as well” it could have been taken in two ways in the home of FIFA’s newly-crowned number one team. It was either going...
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Friday 13 November 2009, 12:00
INVASION ALERT! With Spain facing Argentina in a friendly, Argie Bargy blogger Joel Richards has his say on Argentine attitudes to the Old World country... Manolo and his brother were in the house-moving...
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Tuesday 10 November 2009, 11:30
...in which Real Madrid rail against Ronaldo representing his country, while Barcelona rail against any of their players doing likewise... The beginning of another week in la Liga sees pretty much everyone...
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Monday 09 November 2009, 12:00
RESULTS Sat Nov 7: Atlético Madrid 2-3 Real Madrid , Barcelona 4-2 Mallorca , Getafe 0-2 Deportivo La Coruña , Tenerife 2-2 Málaga Sun Nov 8: Almería 2-0 Osasuna , Racing Santander 0-2 Athletic Bilbao...
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Friday 06 November 2009, 11:30
Featuring Paris Hilton, Big Brother , Barcelona's dodgy engine, Atletico's plans to beat Real Madrid, Guti's venture into sonic terrorism and the long-awaited return of The News From Sweden...
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Wednesday 04 November 2009, 11:00
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS, Tue Nov 3: AC Milan 1-1 Real Madrid, Apoel Nicosia 0-1 FC Porto, Atletico Madrid 2-2 Chelsea, Bayern Munich 0-2 Bordeaux, Besiktas 0-3 Wolfsburg, Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Juventus, Manchester...
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Tuesday 03 November 2009, 11:30
Tonight's Champions League games: APOEL v Porto , ATLETICO MADRID v Chelsea , Bayern Munich v Bordeaux , Besiktas v VfL Wolfsburg , Maccabi Haifa v Juventus , Manchester United v CSKA Moskva , Milan...
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Monday 02 November 2009, 11:30
WEEKEND RESULTS Saturday Oct 31: Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Atlético Madrid, Deportivo Xerez 0-2 Sevilla, Osasuna 1-1 Barcelona, Real Madrid 2-0 Getafe. Sunday Nov 01: Deportivo La Coruña 1-1 Sporting Gijón,...
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Friday 30 October 2009, 11:00
...in which Real Madrid's potty-mouthed vice-captain is carpeted, Barcelona's mini-magician is measured for his market worth, Sevilla's president attacks a peer, Atletico Madrid ban a banner...
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Wednesday 28 October 2009, 11:30
It may have been a miserable Tuesday night for Real Madrid but it was a magnificent one for the glaziers of the city. As Alcorcón’s fourth goal flew in, the squeal of protest from a fist-flying Florentino...
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Tuesday 27 October 2009, 11:00
The Big Boys of la Primera joining the Copa del Rey party can only mean one thing: La Liga Loca’s annual rant at how a tournament which could be as fun and frolicking as the FA Cup has been stripped of...
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Monday 26 October 2009, 13:00
Good day Villarreal If La Liga Loca’s Friday predictions had been even half-right so far this season, Villarreal would probably have been top of the table before this weekend’s round of action. Instead...
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Friday 23 October 2009, 13:00
With the world a dark, grim and...er...grim place these days, we should thank all the gods-that-be for Atlético Madrid for making this boring burden we call life so much easier to bear. In fact, those...
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Wednesday 21 October 2009, 10:00
Due to the increasingly intriguing nature of the Joseph Fiennes-fuelled ‘FlashForward’ the simple-minded La Liga Loca completely forgot about the Champions League highlights show on Spanish TV on Tuesday...
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Tuesday 20 October 2009, 10:00
One of the most memorable moments of José Antonio Reyes’ rather hopeless spell at Atlético Madrid came when the winger was coming off the pitch, rather than when he was on it. Having been substituted after...
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Monday 19 October 2009, 10:00
Good Day Tomás Roncero There was no happier fella in Spain this weekend than barking mad AS -man, Tomás Roncero. For a while now, La Liga Loca had wondered whether his insanely upbeat articles about Real...
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Friday 16 October 2009, 11:30
If a plastic surgery and showbiz analogy can be stretched to its furthest possible boundaries without snapping back and hitting La Liga Loca on the forehead, then the self-proclaimed “best league in the...
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Wednesday 14 October 2009, 10:00
The midweek press from a beautifully sunny Spain sees mardy-bum Madridileños still moaning about Xavi’s sick-note from la Furia Roja and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal-produced ankle-knack. But Marca ’s...
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Monday 12 October 2009, 12:00
If Joan Laporta’s wettest dream, an independent Catalan football side, ever comes true, then at least one part of the Spain manager’s life would have been made considerably easier: the politics. Of course...
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Thursday 08 October 2009, 12:00
It’s been a big couple of days for the Spanish FA (RFEF) in its ongoing centenary celebrations. At the beginning of the week, there was a golden oldie gathering of ex-internationals who, while being well...
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Tuesday 06 October 2009, 10:00
The word on the mean, polluted, traffic-clogged streets of Madrid on Monday was that Florentino II was not a happy presidential bunny after the previous night’s defeat of Real to Sevilla, and definitely...
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Monday 05 October 2009, 10:00
Good Day Sevilla After a couple of depressing days spent in the Vicente Calderón and Coliseum watching Atleti and Getafe, the Sevilla vs Real Madrid clash was a powerful pick-me-up against the La Liga...
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Friday 02 October 2009, 16:00
Saturday Tenerife vs Deportivo Earlier this week, it was finally confirmed to Deportivo that tug-of-love midfielder Queen Lafita would spend the next few seasons playing for Zaragoza and not them. However...
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Wednesday 30 September 2009, 10:30
INVASION! Ahead of the FC Porto vs Atletico Madrid game, FFT.com blogger The Portugeezer – aka Sérgio Santos – pops by to introduce the Portuguese permachamps – and explain how they can be beaten Hey amigos...
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Tuesday 29 September 2009, 11:00
Depending on your point of view, Real Madrid’s 2006 presidential election was either a high point in the club’s institutional history or a cringing embarrassment. The whole polemical process included police...
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Monday 28 September 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Xerez As you read this, just imagine a march mixing the missile-displaying pomp of a Soviet-style May Day parade with a full-on nudey lady Brazilian carnival. That’s the kind of greeting that...
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Friday 25 September 2009, 10:41
Just 24 hours ago, the blog warned that it was going to indulge in a serious bout of acid-based self-harm if it was bombarded with yet more images of Cristiano Ronaldo. So it was less than pleased to face...
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Thursday 24 September 2009, 12:35
(...with apologies to Sporting and Zaragoza who play on Thursday night) New! Spanish results (and fixtures, and table) GOOD DAY Sevilla A third win in a row for Sevilla means it’s Manolo Jiménez’s side...
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Tuesday 22 September 2009, 14:42
A bleary-eyed blog was more than a little confused this morning by an early eye-full of AS . But of the newspaper kind, this time. On the front cover of Spain's finest daily were pictures of the country...
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Monday 21 September 2009, 14:12
GOOD DAY Athletic Bilbao When La Liga Loca heard that Athletic had beaten Villarreal 3-2, it instinctively knew, deep down in its cockles, that one of those goals would be a header from a cross. It was...
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Friday 18 September 2009, 11:30
SATURDAY Deportivo vs Espanyol The crusty old codgers running la Liga will need their respirators switched to maximum after a blistering week of work. Not only did the foggy-brained fogies set the times...
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Thursday 17 September 2009, 10:00
The much-trumpeted Inter Milan vs Barcelona game was so god-awful that if it hadn’t been for a timely episode of Bones on a rival channel, La Liga Loca may well have pinned its tiny brain to the ceiling...
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Tuesday 15 September 2009, 10:30
When La Liga Loca asked the average José in the street who would be this season’s surprise package in la Liga, most hurried off in the opposite direction looking for a policeman. And this was fair enough...
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Monday 14 September 2009, 14:31
La Liga results Weekend round-up GOOD DAY Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi Hands up everyone who had their cockles warmed when seeing that cheeky smile back on Cristiano Ronaldo’s face after his World Cup...
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Friday 11 September 2009, 12:00
Saturday Atlético vs Racing When Marca ran their exposé on vote-rigging at Real Madrid’s last AGM, the blog was quite happy to applaud both the cojones of the paper and a brilliant piece of journalism...
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Wednesday 09 September 2009, 11:30
The Spanish FA have announced that this season’s campaign to have as few people as possible watching the country’s football matches has been a “stunning success” and has exceeded all previous expectations...
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Tuesday 08 September 2009, 11:00
A fortnight ago and everything was smelling of peaches and Pimms in Atlético Madrid’s fragrant garden. Qualification to the Champions League had been achieved for another year and the club had managed...
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Monday 07 September 2009, 10:30
Like binge-drinking and grumbling about the weather, Spain has taken up another fine English hobby in recent weeks - big-club paranoia over the dastardly plans of the froggiest Frenchman, Michel Platini...
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Friday 04 September 2009, 15:00
This week, our Falklands-defending man behind enemy lines, Argie Bargy , wrote about the social-life destroying situation in Argentina where every top flight league game is available for free on terrestrial...
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Wednesday 02 September 2009, 10:30
As it turned out, transfer deadline day turned out to be as limp and lifeless as a typical weekend in the life of La Liga Loca. For starters, we never got the rumoured massive multimillion swoops by Real...
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Tuesday 01 September 2009, 14:00
GOOD DAY Getafe Thought that La Liga Loca was bluffing when it predicted that Getafe would spend the season chasing the Big Two like a particularly terrier-like terrier? Reckoned that the blog was merely...
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Friday 28 August 2009, 12:00
SATURDAY Real Madrid vs Deportivo When asked to opine on who will win the title this season, La Liga Loca would always give a thoughtful, careful, considered answer based on a number of factors - the questioner...
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Thursday 27 August 2009, 12:00
Valencia So what do you do if you are some half-a-billion euros in debt, desperately struggling to service it and are on the brink of disappearing into a gaping chasm of doom? Do you sell your most valuable...
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Wednesday 26 August 2009, 13:00
Racing Santander The new campaign for Racing Santander is set to be a veritable thriller - STAY AWAKE! - with literally anything possible! - STOP MOVING ON TO THE NEXT SECTION! The first statement is not...
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Tuesday 25 August 2009, 12:00
Espanyol The Barcelona-based club is set to have the saddest of starts to the season overshadowed by the shocking death of captain, Dani Jarque. But it should have been a joyous occasion with Espanyol...
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Monday 24 August 2009, 10:00
Almería The southern side could well be this season’s Recreativo - plucky hangers on for a couple of campaigns before an inevitable knapsack-clutching return to la Segunda. Poor Hugo Sánchez has had a...
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Thursday 20 August 2009, 10:00
‘Visionary’, ‘stunning’, ‘breathtaking’ - just three of the adjectives that swept around an enraptured Camp Nou on Wednesday night. But sadly for 90-odd thousand Catalan crazies gathered in their sweaty...
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Tuesday 18 August 2009, 16:00
“Espanyol is like my wife” - Always promising to go down, but never going through with it, perhaps. Espanyol manager Pochettino , musing over comparisons between his club and his misses. “I raised my hands...
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Monday 17 August 2009, 12:00
The Madrid barrio of La Latina was full of 24 hour party people and peace this weekend. Four days of boozy fiestas to celebrate... well, nothing much really... saw thousands and thousands of young dudes...
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Friday 14 August 2009, 15:30
It doesn’t take much to kick up a bit of a fuss in Spain. One of the topics currently making the headlines is a complaint by the opposition, Partido Popular, that when their local politicians are arrested...
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Wednesday 12 August 2009, 14:00
Every morning, the small business owners of Spain are peering into the pages of Marca and AS to discover if Alvaro Negredo has decided that Hull City’s for him or if Aston Villa are willing to stump up...
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Tuesday 11 August 2009, 16:00
Monday turned out to be a very happy start of the week indeed for Atlético Madrid. The rojiblancos lifted the world’s most insanely heavy trophy and also managed to ruin their cursed neighbour’s start...
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Monday 10 August 2009, 14:00
In 2007, Sevilla took on Espanyol in an all-Spanish UEFA Cup final in Glasgow. Two of those players who took part in that dramatic game have since been lost to the world of football. Just under two years...
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Friday 07 August 2009, 12:00
La Liga Loca is not sure how long it has to complete today’s entry. You see, it made a bit of a boo-boo this morning, and suspects that the t’internet police will be bursting in through its (already open...
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Thursday 06 August 2009, 12:00
Today’s update from la Liga Loca begins with a short competition. One of these scenarios has never been used by Getafe as part of an advertising campaign to boost season ticket sales ahead of a new campaign...
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Wednesday 05 August 2009, 10:00
August in Spain means three things. La Liga Loca’s pale, delicate, Victorian child miner skin turns that one shade redder in the sun. The holiday-bound locals finally clear out of the blog’s city and let...
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:00
A large chunk of the transfer talk over the summer has been David Villa’s ‘will he, won’t he, loves me, loves me not’ move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona. But it seems that this particular chapter...
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Tuesday 28 July 2009, 10:00
As with the transfer itself, the eventual presentation of Zlatan Ibrahimovic was stumbly, bumbly and all a little bit late. On Monday night, some 60,000 had gathered in the Camp Nou to welcome the Swedish...
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Monday 27 July 2009, 12:00
A concerned La Liga Loca can only hope that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon hasn’t been keeping his all-seeing eye on any football related shenanigans in Spain over the past weekend from his giant palace of...
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Friday 24 July 2009, 12:00
To lose one gargantuan goal-machine of a footballer over the course of the summer, as happened to Manchester United with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, can be considered unlucky. To lose two is just...
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Wednesday 22 July 2009, 10:00
If Joan Laporta had known what a blooming ball-ache the Mad Sammy Eto’o for Mad Zlatan Ibrahimovic transfer was going to be, then the tantrum-throwing titan of the Camp Nou probably wouldn’t have bothered...
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Tuesday 21 July 2009, 11:00
By and large, pre-season friendlies are rubbish. They’re something to watch when you’re too hungover to move, out of DVD boxsets or – if you're unfortunate enough to live in Britain – when it’s peeing...
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Monday 20 July 2009, 10:00
Right about now, nearly all of the siesta’d-up squads of la Liga will have gathered together for pre-season training. 400 word assignments on “Wot I did on my holidays” will have been handed out and those...
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Friday 17 July 2009, 12:00
The polymathic genius that is La Liga Loca used to think that it had a decent grasp of economics. In its seven years teaching the subject at Rutland Poly, the blog would always opine that the standard...
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Wednesday 15 July 2009, 12:00
While the Head of Player Presentations at the Camp Nou has spent the past few months hitting the refresh button on their Facebook page every three seconds in a desperate attempt to pass the time, their...
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Monday 13 July 2009, 11:00
High-trousered dream-shredder, Simon Cowell, is a lily-livered wimp of a man compared to his infinitely nastier and hard-bitten counterpart on Spanish television, Risto Mejide. For a number of years now...
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Friday 10 July 2009, 10:00
Well, Zippity-do-dah! Ding Dong Merrily on High! and Pah-Pah-Poker Face! A footballer from the UK and Ireland has grown some cojones and plucked up the courage to pack his knapsack and give the Spanish...
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Wednesday 08 July 2009, 12:00
With Valencia not so much flirting with bankruptcy as leering at it with wedding tackle in-hand, gags and giggles have been hard to come by in Mestalla in recent months. Which was why a press conference...
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Tuesday 07 July 2009, 11:00
If you are the president of a football club located in the wacky world of Andalusia, then standing up to your eyeballs in some kind of dodgy deal or saucy scandal forms part of the job requirements. Indeed...
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Monday 06 July 2009, 10:00
While January's presentation of poor old Julien Faubert attracted around 70 people and a couple of pigeons, Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to get a whopping full-house crowd of 80,000 turning up for...
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Thursday 02 July 2009, 08:00
La Liga Loca’s Atlético Madrid-loving acquaintances – the blog has no friends, friends make you weak – have been doing their very best to avoid the ongoing Galactico parties at the Bernabeu. But the lack...
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Tuesday 30 June 2009, 10:00
When last mentioning the Segunda-bound Real Betis in blog dispatches, La Liga Loca made the rather snooty suggestion that only a couple of lagered-up flamenco singers and some confused tourists would be...
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Monday 29 June 2009, 09:00
In the fortnight between La Liga Loca leaving Spanish shores and being dragged back kicking and screaming, millions of protesters took to the streets of Iran, Jacko popped his clogs and the campaign to...
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Monday 15 June 2009, 10:00
Andalusia is a land where out-of-tune wailing by battered old hags is considered music, where the locals speak as if their mouths are full of chorizo and where it’s always really, really hot. But very...
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Friday 12 June 2009, 12:00
“It’s insane! It’s obscene! What about the children! Frack me!” Just four of the descriptions of La Liga Loca’s conceptualist art exhibition currently on display outside its penthouse apartment. And melting...
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Wednesday 10 June 2009, 12:00
Now the fairly Philistine La Liga Loca is dimly aware of three great works of Spanish fiction - Marca , Don Quixote and, er, Don Quixote . But it seems that a fourth may be added to this very short list...
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Tuesday 09 June 2009, 11:00
With the briefest of announcements posted on their website in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning, Real Madrid had spread the word that they had doubled the number of playmakers who don’t really want...
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Monday 08 June 2009, 10:00
All over la Liga, Spain’s football clubs have been taking one for the team and helping out their most loyal supporters in these dark financial days. Almería have announced that they will be dropping their...
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Friday 05 June 2009, 11:00
They may be completely unable to agree on the colour of ham or be in the same room together, but the terrible twins running Atlético Madrid have met in the middle over the appointment of Abel Resino as...
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Wednesday 03 June 2009, 10:00
Dash and darn it. Despite La Liga Loca and millions of its readers praying long and hard to all things unholy that either Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho would be joining the jamboree in Castle Greyskull...
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Tuesday 02 June 2009, 10:00
To avoid a repeat of the deplorably dishonest presidential elections of 2006, a poll the local Colombos are still combing through - “One more thing before you go, Mr Calderón...” - Real Madrid’s bigwigs...
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Monday 01 June 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Diego Forlán By the end of his 32-goal campaign, the Atlético forward was scoring the kind of efforts that, had you pulled them off on your PlayStation, would have made your friends beat you to...
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Friday 29 May 2009, 10:00
Saturday Mallorca (9th) vs Villarreal (5th) If the rumours swirling around the Spanish press are to believed, then Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini will be strapping himself into the Castle Greyskull...
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Thursday 28 May 2009, 09:30
There were only two people in Rome who weren't completely sucked in by the enthralling action of the 2009 Champions League final. The first was the very desperate housewife, Eva Longoria, who was caught...
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Wednesday 27 May 2009, 11:00
Cynical old La Liga Loca has been around for a few centuries now in one form or another and is all too aware that ‘dream finals’ rarely turn out that way. So knowing already that Wednesday’s affair will...
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Monday 25 May 2009, 12:00
Good Day Manolo Jiménez In a truly massive win for the mediocre, Sevilla secured third spot on Saturday night after a last minute 1-0 over Deportivo. But this achievement may not be enough to keep the...
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Friday 22 May 2009, 10:00
Saturday Villarreal (6th) vs EasyValencia (5th) And so two fine, upstanding, terrific teams must face the humiliation of a bruising barnyard scrap in their chase to overhaul... (sigh) ...Atlético Madrid...
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Thursday 21 May 2009, 14:00
In general, La Liga Loca is not normally the jealous type. But it must admit to being a tad envious of the easy-peasy world of Spanish sporting journalism, where libel law is scoffed at and how to make...
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Wednesday 20 May 2009, 10:00
“Valdano negotiates with Villa!” yells Marca . “Villa takes a walk to Madrid!” screams AS . “Over my dead body!” splutters Raúl. Those were Wednesday’s headlines that greeted the appearance of David Villa...
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Tuesday 19 May 2009, 10:00
When the world’s finest football magazine repeatedly begged La Liga Loca to come on board some 78 years ago - well, offered it a packet of biscuits - those running the show knew they were getting their...
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Monday 18 May 2009, 10:00
Good Day Barcelona Like a wet dream for Maniche, Barcelona didn’t even need to disembark from the bus on Sunday to seal the deal. Instead, it was the party-poopers from last weekend, Villarreal, who gave...
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Friday 15 May 2009, 11:00
Saturday Osasuna (17th) vs Sevilla (3rd) Last weekend, Osasuna boss José Antonio Camacho pretty much wrote off the relegation jelly-wrestle against Getafe before a ball had been kicked by leaving Persian...
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Thursday 14 May 2009, 12:00
Barring witchcraft or a Bear Stearns-style collapse, Barcelona will be picking up at least two trophies this season, meaning yet more arrests in the Catalan capital from bottle-chucking culés. Wednesday...
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Wednesday 13 May 2009, 12:00
A few days ago, AS wrote that 35,000 batty Basques would be making the trip down to Valencia for Wednesday’s Copa de Rey final. Not the first time - and almost certainly not the last - the paper was quite...
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Monday 11 May 2009, 13:00
GOOD DAY Valencia Saturday’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid was shows exactly why, every September, the pea-brained La Liga Loca calls for silence, stands on a chair and tipsily tips Valencia to win the title...
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Friday 08 May 2009, 11:00
Saturday Sevilla (3rd) vs Mallorca (9th) With Raúl reportedly pondering the opportunity to disappear in crucial clashes for Man City next season with a four-year, 40-million-Euro offer on the table, it...
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Thursday 07 May 2009, 10:00
Poor Paco cut an unfashionable figure tucked away in the corner of his bar in Barcelona. Puffing away on his ciggies, supping on his cañas, Paco spent 97 minutes of Wednesday night being booed and barracked...
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Wednesday 06 May 2009, 09:30
La Liga Loca is unsure whether it’s a catastrophic caña -caused comedown from Seville’s annual Feria - which Sergio Ramos definitely, definitely did not attend two days before el Clásico - or reaching...
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Monday 04 May 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Barcelona When there are regurgitated guts and glass covering the streets the Catalan capital, you can be sure that it has been a good night for the culé-crazy part of the city. The 6-2 *rse-handing...
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Friday 01 May 2009, 10:00
Saturday Real Madrid (2nd) vs Barcelona (1st) It needed to be a whopping story to knock The Pig Plague, political corruption, cash-grabbing mayors and skyrocketing unemployment figures off the front pages...
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Wednesday 29 April 2009, 12:00
Mork and Mindy man, Robin Williams, would have been more useful than Pep Guardiola in the Dream Boys’ dressing room on Tuesday night. What the perplexed players of the Camp Nou needed was a rousing, desk...
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Tuesday 28 April 2009, 13:00
La Liga Loca doesn’t really get on with its neighbours. Or rather, its neighbours don’t really get on with La Liga Loca. And that’s fair enough considering the blog’s slight sociopathic tendencies and...
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Monday 27 April 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Real Madrid Blimey. Madrid could actually win this, a concept La Liga Loca poo-pooed just this weekend with its prediction of a defeat for Juande Ramos’ men. And this could send Barcelona fans...
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Friday 24 April 2009, 10:00
Saturday Málaga (6th) vs Deportivo (8th) Now La Liga Loca must start Friday’s ramblings by apologising to Málaga and Deportivo - well, Málaga, anyway - for hijacking their section which should be a joyous...
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Thursday 23 April 2009, 12:30
Like a date with La Liga Loca, Barcelona’s encounter with Sevilla was only fun for two minutes. But at least the fans didn’t walk off promising to call the next day. Two minutes was how long it took for...
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Wednesday 22 April 2009, 10:00
It was like putting up with nine hours of Jacqui Smith, only to be rewarded by seeing her being blasted into space, Emperor Ming style. The first half of the clash against Getafe at the Bernabeu was awful...
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Tuesday 21 April 2009, 10:00
Those go-getting fast-trackers running the Spanish league gave a good four days notice to the plebs and players of when they would be in footballing action this week, so everyone had better be ready. Incidentally...
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Monday 20 April 2009, 09:00
GOOD DAY Ever Banega For an hour or so, it looked like being the 13th consecutive season that poor old Atleti would fail to win on their special ‘Day of the Fans’. It looked like going the same way of...
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Friday 17 April 2009, 09:00
Saturday Getafe (14th) vs Barcelona (1st) A light-headed La Liga Loca has to confess that it has been rubbing its hands on its cockles all week. But has always washed them after. After a month of unrelenting...
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Thursday 16 April 2009, 11:00
With three English teams having qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third season in a row, the Spanish press have taken a teeny time-out on Thursday to sniff out the chances of...
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Wednesday 15 April 2009, 10:00
Having disappeared from the Bernabeu faster than the bullfight-barmy Sergio Ramos, blog über-hero Bernado Schuster has made a very welcome return to the Spanish spotlight after a four month absence. With...
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Monday 13 April 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Vladimir Stojkovic Having gone through more goalkeepers than a Seaman-obsessed old slapper, Getafe finally found the right man for the job on Sunday evening. Vlad the Impaler was between the posts...
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Friday 10 April 2009, 13:30
Saturday Barcelona (1st) vs Recreativo (18th) As well as wrestling with his own demons and the odd UEFA official, prickly Pep Guardiola now has to take on the familiar task of dampening down the fierce...
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Thursday 09 April 2009, 12:00
Perhaps it’s because there’s a bank holiday in Spain and La Liga Loca can hear birds singing (and coughing) rather than beeping and blaring from cranky commuters. Perhaps La Liga Loca is all giddied up...
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Wednesday 08 April 2009, 10:00
From La Liga Loca’s lofty perch in Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium, the blog is lucky enough to be able to gaze upon snow-capped mountains and the city’s royal palace. It can also enjoy the...
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Tuesday 07 April 2009, 09:30
Sadly (unless you are an Atlético fan), there’s only nine matches of Primera fun left till the season grinds to a horrendous halt. But you can turn those frowns upside-down as there’s still plenty of time...
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Monday 06 April 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Armchair fans On Friday, a doom-mongering La Liga Loca feared a gaggle of match blackouts due to the increasingly petulant Great TV War. Instead, the complete opposite happened with almost every...
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Friday 03 April 2009, 11:00
Saturday Recreativo (16th) vs Sevilla (3rd) La Liga Loca knows it. You know it. Heck, even master prediction-maker (still waiting for Pedja’s sacking, still waiting) Roberto Gómez knows it - Manolo Jiménez...
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Thursday 02 April 2009, 10:00
Many, many moons ago, La Liga Loca declared itself as a candidate in the wacky race to be the next president of Real Madrid, to enormous global press interest. After weeks of wheeling and dealing, contemplating...
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Wednesday 01 April 2009, 10:00
One of La Liga Loca’s proudest moments was when, armed only with Dick Cheney’s ‘Torture for Dummies’ and a hairdryer, it managed to get a former Marca writer to admit that the paper did indeed make almost...
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Tuesday 31 March 2009, 09:30
Despite the shocking news from commie daily Valencia Morning Star concerning the 895 percent increase in windscreen-cleaning squeegee merchants in the downtown area - all looking suspiciously like members...
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Monday 30 March 2009, 09:00
“It was a great example of Madridismo!” Has all that toiling and tinkering, sweating and swearing in La Liga Loca’s basement finally paid off? “Madrid can write another glorious chapter!” Has its spanking...
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Thursday 26 March 2009, 08:00
Today’s ramble through the wonderful world of La Liga is dedicated to the wasters and what-the-heck-happened? of this year’s Primera. The blog brings you an XI comprised of those players who simply aren...
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Tuesday 24 March 2009, 10:00
Real Betis is normally known for shaky goings-on both on and off the pitch. And for playing in yukky Norwich green. The club is currently fighting their umpteenth battle against relegation, being fined...
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Monday 23 March 2009, 11:00
GOOD DAY Freddie Kanouté It’s time to juice up the Jacuzzi, dim the lights and put on sexaaaay music. Early ‘Steps’ always gets La Liga Loca going on a Monday morning. Monday’s blog ramble simply has to...
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Friday 20 March 2009, 11:00
Saturday Villarreal (4th) vs Athletic (13th) One of the best wheelers and dealers in the transfer market last summer was Villarreal - simply through their admirable achievement of beating off (not in the...
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Wednesday 18 March 2009, 10:00
Now that Real Madrid has skilfully managed to swerve all that pesky Champions League nonsense for another year, the club is able to turn its full attention to its favourite waste of time - bickering. The...
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Tuesday 17 March 2009, 09:00
The game in Spain is going through a decidedly bipolar phase in its existence. Its debt-ridden clubs owe a good 700m Euro to the tax man and zillions more to each other. The league champions were made...
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Monday 16 March 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Bojan Krkic By leaving Mad Sammy Eto’o and Thierry Henry on the bench and starting with Bojan Krkic, Pep Guardiola was placing his Catalan cojones in the hands of the press. Despite being a keen...
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Friday 13 March 2009, 10:00
Saturday Valencia (8th) vs Recreativo (14th) If Valencia VP sporting director thingy, Fernando Gómez, is contemplating a new career - something he’ll have to do in about three months anyway - then writing...
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Wednesday 11 March 2009, 10:30
So, it appears the spirit of Juanito had something better to do on Tuesday night. Preparing some popcorn, perhaps, before settling down to watch Keanu Reeves action flick Spid , the film constantly - and...
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Tuesday 10 March 2009, 08:00
Being a Real Madrid player means that most of your waking days will involve being pestered by the press on urgent matters such as the greatness of Raúl and whether the club can still win the league. Or...
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Monday 09 March 2009, 10:00
Results : ( Sunday ) Deportivo La Coruña 5-3 Racing Santander; Getafe 1-2 Málaga; Mallorca 3-3 Real Betis; Numancia 2-1 Valencia; Osasuna 1-2 Sporting Gijón; Recreativo Huelva 2-3 Real Valladolid; Sevilla...
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Friday 06 March 2009, 10:00
Saturday Barcelona (1st) vs Athletic (11th) Brain-dead Spanish football busy bodies have now got a difficult dilemma on their dilettante hands. And that’s never a good thing, considering their current...
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Wednesday 04 March 2009, 12:00
About three weeks ago, Barcelona’s voyage to the Balearics to take on Mallorca in the semi-final second leg of the Spanish Cup was set to be the creamiest of cakewalks, the lightest of snacks, heck, a...
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Tuesday 03 March 2009, 10:00
The reason for La Liga Loca’s numerous literary and sporting awards, and the fact that is has been translated into 892 languages, is a very simple one. It is the blog’s mixture of admirable industry and...
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Monday 02 March 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Guti It was with a tear in the eye when La Liga Loca read Guti’s declaration of intent in regards to his footballing future. The Madrid midfielder is set to head for somewhere ‘exotic’ in 2011...
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Friday 27 February 2009, 14:00
Saturday Athletic (9th) vs Sevilla (3rd) There’s nothing quite so infuriating as a Spanish grandmother or ‘abuela’. Rather than being friendly, fuzzy figures armed with sunbeam smiles, they are coffin...
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Wednesday 25 February 2009, 10:00
Tuesday wasn’t the greatest of days in the glorious, award-strewn life of La Liga Loca. It suffered the maddest of moments by tipping Atlético Madrid for the last four of Europe’s top competition. After...
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Tuesday 24 February 2009, 12:00
Now regular readers may think that La Liga Loca has been at the Tuesday turps again. Or has, rojiblanco club president, Enrique Cerezo threatening to strap the blog down in front of a movie he has produced...
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Monday 23 February 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Real Madrid Ding dong merrily on high, there may actually be something resembling a contest in La Liga this season after Saturday night’s nuttiness. It was an outstanding evening that evoked memories...
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Friday 20 February 2009, 10:00
Saturday Barcelona (1st) vs Espanyol (20th) Joan ‘Joan’ Laporta’s ongoing Uzbek activity caused enough of a seedy stir in Barcelona for the King of Catalunya to come down off his throne and explain away...
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Wednesday 18 February 2009, 10:30
Long-suffering readers of the blog will be aware that the Spock-like daily has no time for sickly sentimentality or ugly emotions. Its bottom lip didn’t even come close to wobbling last week, when Guti...
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Tuesday 17 February 2009, 10:00
Quite a few things in the game in Spain make La Liga Loca scratch its head. More often than not, it's the fleas picked up from its latest visit to the Vicente Calderón. The Starship Troopers-sized...
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Monday 16 February 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Víctor Valdés The other day, the Satanic singer from Maroon 5 popped up on La Liga Loca’s TV and the blog was reminded of the fact that the smug-faced so-and-so could write the modern equivalent...
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Friday 13 February 2009, 10:00
Saturday Deportivo (8th) vs Osasuna (17th) Now, La Liga Loca doesn’t mean to start the latest edition of its regular Friday ramble on a big old downer. But, Merciful Zeus, is this weekend’s serving of...
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Thursday 12 February 2009, 09:00
Spain’s superb 29-match unbeaten run began some two years ago with a 1-0 win over England, and continued last night with what was a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory at a sprightly Sánchez Pizjuán in Seville...
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Wednesday 11 February 2009, 11:30
It’s relatively rare to be invited to a Spaniard’s home to be entertained. And with good reason too, considering it makes more sense for your Tupperware parties to take place in a tapas bar where they...
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Tuesday 10 February 2009, 11:00
In a mega-testosterone, time-warped environment when a team can be the bestest of all time in the morning and a big pile of poo come nightfall, three weeks in La Liga is a very, very long time indeed....
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Monday 09 February 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Mad Sammy Eto’o “We’re all quite fed up,” complained the crestfallen presenter on Telemadrid’s football round-up show on Sunday evening. “Barcelona keep on winning.” If their remarkable streak...
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Friday 06 February 2009, 11:00
Saturday Real Madrid (2nd) vs Racing (10th) This week, Fabio Capello decided to pin a plug to his nose, remove his brain and subject himself to a thorough probing by Marca – a probing that involved a thousand...
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Wednesday 04 February 2009, 11:00
“I can’t liiiveeeeeee, if living is without youuuuu.....!!!!!!” As La Liga Loca writes this, it is sitting and sobbing in a flat surrounded by more stuffed trunks than a herd of binge-eating elephants...
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Tuesday 03 February 2009, 10:00
The Spanish second division used to be a bit rubbish, although a sniffy L’Equipe claims that it still is by branding the BBVA sponsored barndance the fourth worst second tier of Europe’s big five, based...
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Monday 02 February 2009, 12:00
Good Day Queen Latifa La Liga Loca came THAT close to writing the name “Riki!!!” before realising that the blog’s already rock-bottom credibility would drop even further with such an act. Instead, it’s...
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Friday 30 January 2009, 11:00
Saturday Athletic (10th) vs Málaga (7th) Imagine for one miserable moment that those scandalously high Telefonica bills were getting a little bit too much for you. Imagine you had flogged your super-duper...
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Thursday 29 January 2009, 13:00
La Liga Loca can’t honestly remember what film it was in now (although it’s got a funny feeling it was Speed, conjuring up once again images of Sandra Bullock’s smooth, dark leg pumping away at that accelerator...
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Thursday 29 January 2009, 10:00
“President Florentino” boasted Marca ’s headline on Tuesday as it detailed a poll commissioned by the paper that made the Bernabeu bottler the most popular candidate for members with a 62.9 percent of...
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Wednesday 28 January 2009, 11:00
If you have a high tolerance for flamenco-based sonic torture and incomprehensible accents, then a spell in the city of Seville is the most fun you can have aside from a date with Deportivo. Unless you...
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Tuesday 27 January 2009, 10:00
Football is one of the few sports that both the ‘anglosajón’ English and Spaniards both share a big love for. Of the other candidates, motor racing only became popular when the brooding figure of Fernando...
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Monday 26 January 2009, 10:00
GOOD DAY Leo Messi A mischievous Madrid press may have forced the outstanding Argentinean into an unnecessary bout of ‘I love the club, me’ badge-kissing - and there’ll be more on that little saga coming...
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Friday 23 January 2009, 10:00
Saturday Villarreal (5th) vs Osasuna (20th) Osasuna president, Patxi Izco appears to be a genuinely likeable old duffer. After firing Cuco Ziganda earlier this season, he confessed that it was one of the...
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Wednesday 21 January 2009, 10:00
When Samuel Eto’o slotted his easy-peasy penalty past, Deportivo midfielder, Juan Rodríguez for his side’s fifth on Saturday night, the glucose solution in the juddering jar at the offices of Sport started...
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Tuesday 20 January 2009, 10:00
To celebrate the end of the first half of the latest campaign of craziness in La Liga, the blog has decided to display a thumping lack of originality and imagination with an alternative XI of the season...
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Monday 19 January 2009, 11:30
GOOD DAY Málaga One of the biggest regrets of La Liga Loca’s season so far is the limited opportunities being offered up for the pee-taking of the increasingly injury-prone Guti. That and the fact that...
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Friday 16 January 2009, 12:00
Saturday Barcelona (1st) vs Deportivo (7th) Joan Laporta’s dastardly plan to expand his evil empire from Catalunya to the rest of the globe had been going rather well. Football fans all over the world...
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Wednesday 14 January 2009, 13:00
Marca ’s furious pounding at the gates of Castle Greyskull means that everything has changed in snowy Spain. Everything. Up is now down, right is now wrong and Andy & Lucas are the new Lennon and McCartney...
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Tuesday 13 January 2009, 13:00
Marca editor Eduardo Inda must have been a trifle tense on Monday night. And this had little to do with the fact that Captain Fantastic (Raúl) didn't exactly feature heavily in the FIFA World Player...
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Monday 12 January 2009, 11:00
GOOD DAY Barcelona When La Liga Loca suggested on Friday that Barça would drop points against a prickly Osasuna in Pamplona , there were some dubious doubters who scoffed and snickered at such a concept...
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Friday 09 January 2009, 12:00
Saturday Deportivo (6th) vs Sevilla (4th) For the opening instalment of the weekend predictions, La Liga Loca must come over all early 90’s Ben Elton with a little bit of politics. There has been a fair...
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Wednesday 07 January 2009, 10:00
Opposition fans offering a standing ovation to honour the brilliance of visiting players is unusual in football, but not unheard of. Ronaldo at Old Trafford, Ronaldinho in the Bernabeu, Pablo Couñago against...
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Tuesday 06 January 2009, 12:00
If the clowns running the show at Real Madrid were going to make a complete and utter balls-up described by a finger-wagging AS as ‘unforgivable’ and Johan Cruyff as ‘an enormous mistake’ then their timing...
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Monday 05 January 2009, 12:00
GOOD DAY Deportivo It’s been a troubling start to 2009 for La Liga Loca. The blog returned from foreign parts to find an odd smell of an unknown source in the kitchen and the deeply troubling concept that...
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Monday 29 December 2008, 11:30
Putting up with players “I’ve seen Jurassic Park 15 times. My favourite is the Velociraptor.” – Former Mallorca midfielder Jonas Gutierrez, was so fond of big extinct beasties, he moved to Newcastle to...
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Monday 22 December 2008, 12:00
GOOD DAY Osasuna “They deserve to end the year with a bit of happiness,” grinned, Osasuna coach, José Antonio Camacho after his side’s 5-2 spanking of Getafe. Unfortunately, the result is likely to be...
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Friday 19 December 2008, 11:00
BREAKING NEWS.... BREAKING NEWS....BREAKING NEWS..... In the Champions League draw on Friday morning, Villarreal and Atlético Madrid have been landed Panathinaikos and Porto respectively... the two club...
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Wednesday 17 December 2008, 11:00
Before we kick off, it’s best to mention that this isn’t a story in regards to a midnight misdemeanour from saucy Sergio, so the FourFourTwo lawyers can wipe away the coffee that has just been sprayed...
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Tuesday 16 December 2008, 10:00
La Liga Loca is breathing a big old sigh of relief, today. It’s a terrific Tuesday filled with peace and goodwill to everyone. Even Deportivo. But not Betis, mind. Not only have Penelope and her sister...
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Monday 15 December 2008, 10:00
GOOD DAY Víctor Valdés It’s high time La Liga Loca paid its dues to the one player that even the most barmy of Barça fans would still see swiftly swapped for an Iker Casillas-shaped shot stopper, if the...
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Friday 12 December 2008, 12:00
Saturday Valencia (3rd) vs Espanyol (18th) It would seem that the players and staff at the Mestalla are going to have their stockings filled by Santa this Christmas after all. Only the ones who have been...
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Thursday 11 December 2008, 17:00
La Liga Loca is hanging its head in shame this evening, readers. And not just because it’s sitting in a rubbish Irish pub in Madrid penning this here blog - and not even being rock and roll enough to do...
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Wednesday 10 December 2008, 11:00
Over the years, La Liga Loca has found a number of varied uses for the likes of Marca and AS . Lining the bottom of hamster cages and clearing up sick of contrasting consistencies have been two handy household...
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Tuesday 09 December 2008, 10:00
When Atlético wheezed and panted their way into fourth place and the Champions League last season, their passport-waving fans must have imagined for several blissful moments that the new campaign would...
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Monday 08 December 2008, 09:30
GOOD DAY Recreativo Those crazy folk on the blog who have been noting that Recreativo are not as rubbish as their lowly position suggested - the reverse situation currently being enjoyed by Deportivo ...
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Friday 05 December 2008, 14:00
Saturday Sporting (10th) vs Atlético Madrid (6th) La Liga Loca wouldn’t be at all surprised if rojiblanco fans witness Maniche transforming from a cake-obsessed caterpillar into a beautiful footballing...
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Friday 05 December 2008, 09:30
There is a reason why Real Madrid presented Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at the Santiago Bernabéu on Thursday, hurriedly crow-barring him in before the weekend. And it’s nothing to do with Ruud van Nistelrooy’s...
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Wednesday 03 December 2008, 11:00
In general, La Liga Loca is very, very easily pleased. As with Guti, a particularly colourful plastic bag is enough to grab its attention for hours on end. Just the other day, it had to put something down...
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Tuesday 02 December 2008, 10:00
Running a football club in Spain can be an incredibly costly business. The daily delivery of premium ham to get the directors through those boring board meetings. The five-star foreign trips to sign deals...
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Monday 01 December 2008, 13:30
Results Getafe 3 - 1 Real Madrid; Sevilla 0 - 3 Barcelona; Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Numancia; Atletico Madrid 4 - 1 Racing Santander; Espanyol 0- 1 Sporting Gijón; Malaga 4 - 2 Osasuna; Recreativo Huelva...
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Friday 28 November 2008, 10:00
Saturday Getafe (14th) vs Real Madrid (2nd) When Gabriel Heinze knacked his leg standing on a rake carelessly left lying around the club’s training pitches, the clumsy Argentine sustained Madrid’s 21st...
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Wednesday 26 November 2008, 11:00
La Liga Loca woke up this frosty Wednesday morning feeling very excited indeed. Penelope had left nice and early for her film set, leaving the blog to lie back and contemplate the upcoming experience of...
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Tuesday 25 November 2008, 09:00
As Ramón Calderón wandered the room with microphone in hand, like a stinky stand-up comedian playing a dinner-dance in Doncaster, he realised that things weren’t going to plan. “You’ve been a great audience...
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Monday 24 November 2008, 10:00
GOOD DAY Valladolid Whilst some clubs have battened down the hatches and adopted the foetal position during the Sevilla-Barça-Madrid-Villarreal death race, Valladolid decided to seize the day, dangle their...
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Friday 21 November 2008, 10:00
Saturday Real Madrid (4th) vs Recreativo (19th) Even by Ramón Calderón’s magnificent standards, it has been quite a week for the increasingly potty Real Madrid president. The Bernabeu bigwig decided to...
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Wednesday 19 November 2008, 10:00
Are you tired of working for The Spanish Man? Have you been worn down by the daily grind of getting up at 10am, having breakfast, the second breakfast, the four-hour meeting, the long boozy lunch and the...
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Tuesday 18 November 2008, 10:00
When a team’s square-jawed, super-duper, fans’ favourite forward ends up with a knee knack or a gammy groin, there are several ways for a club to deal with the unfortunate occurrence. The most popular...
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Monday 17 November 2008, 12:00
Good Day Sporting La Liga Loca spent Saturday night injecting bleach into its eyeballs in a desperate attempt to banish the images of the Valladolid vs Real Madrid match from its brain, so missed out on...
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Friday 14 November 2008, 13:00