La Liga Loca

A sideways look at Spanish football

Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot

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La Liga's Good Day, Bad Day - Round 24

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 of the titillating title chase from two years ago, which finished with Madrid knocking a pant-peeing Barcelona off their perch after an incredible chase. It was an evening that gives the Castle Greyskull crew a sliver of hope of repeating the feat once again.

It also means that a lacklustre La Liga Loca won’t have to spend Sunday evenings watching that show with the beaky-nosed bird who sees dead people to pass the time.

Despite AS and Marca frantically leaping up and down like Xavi trying to see over the bar at a lap dancing club, the seven-point margin between the two teams could easily return to 10 next weekend, with Espanyol hosting Madrid in the Montjuic and Barcelona travelling to Atlético in a match where, quite frankly, anything can and probably will happen.

But until that happens, La Liga Loca is siding with the neutrals and enjoying the new state of affairs in Spain. However temporary it may turn out to be.

Huntelaar helps himself to a brace

Espanyol

Saturday’s win at the Camp Nou was the first in 27 years for Espanyol. Indeed, it may well have been their first victory in La Liga for 27 years, so rotten have the Pericos been of late. Watching the bedlam in the Catalan capital was Paul from Barcelona.

“Well that's the world turned upside down. Bottom beats top. The Unwinnables beat the Unbeatables. Barça have a player sent off against Espanyol for the first time. Maybe harshly, though Nene probably thinks 'you don't know what harsh is' - see previous league game this season, for those of you with short memories. Hello Messi, Xavi.

There were what is known as some 'tasty tackles' Toure's second half one on Moises was much worse that Keita's red card one. The crowd decided that booing the ref was more important than supporting the team.

Yes, Barça dominated the first half but Espanyol defended incredibly well. Second half, Messi didn't fancy it, well played David Garcia. Valdés won't go near YouTube for years and Espanyol could have scored more on the break. I didn't think Barça ever really looked like equalising.

Overall, a fantastic battling performance from Espanyol who deserved to win. Pochettino got his tactics spot on. Barça looked sluggish and at times not up for a battle but they will still win the league by a mile.

I'm taking a leaf out of Pep's book by winning with dignity as this is how he took defeat. Unlike some of his players. Real Madrid next week. Should be a cracker.

Hands up who thought this was going to be a gloat and insult extravaganza?”

Paul, Barcelona

(La Liga Loca puts its hand up)

Old boy Ivan silences the Camp Nou

Jesus Navas

The Sevilla midfielder may possess the mind of weak and feeble woman - and the body too - but Jesus Navas is single-handedly keeping Sevilla in the Champions League places this season.

The acorn-sized attacker from Andalusia is now the top assist-maker in La Liga and popped up with a late winner against Atlético Madrid on Saturday night. And this comes after two set-ups against Espanyol the previous weekend.

Villarreal

Villarreal are only in this section due to the fact that they managed to win their home game against Sporting. Just. But the team can count their lucky stars that they’ve not been batted into the Bad Day brigade after the post match moans from Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean coach noted after the 2-1 victory that “it’s not easy to score against a team that comes to defend.”

Sporting have been described as many things this season, but defensive is not one of them. The side from Gijon have conceded 53 league goals so far and have yet to draw a game. In fact they scored their opener in El Madrigal within 20 seconds of the opening whistle.

Manager, Manuel Preciado, wouldn’t know the meaning of the word ‘defensive’ if it spent a week with a white board patiently explaining itself to the Sporting coach.

Málaga

If you’re an oddball that’s into your geographical stats then here’s a good one for you. Up until this weekend, Málaga had had as much soccer success away from Andalusia as José Antonio Reyes.

All the club’s victories had taken place inside the region’s bonkers borders. But that was until Sunday, when the new - but a lot more entertaining - Malaga came away from Valladolid with a 3-1 victory to leave them in the UEFA Cup places, three points clear of poor old Atleti.

Malaga march on

Osasuna

The 2-0 victory over Numancia makes it five matches unbeaten now for the mighty men from Pamplona.

Mallorca

An iffy penalty for Mallorca - and an even iffier execution from José Jurado - gave the Balearic club a 1-0 win over Racing and a slight sniff of a survival chance.

Tomas Guasch

La Liga Loca is happy to applaud (and often steal) a fine gag when it sees it. And that’s what it’s doing today by giving the AS man a pat on the back for wondering whether Joan Laporta has “called his Uzbek friend to see if he can buy Espanyol and take them home with him. Without commission.”

Patxi Alonso, Gica Craioveanu

Spain’s finest pundits donned Sunderland shirts for their Premier League round-up on Sunday evening. Not sure why, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

BAD DAY

Barcelona

Now La Liga Loca has no idea if Saturday’s defeat to Espanyol is the start of a big bottle from Barcelona, or a simple reflection of the fact that the Catalan club won’t be winning every game this season.

The blog was tied up with Bernabeu business on Saturday night and unable to catch the chaos at the Camp Nou, but what it saw from the highlights was two teams booting the crap out of each other with one of them coming out winners in the end.

While Pep took the defeat on his heroic chin with his comment that “if we lose, then it’s our fault,” the local press have been blaming the sending off of Seydou Keita for the setback.

They have also been staggeringly hypocritical in their post match reactions. “This defeat should serve as a lesson and an example,” wrote an unbearably smug Josep Maria Casanovas in Sport.

But he was quite right to note this, although the lesson was for his colleagues in the Catalan capital and not Barcelona, who have never claimed the league title would be a cakewalk.

“We’re not dreaming, just making plans for the future,” wrote a certain Snr Casanovas in Sport at the end of January on his certainty that Barcelona would surely reach the finals of the Copa Del Rey and Champions League.

Just one example of the local press writing that an unbeatable Barça simply have to turn up to win games, these days.

Víctor Valdés

Last week, La Liga Loca asked whether it was time for Barcelona fans to show some love for their much maligned goalkeeper. The blog probably won't be doing that again.

"Why La Liga Loca? WHY???"

Atlético Madrid

Marca’s fabulous offers of tat this weekend didn’t just include MP3 speakers in the shape - and the size - of the Bernabeu but a lovely Atlético Madrid watch. All be it, a watch with the last three minutes missing.

Last weekend against Getafe, the rojiblancos made it all the way to the 87 minute mark before deciding the game was won - an action that lead to an equaliser from the visitors.

On Saturday night, it was stalemate against Sevilla until the same point when, once again, the Atleti players downed tools to allow Jesus Navas in to grab the winner.

The rojiblancos now face a Champions League tie against Porto on Tuesday and a classic no-win situation in La Liga next weekend. A victory against Barcelona will see them pick up three desperately needed points but give a huge boost to their neighbours up the road. A defeat could leave them six points off the UEFA Cup places.

“We’ll lose to Barcelona and lose to Real Madrid and keep everyone happy,” predicted one rojiblanco fan to La Liga Loca when asked about this sticky situation.

Luis Perea

A bad day for the Atlético Madrid defender, not only because he had to play for the rojiblancos but because he was knocked out in a horrific clash of heads with Ndri Romaric - an incident that rules him out for a month.

But the worst was to come when, being wheeled out of the dressing room and into an ambulance with his brains still spilling out, the Colombian had to undergo interviews with the press from his stretcher.

Valladolid

So upset was the Valladolid bench over Sunday’s loss over Málaga that both manager José Mendilibar and the team doctor were sent to the stands by the referee to cool their heals. But this got the blog thinking, in light of what happened to poor old Perea, isn’t it a little bit silly to send a qualified practitioner of medicine so far away from the field of play?

Betis

Now that was funny. Especially in light of Paco Chaparro’s pre match comments that “Barcelona take you apart. Real Madrid just win.”

Chaparro: "It's OK, Madrid only ever win 1-0 ... (or 4-0, or 6-1)..."

Numancia

“All the week’s planning was gone at 1-0,” complained, ‘nu’ Numancia manager, Pacheta on Osasuna’s first goal against the bottom-dwellers after just two minutes.

Considering his team had lost their five previous matches it seems that Pacheta’s plan was as threadbare as Arjen Robben’s barnet.

Albert Crusat

Almería’s minute midfielder was given his marching orders against Recreativo for, well, nothing really. Luckily the referee made up for this blunder by awarding his side a non-existent penalty later on.

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About Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot

When he isn't fighting the evil forces of flamenco or attracting libel actions for La Liga Loca, Tim Stannard is building his media empire in Madrid. As well as contributing to Football365 and doing odd jobs elsewhere, Tim also works in the glamorous world of television as a producer, script writer, news editor, coffee boy and stand-in fluffer.

Simon Talbot? Well, he's a man of mystery.

Comments

	February 23, 2009 12:43 Fabrecass said: Poking fun at Arjen Robbens hair (or lack thereof)? Not cool, that's not his fault. If you're going to make fun of the poor dutchman, look no further than his camp movements with the ball at his feet.... so dainty.
	February 23, 2009 13:08 AdamCule said: Yes Paul, hands up from me. The sending off was wrong, just plain wrong from an official who (with the aid of his assistant) seemed to see every foul by a Barça player as a yellow card and the officiating of offsides was dodgy to say the least but I'm sure Mallorca would have something to say about that. The fact remains that after having Keita red carded for not an awful lot Pep utterly failed to react to the situation in a convincing manner. He ended up taking off Henry and Etoo and playing Messi and Busquets up front in the last part of the match with a totally ineffective Gudjohnsen behind them doing sweet FA. Espanyol battled admirably when their players could stay on their feet - last week's masterclass from Diego Capel must have been well worth the tutoring fee - and Paul is right to say we didn't look like equalising, and we probably didn't deserve to based on the merits of our play in the second half. Dropping points to the Perikos is never easy to take and we have every right to criticise the referee but it's important that behind closed doors somebody is recognising the fact that the Barça footballing machine is stuttering and stalling just a little bit and needs to be tweaked before the game at Atletico next Sunday when we could find ourselves starting the game with just a four point lead at the top. Consolation is gained by Sunday's results meaning that Espanyol gained little or anything on their relegation rivals other than poor old Numancia who looked doomed, doomed, doomed.
	February 23, 2009 13:48 Paul said: " we have every right to criticise the referee" But coming from Barça it's a case of What goes around comes around.Non-existent last minute penalties etc Adam-why do you have this ridiculous thing about Espanyol players diving? There is nothing to back this up.You have Messi for god's sake.Apart from Sevilla (World Champions),Barça are right up there in the go down easy stakes.Pot ,kettle ,black. Strangely,It's been that kind of week,i find myself agreeing with you. Peps tactics were strange. I knew we were going to win when he took off Eto'o. I thought Henry had had a poor match and Strengthening the midfield was what he had to do at that point. The one thing most reports seem to have missed is that Espanyol played really well and at times out-Passed Barça. the worst culprit being "QUE" the free newspaper but Sport were very whiney. Carlos Pujol got it right "No excuses and we need to sort it out" Big Big matches this weekend.
	February 23, 2009 13:54 Paul said: www.youtube.com/watch with commentary from Dennis of Auf Wiedersehen Pet
	February 23, 2009 14:06 Boqueron said: Joder Tim! Last week we made it onto LLL's radar in a segment that turned out to be about Toy Story. This week we move into a UEFA spot and get mistaken for Almeria!
	February 23, 2009 16:07 SimonPerico said: Well as Paul seems reluctant to gloat, allow me to step in. God knows we haven´t had too many reasons to do that this season. I´m not going to gloat over the fact that Espanyol were simply the better team on the night or that it was our first win at Camp Nou for 27 years. I´m not even going to gloat about Pep`s inspired (for us at least) bringing on of Gudjohnsson or the fact that Messi, Henry and the rest of them were outplayed. No the thing that really pleased me was the fact that the awful refereeing went our way for the first time ever. It also went against Barca for the first time ever. Double joy. I´m still laughing at the faces of the Barca players when the ref got out his red card. "A red card? For us???? Have you forgotten who we are?" He should have gone one better and booked a few more of them for their aggressive and bullying protests everytime a decision went against them but that's another story. Yes this was a game when Barca`s arrogance got the good kicking it deserved. Roll on Real Madrid.
	February 23, 2009 19:37 Paul said: Simon-You ain't wrong mate. "Espanyol were simply the better team on the night" seems to have been forgottten especially in Mundodeportivo. And instead of Messi blaming the ref he should look at at his own Lacklustre performance,though he was played out of it Beautifully by David Garcia and Moises. A serious point maybe Adam can answer-I thought Barça looked tired. Maintaing their high level can't be easy and what with Champions,La Liga and cup games have they got the squad to get through ?
	February 23, 2009 21:00 judas pissed said: Thought Espanyols plan to kick us off the park & roll around for 5 minutes at a time worked brilliantly for them. There must have been about 20 minutes of actual ball in play in the whole game & it drew Barca into a slugging match for which they were ill prepared. But congrats to them 'cos it worked. And the ref was apalling but equally so for both sides - he was never up to officiating such a pressure cooker match. Hopefully it's the smack in the teeth that Barca needed - it reminds me of 2007 when February rolled round & we started to just turn up to matches. Look what happened then. Still 7 points is a healthy lead & teams always have a bad patch - we earned ours with our fantastic December...
	February 23, 2009 21:42 AdamCule said: Paul, my point is that on Saturday your players took diving to a whole new level. At times there were two or three players going down at once and asking for the physio, all teams lay on a few histrionics in La Liga, not least my own side but Espanyol were simply pathetic for it on Saturday with every minor tap resulting in at least a 40 second delay as another periko looked to be at death's door and getting the physio on to slow down the game. The fact that the ref only added on 3 minutes in the second half was incomprehensible. I'm not saying it made a difference at all but it's something that annoyed me at the time because it was purely designed to stop any football being played. Yes, we did look a bit tired.
	February 23, 2009 22:18 kbones said: Thank you Adam for saying about Espanyol's diving tactics. My post about that wouldn't probably go past the moderator. I'm also glad that Paul agrees about the red card... but my main argument against the ref is not that his decisions were unfair - they were just, if my words are proper, badly weighted for a derby match. Anyway - we have every right to expect a good performance vs Lyon. No dodgy refereeing, no "kick-em-all" playing style, no red cards. No nerves. And Simon - please don't try to say that Espanyol wasn't aggressive, arrogant and bullying throughout the match.
	February 23, 2009 22:31 Paul said: I know the incident you mean but that was because there were 3 consecutive fouls. In a match that Espanyol have been classed as Tough(Yes they were too,no denying it) but The Bad tackles came from your lot.There was a lot of petulance from Barça When things didn't go their way. Xavi's tackle on De La Peña was more off a red than Keita's. Toure's attempt to break Moises' knee was Straight red.I watched the match again today and it's a horrible tackle. When you are winning you are going to stay down longer but to say that they dived to get the free kicks isn't true.They were clear fouls.Mate, you want to see tactical diving and cheating ? wait till Almeria and Sevilla come to town. Espanyol breaking up the play and breaking Barça's rythmn was the perfect tactic. Let's be honest here,we were never going to win by playing 3 up front. The tactical foul is part of the game now and have you forgotten that Deco was the master when at Barça?. The time added on thing,yes, there should have been more but not the 9-10 minutes of the first match. Like i've been saying all day "Live by the Sword,die by the sword". In the greater scheme of things i don't see why Barça are getting so het up about the ref Compared to that moron in the first match he didn't do a lot wrong. That's only their 3rd defeat all season and Victor Valdes did more damage than anyone else. Obviously i be mentioning and referencing this match for the foreseeable future but i want to say well done for coming on here even though you lost. Unlike some of those big mouths,you know who you are "EGGS" who seem to have disappeared this past couple of weeks. can we start a "Post when your winning" Chant?
	February 23, 2009 22:34 Paul said: Judas-"And the ref was apalling but equally so for both sides" fair point. He was eager to get the cards out wasn't he ?
	February 23, 2009 23:46 blackpudding said: As an notorious Athletic supporter I guess Patxi Alonso fancies Sunderland (maybe Saints and Sheffield Utd, as well) and he convinced Gica to wear those Sunderland shirts.
	February 24, 2009 00:03 gogetafe said: Did Espanyol ham it up, play overly physical football, waste time and play an overall dirty, gritty match? Hell yes. But given they were absolute bottom going up against absolute top and the away team in a city rivalry to boot... can you really blame them? Espanyol performed exactly how I expected them to, precisely how Barcelona (should have) expected them to, and I applaud them for succeeding. Points I'm glad someone else made: 1. Valdes did more damage to Barca's cause than the ref. 2. Kieta's undeserved red? Moises' undeserved red. At least the ref didn't give Espanyol a mystery penalty.
	February 24, 2009 08:30 AdamCule said: Blackpudding's explanation seems to make sense, whenever I see La Sexta and they're talking about the EPL Patxi Alonso gets very excited if Sunderland are mentioned.
	February 24, 2009 09:37 Tim Stannard said: Blackpudding - I did some digging and found out that it is the fact that Sunderland play in the some colours at Patxi's beloved Athletic. Sadly, it may be some time before he catches sight of Southampton.
	February 24, 2009 09:44 Paul said: Sunderland and Southampton both have historical connections with Bilbao. Workers from the shipyards of these 2 cities came to Bilbao to help set up the Shipyards there. The football team was started by Expats,hence the name Athletic not Athletico. The original shirts were Blue and white stripes as were Atletico Madrid and there was a theory that they changed for the same reason. Something to do with matresses i seem to remember. I did a San Mames stadium tour a few years ago. There's a strong connection with South Wales too. any help ? Have i Mentioned Espanyol beat Barça at Camp Nou ?