La Liga’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 36
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 Pep’s Dream Boys a break with a sterling show against Madrid.
Apart from watching Mad Sammy Eto’o having an absolute ‘mare against Mallorca, the most entertaining event of the evening's affair was seeing Barça’s goalkeeping legend, Oier Olazabal, receive rapturous applause during the guard of honour that greeted la Liga’s latest winners as they trotted out at the Ono Estadi.
Barca B lap up pre-match plaudits
Atlético Madrid
With Valencia’s front-line making Klaas-Jan Huntelaar look industrious on Sunday night, Atleti should have buried the men from Mestalla in a gallon of goals.
But instead, the rojiblancos chose to do things the hard way in front of a jumping-and-jiving Vicente Calderón crowd.
Chance after chance was missed by Kun & co, and it was only after an outrageous tumble from the Argentinean striker that Diego Forlán was able to poke away a penalty that moved Atleti into fourth spot - a spot they can’t possibly blow. Can’t they?
Espanyol
And speaking of dodgy decisions from referees and polemical penalties, here’s Paul from Barcelona on Espanyol’s 1-0 win over Athletic.
“An awful match between a below par (not in the golf sense) Espanyol and Stoke City minus the long throw but with Crouch up-front.
"Espanyol won thanks to a (dodgy!!! - LLL) penalty after the worst player I've seen this season, Gurpegui, fouled man of the match Coro and Luis Garcia scored.
"Nothing else happened. It was really bad.
"250 Bilbao supporters and one stray cat.
"Good to see self-proclaimed Barça fans behaving themselves. What a bunch of (fine upstanding supporters - LLL)!!!”
Paul, Barcelona.
Roberto Soldado
La Liga Loca is still a bit befuddled over whether the former Madrid man is actually any good or not.
The Getafe striker is a bit of a wasteful Wally when it comes to chances in front of goal, as seen in his team’s Bernabeu clash when it took some 57 attempts before he found the back of the net.
Luckily, one of Soldado’s decent days was on Saturday when he powered in a header to give Getafe a draw and a big old point away at Deportivo.
Manager, Michel, says Getafe deserved more from the tie. La Liga Loca says what would he know?
Numancia
‘Good-bye!’ cried La Liga Loca last weekend to Numancia. Well, it’s 'hello again!' after a 1-0 win over Recreativo in a match where they battered their opponents.
Villarreal
Villarreal’s strikers are still an absolute disaster, but luckily the club’s midfield tricksters went about their business on Saturday with both Robert Pires and Cani coming up with the goods in the 3-2 win over Real Madrid.
With Atleti due to balls things up royally before the end of the season and Valencia visiting El Madrigal next weekend, a Champions League spot is still a big possibility for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
Sevilla
La Liga Loca spent the first part of Saturday night clucking like a chicken and flapping its arms as Sevilla took to the field against Osasuna with Jesus Navas and Diego Capel both on the bench.
It spend the second half doing it too, as it happens, but for very different reasons.
A four man central-midfield ensured a pragmatic point for the Andalusian side who still sit in their third-placed throne.
Arzu
Not only did the Betis midfielder get to score a thumper in his team’s 2-0 win over Almería but Arzu also got to pump a good old fist towards the critical home crowd.
This ensured much booage for the rest of the encounter and one or two eggs probably being thrown at his car. If it hasn’t already been set on fire, that is.
"Don't even think about it..."
Sporting
And so the comeback begins, thanks to a truly bizarre own goal from Malaga’s Hélder who somehow managed to whack a glancing header into the back of his own net.
Racing Santander
“This particular encounter is set to be a stinker, a slimer, a David Bisbal of a game of football. A guaranteed gumbo of a game” wrote La Liga Loca on Racing’s clash with Valladolid - a 3-2 thriller as it turned out that moved the home side onto 42 points.
Bad Day
Juande Ramos
On Friday afternoon, Juande Ramos was appealing to the press on why his booty should be parked on the Bernabeu bench come August.
“Two weeks ago, I was a strong candidate to manage Madrid next season,” argued the manager who was a strong candidate to manage Madrid next season two weeks ago, “and now I’m not, just because I lost one match.”
Unfortunately for Ramos, that’s just tough titties.
It wasn’t the loss of that single game against Barcelona that blew his chances of a contract renewal, but the disastrous manner of the defeat. That and the absolute stuffings handed out by Liverpool in the Champions League.
While it’s true Ramos had inherited someone else’s squad - no-one at Madrid seems willing to take full responsibility for it - the perception in Madrid is that he should have done better with the resources at his disposal.
Real Madrid’s third straight defeat means that Ramos has just two more weeks left in his current post. Plenty of time for that stationary cupboard raid.
Juande eyes up the boardroom coffee table
Osasuna
Maybe playing Barcelona and Real Madrid in their last two games of the season won’t be so bad after all. Even so, Osasuna need to win both after the weekend’s disappointing goalless draw against Sevilla.
Julien Faubert
The Madrid man has finally made the front pages. But for apparently being asleep on the bench and “touching his parts” as Marca tastefully puts it during the defeat in El Madrigal.
Kun Agüero
“Agüero is not being clever in the penalty area. He’s being a cheat,” says Roberto Palomar in Monday’s Marca. La Liga Loca, for one, salutes you sir.
David Villa
This may be just a footballing fluke, but whenever La Liga Loca has actually seen David Villa play live, he hasn’t been any good.
TVE
Not a great week for Spain’s national channel that is still trying to get to grips with the concept of live television.
During the week it cut away from the national anthem during the Copa del Rey final and replayed it at half-time having manipulated the sound and images.
On Saturday, in its infinite wisdom it opted to show Saturday’s title decider at Old Trafford a good three hours late. But at least the good, good people of Spain got to watch some bike testing from Le Mans.
Ordinarily, La Liga Loca would sigh and move on if it weren’t for the fact that TVE bought the Premier League rights with ITS TAX MONEY. Scumbags.
Soraya
Despite being as bright as a button, as cute as a puppy and in possession of a terrific tush, Spain’s Eurovision entry bottomed out, as it were, in Moscow, causing a whopping storm of protest on Saturday night while the citizens of Barcelona were smashing up their city centre for the fourth time in a fortnight.
Was it the fault of pesky Commies? Being last to perform? Singing in Spanish or simply the result of a terrible tune?
Soraya shines, then slumps
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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.