Saturday
Osasuna (14th) vs Espanyol (13th)
And itâÂÂs 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 Loca.
âÂÂAn artist from southern Sweden has been charged with assault for spray-painting four women while in a drunken stupor.
"The 35-year-old artist told investigators that he was too drunk to remember the incident, which took place in nearby Lund in November of last year, the Metro newspaper reports.
"The artist explained that he first consumed nine strong beers before heading out to purchase a can of spray paint.
"But before he could make it home to commence on a fresh artistic endeavour, the drunken artist began spraying passers-by with the newly purchased paint.âÂÂ
LLL Prediction - Draw
Athletic Bilbao (8th) vs Real Madrid (2nd)
Guti was back in business this week, in every one of the multiple dimensions the footballer inhabits.
In the Santiago Bernabeu against Mallorca, the madcap midfielder played a cameo role in the type of game he loves most of all - Madrid winning easily, under no pressure and facing a dispirited opposition without the energy to boot up him up the ar*e, like Osasuna love to do.
Three days later and he was participating in his second-favourite hobby.
Actually, itâÂÂs his sixth, but the blog probably canâÂÂt drive its gossip golf kart up that alley, as it were.
Guti was facing a press pack who had almost certainly decided to wind him up royally before he trundled onto the conference rostrum at MadridâÂÂs training ground.
However, the footballer was more than up to the challenge.
âÂÂGuti! Did you ever thinking about leaving over the past two months?â asked the man from Marca.
âÂÂDid you ever think about leaving your job over the past two months?â was GutiâÂÂs response - to which the hack replied: âÂÂNo, but I didnâÂÂt have any offers."
âÂÂWell, thatâÂÂs your answer,â said Guti, looking very pleased indeed with himself, before denying that he fakes injuries, confirming that he sleeps just fine and insisting that he did have a very nasty bruise that kept him out for three months - all while grinning like a loon and claiming that he couldnâÂÂt be happier with his life in a âÂÂhey, IâÂÂm breezyâ not-very-breezy manner.
LLL Prediction - Away win
Barcelona (1st) vs Sevilla (5th)
BarcelonaâÂÂs midweek exit from the Copa del Rey has annoyed the heck out of the Madridista press.
Just one narky, sarky comment from the likes of Marca in response to the upset would simply be met with a cry of âÂÂAlcorcón!â or âÂÂHow many trophies?â from the opposition.
So there has been a lot of sitting on hands by journalists in the Spanish capital.
Although Pep seems desperately miffed that his Dream Boys are out of the competition despite a plucky, Palop-ruined performance against Sevilla, the blog is siding with the Catalan papers who see a win-win situation from WednesdayâÂÂs shenanigans.
Barça have freed themselves from a possible four big games in fairly quick succession before a final in May and the players still came away from the Sánchez Pizjuán with a victory.
âÂÂThere are still five trophies left,â blasted SportâÂÂs headline on Wednesday with both themselves and Mundo Deportivo filling their pages with backslapping, supportive columns saying how proud they are of their players.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Sunday
Málaga (18th) vs Getafe (7th)
One of the many things that gets Angel Torresâ Getafe goat is that very few people come and watch his sideâÂÂs games.
WhatâÂÂs more, those who do tend to moan and groan about why the team aren't beating Barcelona 5-0.
The other gripe of the Getafe president is that there hasn't been a single youth-team product in the first-team line-up since the side has been in the top flight.
Well, that changed on Wednesday night when striker Adrián Sardinero took part in GetafeâÂÂs 5-1 cup win over Málaga â the team the Coliseum club face on Sunday afternoon.
tâÂÂHeâÂÂs got a big future with us,â beamed manager Michel.
Unfortunately, Torres wouldnâÂÂt have been a completely happy shopper on Wednesday, as only about 18 people bothered to turn up to watch the encounter.
LLL Prediction - Away win
Racing (12th) vs Valladolid (16th)
Although he'll be probably be rolling in loot for the next few years, Sergio Canales may well be regretting scoring his brilliant brace against Sevilla last weekend.
The shy and retiring 18-year-old Racing striker is now the focus of football attention and the hottest of stuff in the Spanish press, which likes nothing more than a flavour-of-the-month, build-em-up, knock-em-down story to pass the time not being spent writing about how great Florentino Pérez is.
Both Marca and AS report that negotiations are ongoing between Real Madrid and Canalesâ father and agent for the chance for Sergio to move to the Bernabeu and play six minutes every 10 games or so before being shipped off to Getafe as a washed-up waster some two seasons later.
But the youngster is also the victim of a tug-of-love from Premier League teams, where a promising footballer who will be free in June is interesting many of the more destitute clubs, like Manchester United.
LLL Prediction - Home win
AlmerÃÂa (15th) vs Tenerife (17th)
Down in the second division - where Tenerife will probably return in May - there has been quite a lot of hullabaloo about Betis. As always.
Another series of poor results has seen manager Antonio TapÃÂa under a fair amount of pressure and there have been one or two stories floating about in the press this week that Juande Ramos has been approached by Betis as his possible replacement.
However, Ramos has used his own website to deny any contact between himself or his agent and Betis, despite the rumblings to the contrary in Andalusia â rumblings that would make the coach even more popular with fans of Sevilla, having walked out on them to join Spurs.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Zaragoza (19th) vs Xerez (20th)
Since the appointment of the new Zaragoza manager in December, the clubâÂÂs players have shown very little Gay pride in either themselves or their performances by losing two and drawing the third of the three games under his tenure.
However, José Aurelio has decided to shake things up bit, this week, by adding Chile international Humberto âÂÂIâÂÂm not a saviourâ Suazo to the squad and JiràâÂÂI had nothing better to doâ Jarosik, who is taking a break from his other career as an American independent filmmaker.
Meanwhile, Xerez have sacked manager Cuco Ziganda to no real surprise and for no real point.
WhatâÂÂs more, due to their ongoing administration process, the club had to get permission from a judge to do it.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Mallorca (6th) vs Deportivo (4th)
Three words the blog thought could never be written together. Depor. Goals. Exciting.
However, Miguel Angel LotinaâÂÂs men participated fully in two cracking Copa del Rey ties against Valencia and eventually went through to the quarter finals with a 4-3 aggregate lead.
Of course, the sideâÂÂs strikers didn't want to sully themselves with the business of scoring, so it was up to the rest of the squad to make their manager a very happy man. Sort of.
âÂÂI was thrilled by the way we got through,â confessed the normally thrill-free Lotina after a game where Depor had to come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in La RÃÂazor.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Atlético Madrid (11th) vs Sporting (9th)
After Atlético beat Recreativo, a side in the bottom half of the second division, in the cup on Thursday night, the Madrid papers are once again running straight into a brick wall of doom by hailing the re-re-re-re-rebirth of Atlético Madrid.
La Liga Loca still sees them as a dazed zombie, stumbling around and posing a marginal threat to those caught off-guard and lacking that killer blow to the head with a baseball bat to finish them off - a blow that Sporting will be delivering on Sunday.
After all, as Quique Sánchez Flores pointed out after the dramatic 5-1 win, âÂÂwe canâÂÂt be too confident because we are our own worst enemy.âÂÂ
LLL Prediction - Away win
Valencia (3rd) vs Villarreal (10th)
After their embarrassing cup exit to Celta Vigo, Villarreal have been taking it on the chin like Ever Banega misjudging his angles.
Going into the home tie at 1-1, Villarreal contrived to get themselves knocked out in a 1-0 defeat, albeit to a penalty from a non-foul that took place outside the box in second-half injury time.
The concern now is that this result, combined with last SaturdayâÂÂs limp draw against AlmerÃÂa, will see Villarreal returning to their early-season ways when they badly struggled for form.
âÂÂWe can either bounce back, be consistent or we will see the ghosts of the beginning of the season again,â warned goalkeeper Diego López.
LLL Prediction - Draw
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