Good Day
Barcelona
The fact that Real Sociedad are no suffering saps - or Real Madrid perhaps - makes the 5-0 win for âÂÂQatar Foundation presents PepâÂÂs Dream Boys!â over La Real so darned impressive. ItâÂÂs hard to know whether the match highlight was Leo Messi weaving past five defenders on the edge of the box to equal RonaldoâÂÂs league tally of 17 goals, or the outstanding Argentine finishing off a 28 pass move straight from the second half kick-off.
The victory sees VillarrealâÂÂs Nilmar as the last footballer to score against Barcelona in la Liga back on the 13th November. It also sees the Catalan press as high as a Spanish middle-distance runner and babbling about football being reinvented and the deliciousness of BarçaâÂÂs sporting stylings.
Alvaro Arbeloa
So upset is José Mourinho with Sergio Ramos these days, that the Madrid manager took time to point out in FridayâÂÂs press conference that the flamenco-fancying fullback would still have been replaced by the considerably more consistent Alvaro Arbeloa even if Ramos had not been injured for the Zaragoza clash.
As for the performance of the rest of Mou's men in the 3-1 victory, thereâÂÂs not too much to be said of a perfectly perfunctory display against la PrimeraâÂÂs bottom dwellers, although that hasnâÂÂt stopped MondayâÂÂs press flogging MourinhoâÂÂs pre-match âÂÂhunting with dogs and catsâ spiel to death. And then some.
Tomás Roncero, writing in AS, realised that nothing of note happened in SundayâÂÂs game and has instead gone through the entire Madrid eleven and decided which kind of dog or cat they would be. Which is as good a way to fill 400 words as any.
âÂÂBenzema is a harmless kitty, Di MarÃÂa is a pit-bull, ÃÂzil is a German shepherd, Xabi Alonso a Siberian husky...â lists Roncero.
LLL would argue that what the paperâÂÂs crackpot columnist failed to note is that Cristiano Ronaldo is an enormous pus... (DonâÂÂt go there - ed)
Kun Agüero
Curses! LLL dashed across the city - as much as sitting on a train can be considered dashing - from GetafeâÂÂs Coliseum to the Vicente Calderón in the hope of experiencing the 37th Atleti managerial sacking of the blog's spell in the Spanish capital with a defeat to Deportivo.
Sadly, the brilliant brace from little Kun - with the first goal being more than a bit special - keeps Quique in his job at least until a new year knock-out by Espanyol in the Copa del Rey.
Juan AlbÃÂn
Just as the blog was merrily chuckling away at its own âÂÂHas-bÃÂn, not AlbÃÂnâ gag, the Uruguayan forward goes and scores his sideâÂÂs winner against Villarreal on a very famous evening indeed for Getafe. Unfortunately, his shirt being whipped off in celebration combined with an earlier yellow card saw AlbÃÂn sent off seconds later.
Watching Getafe these days really is a whole bunch of fun, as supporters - and probably the manager - literally have no idea of what is going to happen. MÃÂchelâÂÂs men can just as easily lose 3-0 to Málaga, draw 1-1 against Zaragoza or beat one of the best teams in Europe - as they did on Saturday - with just 10 men.
Oscar Serrano
Out injured for seven months, the Racing midfielder was thrown into the fray for his return to la Liga with just two minutes to go against Mallorca. A mere matter of moments later and Serrano had buried the ball into the roof of the Dudu AouateâÂÂs net to give Racing their first away win of the season and Oscar the chance to show off his famous sharp-shooting with his nipples celebration, which certainly beats jamming a football up the jersey and running around a bit just because a particular player has managed to knock someone up.
Pablo Piatti
From a long line of tiny Argentinean fancy-pants players who are so softly spoken you can only hear them using an ear trumpet, Piatti was the man of the weekend after two fantastic goals for AlmerÃÂa in a more than surprising win for his side against Sevilla.
However, in the competition run by Marca for just such a contest, the readers of the paper are almost certainly going to vote for Cristiano Ronaldo - the player who is currently topping their Madrid-dominated league table.
Kiko FemenÃÂa
Having a bit of a girlâÂÂs name really didnâÂÂt stop the Hércules youngster from scoring a marvel of a goal in the Alicante sideâÂÂs 4-1 thrashing of Málaga.
Athletic Bilbao
Those of a betting lilt may want to take notice of the following statistic - LWLWLWLWLW. Those are the results of the last ten league matches for Athletic Bilbao, alternating between away and home. The most recent âÂÂWâ in San Mamés was a 2-1 win over Espanyol on Sunday, so a big âÂÂLâ is be expected away at Levante, next weekend.
Bad Day
Juan Carlos Garrido
So scared is LLL of VillarrealâÂÂs vicious-looking manager, that the blog didnâÂÂt dare point out the nonsense nature of GarridoâÂÂs complaints that the referee favoured Getafe in the 1-0 defeat by noting that it was the same official who brought VillarrealâÂÂs opponents down to ten men. Correctly, as it turns out with Cata DÃÂaz getting his marching orders.
It was a strange old game for Villarreal. In the first half they were very good indeed, especially Santi Cazorla who even got a âÂÂwowâ moment from the home crowd with one particular pass. But with Getafe reduced in numbers, Villarreal completely lost the fluency in their football and ended up with just their third defeat all season.
Sevilla
Blimey. A defeat to AlmerÃÂa sees four losses in a row in la Liga and heaven knows what will happen if Sevilla lose out to Borussia Dortmund during the week in the Europa League - a defeat that would see the Andalusian side knocked out of two European competitions in one season.
Manuel Pellegrini
Marca was strangely silent when looking to comment on MálagaâÂÂs 4-1 victory over Hércules, last weekend, a performance that saw four cracking goals for good measure.
Amazingly, the paper has found time for Málaga manager, Manuel Pellegrini, in their top and bottom ten of the weekend column this Monday by sticking to the paperâÂÂs year long grudge against the former Real Madrid manager by placing him somewhere near the bottom of their chart - below Marta Dominguez if they could - after MálagaâÂÂs 4-1 defeat to Hércules.
Deportivo
Cold. Deportivo. Hate. Cold. Deportivo. Hate. Cold. Deportivo. Hate. Cold. Deportivo. Hate.
ThatâÂÂs LLLâÂÂs only memory from a frackinâ freezing Saturday evening at Vicente Calderón.
Sporting
The Asturian side have now dropped down to second-from-bottom - a very worrying state of affairs - after a must-win-but-didnâÂÂt home draw against Levante.
