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 of recent years, a somewhat boring Catalan derby. Barcelona just need a single point against Levante on Wednesday to win the title, providing Real Madrid dodge their local civic duty and beat Getafe the day before.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Four goals against Sevilla means that although the Portuguese poser may not be picking up either the Champions League or Primera trophies this season, he could be winning the one that really counts to the Madridista press right about now - the Pichichi - with Ronaldo holding a two goal lead over Leo Messi, or three if you are a Marca reader.
Valencia
Comfortable is the best word to describe ValenciaâÂÂs 3-0 win over Real Sociedad, a victory that guarantees the Mestalla men a shot at the Champions League next season. However, this good news hasnâÂÂt prevented the normal Valencia feuding and fighting, with AS reporting some training ground scuffles on Sunday.
Athletic Bilbao
Jokin Caparrós and his team of seven-foot tumblers and hoofers nearly blew their chances of victory on Saturday. Athletic were 3-0 up with half an hour to go before two efforts from Levante made it a very nervous end to the game.
Levante were a touch unhappy at the home sideâÂÂs second goal when the weak and spindly Fernando Llorente went down like three tons of bricks to win a successfully converted penalty. âÂÂCaparrós has spent the whole season complaining that they donâÂÂt give enough penalties to Llorente, heâÂÂs got one now,â moaned Levante boss, Luis GarcÃÂa, after the game.
Giovani dos Santos
Another contender for the winter signing of the season along side Ivan Rakitic and Julio Baptista. The on-loan Spurs man appears to have got his career back on track and scored two goals in a huge win for Racing against Hércules to make it five since joining at the end of January.
Julio Baptista
And itâÂÂs hello once again to the Good Day section for the aforementioned Brazilian Beast, who bagged the second of MálagaâÂÂs goals in the 3-0 win over Atlético to make it four wins in a row for Manuel PellegriniâÂÂs men and six goals in that spell from MálagaâÂÂs miracle.
Osasuna
Perhaps the biggest winners of all. Hanging on at half-time 1-0 down to Zaragoza after a Nelson-assisted goal, Osasuna could have crumbled. But instead, the Navarran side fought back in the second half to win 3-1 and really turn the relegation battle on its head in the final three games.
Getafe
The first of the two games that Getafe have targeted to stay up was AlmerÃÂa and the victory was secured in just four minutes with Adrián Colunga scoring the first of GetafeâÂÂs two goals. The next big âÂÂun for the Coliseum club is SundayâÂÂs home clash with Osasuna. ItâÂÂs going to be fruity. There may even be fans there.
Bad Day
Sevilla
A shambles.
Atlético Madrid
Nobody told the Atlético defence about the whole âÂÂstick the ball on Rondon and BaptistaâÂÂs headâ big-men-up-front strategy that Málaga have so carefully been deploying the past month, it would appear. Actually, they probably did, but the back four were two hapless to do anything about it.
The first two goals of the the Rojiblancos' 3-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderón on Saturday evening were carbon copies and wholly avoidable grumbled Quique Sánchez Flores after the game.
Diego Costa summed up a poor night in the Spanish capital for Atlético by admitting that âÂÂwe were at 20% of our level and I donâÂÂt know why.â Fortunately for the Rojiblancos, the damage done in the defeat was limited due to losses for Sevilla and Espanyol which leaves Atlético with a four point lead in seventh over the Péricos in the chase for a European spot.
Espanyol
It was a day of adventure for Paul from Barcelona, who left the comforts of Cornella to watch his team in the confines of the Camp Nou.
âÂÂWell, a day of the status quo for all concerned I think. Barça decided to take away EspanyolâÂÂs ticket allocation on Friday after fears of bad behaviour and people letting off flares. People in glass houses etc was the Espanyol response.
So your correspondent called in a favour and managed to get a ticket from someone he knows who works for the evil empire.
Two defensive howlers from Espanyol gave Barça victory. The first, Galan (yes, him again) gave the ball to Iniesta (m.o.m) who did well to score, then terrible marking allowed Pique, who did foul an Espanyol player, a free header to make it 2-0. And that dear readers was about it to be honest.
Espanyol had a couple of chances from Osvaldo who with a bit of support might have nicked a goal back. Barça dominated, Villa looked rubbish, Dani Alves play acted and Messi didnâÂÂt look that bothered about scoring but preferred to kick Jordi AmatâÂÂs ankles.
Surprisingly the ref didnâÂÂt give any dodgy decisions BarçaâÂÂs way but did give them everything else. Best team won, Espanyol defended quite well but with five first teamers out the result was never really in doubt. Barça will need to play a lot better to beat Man Utd.
Good to see Abidal back, even I applauded.âÂÂ
Paul, Barcelona
Levante, Sporting, Mallorca
All three teams failed to pick up three points over the weekend and a freakish set of results elsewhere means that the tally of 43 that the trio currently have may not be enough to stave off the drop, with the relegation zone just four points away with nine still to play for. Levante and SportingâÂÂs goalless draw, time-wasting, kick-about from last weekend is not looking so clever now.
Mallorca, Villarreal
So much for the crazy showing games at midday on a Sunday for the Asian market scheme. La LigaâÂÂs reputation for sexy, zesty football will take decades to rebuild after the weekendâÂÂs snore-inducing, bore-fest between these two teams who are very much in the naughty corner.
Zaragoza
The fantastic work from the victory in the Santiago Bernabeu blown to smithereens against Osasuna with a 3-2 home defeat.
Deportivo
While the evil half of LLL would love to see Deportivo relegated simply because being forced to watch them inspires suicidal thoughts, the good half thinks it might be a shame to see the former golden Galician side go down after 20 years in the top flight. Besides, LLL wouldnâÂÂt have any gags left, although Betis are set to return to la Primera which could help cover the potential deficit...
Miguel Angel Lotina is most unhappy - as ever - at the two penalties awarded against his team in a 2-2 draw with Sporting complaining that he was âÂÂfed up and the players in the dressing room are crying.â Lotina was right with the first call with the ball striking LaureâÂÂs back and not his arm as the referee thought. But the second penalty with the game in injury time with Deportivo 2-1 up was correct when David Barral was brought down.
Deportivo are now in the relegation places and facing Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia in their final three games with two of the those teams with potential points to play for in the run-in.
Hércules
A home defeat to Racing sees Hércules hanging on to their top flight status by their finger nails. With a bit of luck, Mallorca will stamp on them on Wednesday evening to send the Alicante side back to la Segunda.
AlmerÃÂa
Despite being supported by SatanâÂÂs representative on earth, David Bisbal, LLL has never really had anything against AlmerÃÂa. The southern side play fun, counter-attacking, speedy football and have a couple of decent players knocking about. What AlmerÃÂa didnâÂÂt have though was fighting spirit with the club losing their last seven games to become the first team relegated this season.
