GOOD DAY
Pep Guardiola
Not too much to talk about with Barcelona and their 1-0 home win over Zaragoza best described as perfunctory. But itâÂÂs a better day for Pep Guardiola, who got the go-ahead to leave hospital on Monday after two nights being bed-bathed by buxom Barça-loving nurses whilst suffering from a hernia in his back.
Real Madrid
There were some omens for Madrid ahead of the visit to Racing: the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in the league; the news that Kaká will be missing until further notice (or until another tournament is on the horizon for Brazil); the sensation that Florentino Pérez was suffering from from one vol-au-vent too many at the pre-match din-dins. That was certainly the impression gained from the shots of the Madrid president sat in the âÂÂpalcoâ with his jowly face of thunder.
As it turned out, in the opening 45 minutes of a 3-1 win Madrid played one of their best halves of the season, invoking Barcelona comparisons in the next dayâÂÂs press after players unselfishly passed to each other rather than taking regular potshots into the stands followed by preening pouts. Not that this has anything to do with the absence of a certain shiny-faced superstar.
Pablo Hernández
The permanently bewildered-looking Pablo is a frequent victim of Unai EmeryâÂÂs tinkering tendencies, but he started the game at Mallorca on Saturday and banged in a couple of lovely efforts in a 2-1 victory that nicely holds third place for Valencia. Of course, that doesnâÂÂt mean that the midfielder will be featuring against Schalke on Wednesday, with the Valencia boss no doubt having planned changes before the weekendâÂÂs game had even begun.
Borja Valero
The Villarreal midfielder may have been on the losing side on Saturday, but Valero was by far the best thing on the pitch against Atlético Madrid, perhaps the only spark of life in a team that Cani admits is starting to feel more than a little tired after a busy campaign so far.
José Antonio Reyes
Whilst there has been an awful lot of fuss and rather tedious statistics pieces being churned out in the Spanish football press about the lack of goals from Diego Forlán and Kun Agüero this season in la Liga â just 17 between them â AtléticoâÂÂs diving dazzler Reyes has been largely overlooked despite being one of the season's best Rojiblanco performers. Then again, thereâÂÂs hardly much competition in that particular tiara-winning category.
Both Kun and La Rubia managed to get onto the scoresheet in a comfortable (but frackinâ cold) Saturday night at the Calderón, but it was Reyes once again who shook things up a bit with a corker of an opening goal and many a charge down the flanks â charges that usually ended with a tumble and desperate look at the ref.
Athletic Bilbao
A cr*p 2-0 win, with cr*p goals against a cr*p Sevilla in a cr*p game stops a cr*p run of four cr*p defeats for Athletic Bilbao.
Levante
And the dream stays alive: LevanteâÂÂs 1-0 over Espanyol was the sideâÂÂs fifth win in seven. Wonderful, wonderful stuff from Luis GarcÃÂaâÂÂs side, who more than fulfilled the pledge to make up for the torture inflicted upon supporters when the players recorded a tribute song to them last week.
Osasuna
After nearly 14 months, Osasuna finally get an away win in la Liga with Málaga happy to let them get rid of that unwanted record by failing to defend an injury-time header from Sergio.
AlmerÃÂa
Not sure the 1-2 win away at Hércules will be good enough to keep the AlmerÃÂa boat afloat in the long term after last MondayâÂÂs loss to Málaga but it still keeps âÂÂem in the relegation survival running for a wee while more.
BAD DAY
Espanyol
The injury-hit side's loss at Levante was their sixth defeat in seven. Luckily, the two teams below the Pericos in the table, Sevilla and Atlético, are generally too feckless to do anything about it.
Getafe
âÂÂIf your seasonâÂÂs screwed and it donâÂÂt look good, who you going to call? Getafe!â Yep, once again, la LigaâÂÂs friendly neighbourhood chumps roll into town, do very little and lose on demand. This time it was away at Sporting.
Hércules
LLL has made no attempt to disguise its dislike of Hércules due to match-fixing rumours last season â the accusations of which were âÂÂarchivedâ by SpainâÂÂs governing bodies â and the treatment of Royston âÂÂRickyâ Drenthe, who had âÂÂKKKâ written on the walls of his house and was hounded at Alicante airport by Hércules supporters after initially refusing to return from the winter break having not been paid since August.
This is why the blog is delighted to see the side losing once again, this time against AlmerÃÂa, and falling into the relegation zone. LLL is already ordering in the popcorn for next SaturdayâÂÂs visit to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Manuel Pellegrini
Marca resumed its attacks on Manuel Pellegrini on Saturday, making the Málaga manager the evil-doer of the week for confessing that his teamâÂÂs heart wasnâÂÂt really in it during the clash against Real Madrid on Thursday night.
Instead, Osasuna at home was MálagaâÂÂs big dream, a chance for three points to get them off the bottom. Unfortunately, a 16th loss in la Liga this year and a 59th goal conceded this season â in injury time, no less â sees LLL joining Marca for once and having to dish out a bit of a kick in the goolies to poor old Pellegrini whose Málaga side officially look in big, big trouble.
