Good Day
Real Madrid
LLL is being extremely kind-hearted in plonking Real Madrid in the good day section, but a winâÂÂs a winâÂÂs a winâÂÂs a win - although slightly less so when Atlético Madrid are involved considering the last time the hapless Rojiblancos came out on top in a derby was 1999, the year that saw the side relegated.
The first half of Sunday nightâÂÂs game was abysmal and the second only marginally better, despite the five goal score line. âÂÂThe most boring 3-2 I have ever seenâ muttered one of the blogâÂÂs colleagues.
The atmosphere in the Bernabeu was lousy, the football was lousy and so were most of the Real Madrid players.
Gonzalo HiguaÃÂn missed from a metre, although made up for this in the second half with his 23rd of the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo was back to blasting long shots over the bar and pouting. Marcelo was largely ignored. Xabi Alonso was pinging balls into the stands and Esteban Granero was so bad he was booed.
But then at half-time, Real Madrid remembered they were playing Atlético Madrid and Atlético Madrid remembered they were, well, Atlético Madrid and surrendered their 1-0 lead in a catastrophic 15 minute spell.
The Madridista press are boasting that Sunday saw a âÂÂChampionship comebackâ (AS) with Marca claiming on MondayâÂÂs front page that âÂÂThis is how you win a league.âÂÂ
But if Real Madrid donâÂÂt play an awful lot better in a fortnightâÂÂs time in el ClasÃÂco, then theyâÂÂll be blooming lucky to score two against BarçaâÂÂs six, as happened in last seasonâÂÂs Bernabeu disaster.
Barcelona
Arguably, the narrow 1-0 win over Mallorca was the most important in the league for PepâÂÂs Dream Boys, this season, after the victory over Real Madrid in the Camp Nou.
âÂÂTake that Madrid!â yelled an adult José Luis Carazo in SundayâÂÂs Sport, in expressing the relief in the Catalan press.
Mallorca had won 12 from 13 in the Ono Estadi and Barcelona were starting the game without Messi, Xavi, Henry and Pique. But the risk paid off. Just.
âÂÂWe had a fantastic second half in every way,â beamed Pep Guardiola after a second 45 minutes when the first two of the missing four were called into action.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The Swede has now scored three from three in la Liga - all-be-it one from a penalty gift from Leo Messi and two tap-ins - but the last two goals against Osasuna and Mallorca should silence some of the strikerâÂÂs many, many demons.
One of them was physically standing behind the forward and waving, on Saturday night, with Zlatan being interviewed on TV in Spanish and answering in Italian whilst MallorcaâÂÂs devilishly brilliant mascot caused mischief in the background.
But his finest moment surely game when he chased a laughing Bojan around the pitch during the warm up and proceeded to poke an unamused Pep Guardiola in the chest with his trident.
Nestor Gorosito
ItâÂÂs three wins from five for GorositoâÂÂs Xerez who banged in an incredible three goals to hammer relegation rivals, Valladolid, on Sunday.
The clubâÂÂs Argentinean mullet-sporting miracle of a manager may look as though he should be whistling along to âÂÂWinds of Changeâ whilst clutching a lighter but Gorosito has done a truly remarkable job at the bottom of the table team since taking over in January.
Tenerife
The 1-1 draw against Málaga meant another failure to win on their travels for Tenerife in 14 attempts.
But the point was a useful one after a late penalty was converted by Alfaro due to the about-to-shoot Nino being upended by Patrick Mtiliga, the Málaga defender who found fame, this season, for selfishly being too small to dodge Cristiano RonaldoâÂÂs elbow in their Bernabeu clash.
Riki!!!, Angel Arizmendi
The last time that either of these âÂÂstrikersâ did what it says on the tin, was back in round 23 of la Primera when they both troubled the score sheet on the same spooky match day.
But it was déja-vu all over again, this weekend, with the former grabbing the only goal for Deportivo in their 3-1 defeat to Getafe and Arizmendi surprising himself as much as the rest of the world with the second for his side in a remarkable 3-0 pounding of Valencia.
Michel
LLL still doesnnâÂÂt like the manager in charge of Getafe. Too pretty, too fond of fielding his inept children in the line-up and possessing eyes that are too close together.
But the blog is probably quite wrong in its incomprehensible, irrational belief as Michel has now accumulated more points than former bosses and LLL heroes, Bernd Schuster and Michael Laudrup, managed at the same stage in seasons past.
Getafe got to within two points of the top six (with Athletic to play on Monday) with a wholly unpredictable 3-1 away win in a game where both managers were banished from the bench after sendings off in the midweek round of matches.
Osasuna
The Pamplonan sideâÂÂs first win in eight attempts came from - and how wonderfully comforting it feels to write these words again - a header from Walter Pandiani...
Diego Alves
...but it should have been an awful lot more goals from the Uruguayan striker and his Basque-land buddies. Instead, Osasuna were held to a 1-0 win after a staggeringly good performance from AlmerÃÂaâÂÂs Brazilian goalkeeper, Diego Alves.
Villarreal
Villarreal boss, José Carlos Garrido went for broke, sold the stable and put his butt on the line against a sorry Sevilla by starting with the triple attack of Nilmar, Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente.
But it was a plan that came together with the home side 2-0 up inside 17 minutes.
Bad Day
Atlético Madrid
Another fine seasonâÂÂs work for the Vicente Calderón club. Six points handed to Real Madrid thanks mainly to a series of defensive howlers - PereaâÂÂs stumble against HiguaÃÂn in the first derby of the season, being the best - and three taken off Barcelona after FebruaryâÂÂs 2-1 win.
âÂÂA mission dutifully completed, every season,â sniggers Tomás Roncero in AS.
Quique Sánchez Flores cites the loss of both José Antonio Reyes and Juan Valera to injury as the cause of AtléticoâÂÂs second half collapse. However, Roberto Palomar sums up the situation best in Marca with the observation that âÂÂthe defence is a joke, like a fake beard or plastic poo poo.âÂÂ
âÂÂThe Rojiblancos went into a panic when they were winning and then they were afraid to lose.âÂÂ
LLL suspects that Atleti were not fussed at all by the defeat with Diego Forlán looking fairly unconcerned after the game and claiming that the Europa League and Copa del Rey are the clubâÂÂs main concerns this season. And at 37 points from the top, thatâÂÂs probably a wise approach to take.
Luis Perea
The comedy figure of Luis Perea got the biggest cheer of the night from the home fans when the defender came on to replace the injured right back, Valera. The second biggest was PereaâÂÂs first touch.
âÂÂThe worst humiliation for a footballer,â noted an Atlético socio to LLL. âÂÂBooed by your own fans and applauded by the opposition.âÂÂ
Sevilla
âÂÂAntonio Alvarez is in charge of a corpse,â was MarcaâÂÂs opinion after Sunday eveningâÂÂs 3-0 defeat to Villarreal.
The season ending stopgap was a popular choice for both players and fans to drag the Andalusian side into the Champions League places, having been the number two under JoaquÃÂn Caparrós, Juande Ramos and Manolo Jiménez.
Nevertheless, the three training sessions that the former player had in charge of the side werenâÂÂt enough to provoke any kind of reaction in El Madrigal in a game where the score could have been a whole lot worse for Sevilla (again) had it not been for Andrés Palop in goal.
Nikola Zigic
Two missed headers from the stilt-wearing Serbian and a sending off at the end of the first half lead to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Zaragoza for Valencia who were without the concussed David Villa.
The Mestalla men are now 21 points from the big two at the top due to their never-ending incompetency. Good work.
Espanyol
Paul from Barcelona is a brave man to show his face on the blogâÂÂs pages after EspanyolâÂÂs goalless draw against visiting Sporting. ItâÂÂs a result that leaves the Pericos with a terrible tally of just 21 league goals all season, the worst in la Primera.
âÂÂWell, that's two hours of my life I'll never get back. I'm assuming it finished 0-0 as I lost the will to live after 70 minutes. One great save by Sporting's goalie and that was about it.
"Kameni could have stayed at home and done some decorating. Espanyol well on top throughout but the final pass was woeful.
"250 Sporting fans, quite noisy and the ref wasn't half as bad as the crowd thought.âÂÂ
Paul, Barcelona
Valladolid
The crushing home defeat now puts the Pucela side seven points from safety and just two from the bottom.
Deportivo
âÂÂAt the moment, we donâÂÂt know how to play football,â complained Deportivo boss, Miguel Angel Lotina, after the 3-1 defeat to Getafe, the sideâÂÂs third successive loss.
The blog feels the words âÂÂat the momentâ were unnecessary in this particular statement.
*You can catch La Liga Loca punditing like no-oneâÂÂs business on RMTVâÂÂs La Liga review show, âÂÂExtra TimeâÂÂ, on Sky 446 from 22.05 UK time and repeated through to Thursday.
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