Real Madrid got over their Copa del Rey exit as a tired
Barcelona fall 7 points behind.
Barcelona started this seasons league campaign with a
crushing 5-0 victory over fellow Champions League qualifiers Villareal. 33
games later for Barcelona and 28 for Villareal they met again at 'El Madrigal'.
Since the opening game of the season, ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ have crashed out
of the Champions League, sacked their manager and find themselves in the the
drop zone. Barcelona on the other hand have been crowned World Champions (adding
to their Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles) and are favourites for both the
Copa del Rey and the Champions League. However, the 0-0 draw late on Saturday
evening see's Barcelona fall 7 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Eleven games in and the league is
really starting to take shape the top two are no surprise but the order might
be. Real Madrid since losing to Levente have become unstoppable, after the
defeat. Jose Mourinho dropped Sergio Ramos (read a great article by Football Ramble about his recnt form http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entry/ramos-enjoying-life-in-the-centre). Interestingly Marca TV before the
match against Osasuna were comparing Sergio Ramos to the great Hierro, Mourinho
has brought Ramos into the centre of defence and looked like a natural, it’s
difficult to see if Carvalho will get back into the starting XI. Upfront
Higuain has scored 7 in 7 matches, Kaka is back to his counter-attacking best
and CR7 and Benzama are looking electric. Barcelona on the other-hand have yet
to get out of the early gears and looked flat away from home. It’s difficult to
criticise Pep because he’s effortlessly cool, won nearly everything and a
cracking player. However, I think he tried to tinker with his squad too much,
obviously in football the saying ‘If it aint broke, don’t fix it’ doesn’t apply
you always need to add and improve otherwise teams can get found out, but I
think he has just tried to tinker a bit too much trying to perfect things.
Football clubs don’t need perfection they need results and Barca have dropped
more points than expected. This is the first time Real Madrid under Mourinho
are 3 points ahead of Barcelona, Jose has never given up a 3 point lead in a
league before. EVER!! This is exciting Real Madrid are going to win the league
then surely?
Hello and welcome to my blog on Spanish football. The aim of this blog is to inform and enthuse its readers about one of Europe's most entertaining leagues.
It’s hard to look past the current Barcelona team as the greatest ever footballing side, they are unstoppable and with Messi returning to top form after a reported ‘blip’ with two hattricks in two games who can stop them winning consecutive La Liga and Champions Legue titles? Real Madrid? They too are in free-scoring form with Cristiano Ronaldo notching up his 100th goal for Los Blancos in breath taking speed. As the league stands, Madrid are top with Barcelona just 4 points behind and kick off at home against Athletic Club in just over an hour.
However, we all know about Barcelona and Real Madrid, everyone does. La Liga also has 18 other teams and although they are light-years behind the formidable duo of Barca and Real they often produce quality, enchanting football. Levente even beat Real this season but have suffered two consecutive losses in their last two games (a 2-0 defeat at Osasuna* and last night they were beaten 2-0 at home by rivals Valencia) and find themselves in the lofty position of 4th! In fact without doubt the best game of the season featured neither Real or Barca it was contested between nouveau riche Malaga and rock bottom Getafe. It was a 5 goal thriller with all the goals coming in the second half (watch the goals below).
Villareal and Athletico Madrid have had contrasting weeks in Europe. Villareal who have been drawn in the group of death with German giants Bayern Munich, megabucks Man City and the exciting Napoli suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to City. Athletico on the other hand trounced Udinese 4-0 who have had a flying start to their Seria A campaign. Villareal have a tough fixture away at Espanyol whilst Athletico Madrid will be hoping the goals continue to pour again bottom side Getafe.
*Osasuna shipped 15 goals and only managed to score one against Barcelona and Real Madrid this season.
