When it comes to Lionel Messi there are two schools of
thought: one he is the best player in the world and possible the greatest of
all time; or he is probably better than Cristiano Ronaldo but it is the players
around him that make him so special. Those of the first school cite his
magnetic touch, goal scoring record, mazy runs and Ballon d’Ors. Those inclined
to believe the second thought point out his lack of success with Argentina and the
phenomenal abilities of Xavi and Iniesta.
Last night Barcelona went to the Mestalla to face Valencia
in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi final, they were without Xavi and
Iniesta. How did Barcelona and Messi fare?
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.
It was the 7th of 2011 but we can still learn a lot from 90 breath-taking minutes.
1. Messi is better than Cristiano
Once again Messi proved he is on course for a hat-trick of
Ballon d’Or’s this January. Real gave him an inch and he took a mile slid a
perfect pass to Alexis (who still had a lot to do) to score a stunning
equaliser. Messi didn’t have his most spectacular game, Iniesta was probably
the best player on the pitch, but, Messi’s influence in big games is
unwavering. Cristiano on the other-hand had a bit of a disaster, no matter how
hard he puffed his chest out he couldn’t make a positive impact on the game. He
missed two crucial chances one, a skewed shot when a simple pass to Di Maria
was a much better option when it was 1-0. The second was even more uncharacteristic;
a free header that went harmlessly wide from an inch perfect ball from Alonso
when Madrid were trailing 2-1. Catalan dialy Sport declared that “We’ll have to
expand the dictionary to find new adjectives for him, because majestic, lethal,
magic, incomparable and divine have all been used up”. Messi was far from his
best against Real but he was far better than Cristiano.
The cold dark days of early
December bare witness to some of Europe’s key dates. Friday the 2nd
December saw the draw for the European Championships, 6/7th see the
final group games of this year’s Champions League and the 10th is
‘El Classico’. Spain have been drawn into a challenging group alongside Italy,
Croatia and Republic of Ireland. Del Bosque had lots of nice things to say
about his opponents:
With the big three all playing on Saturday evening, Sunday
was a day for the Spanish ‘second tier’ to showcase their talents. Levente this
season’s surprise package got back to winning ways with a fantastic 4-0 home
victory over Sporting Gijon. Athletic Club a side with so many talented players
who have been so excellent this season were unusually stuck for ideas at home
against Granada. It was a cautious affair but Granada despite spending the
majority of the match defending went back south with 3 points away from home.
Granada who have the worst shots to conversion in Europe’s top 5 leagues, 31
shots to every goal, just needed the one effort on Sunday an Inigo Lopez
header.
One football rule that really irks my dad like no other is
the last man red card and penalty rule. He always said that a penalty was sufficient
why do you need to send the player off as well, especially if it’s the goal
keeper. Why should you be punished twice? The rule works both ways, for
instance when Jens Lehman was sent off against Barcelona after 18minutes in the
final of the 2006 Champions League final it spoilt the game, Arsenal took off
Pires (his last game for the club, a real shame) and were down to 10 men. When Luis
Suarez stopped Dominic Adiyiah goal-bound header in the dying embers of the
World Cup quater-final with his hand he should have been sent off and a goal
should have been awarded, Suarez was plainly cheating. On both occasions my old
man was enraged, firstly Barcelona had been given a double advantage and Ghana
had been cheated.
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.
