Good Day
Pedro
The Canary-Islander once again showed the kind of form that pushed him into Vicente Del BosqueâÂÂs World Cup squad with a brace against Espanyol - LLL has never seen his little legs move as fast as they did to beat the Perico defence for his first.
Like last weekâÂÂs update following the Real Sociedad game, there isnâÂÂt too much to be added after another five goal haul for Barça, except to say that PepâÂÂs Dream Boys were truly brilliant. Again.
José Mourinho
LLL is contemplating bidding for a popcorn concession in the Santiago Bernabeu press room during José MourinhoâÂÂs post match ramblings. They really are top, titillating fair.
After the narrow win over Sevilla, on Sunday, the eternally moaning Madrid manager strolled into the arena clutching a club-crested piece of paper handed to him by an unknown party listing 13 apparent refereeing mistakes.
But Mourinho, in the biggest of the twists, refused to read from MadridâÂÂs hymn sheet complaining that he was tired of being the only one at the club who was defending its interests - a not-so-sly dig at Jorge Valdano - and that he wanted a private meeting with Florentino Pérez, almost certainly to demand a new striker considering in the three league games Karim Benzema has played in Gonzalo HiguaÃÂnâÂÂs absence, the Frenchman has done naff-all.
Although José Mourinho claimed the match was âÂÂtoo ugly to be a game of footballâ and would have turned over to Eurosport to catch a Vietnamese league game had he been watching at home, LLL rather enjoyed it. After all, it had something lacking from Barcelona and Real Madrid games pretty much all season - tension and an uncertain result.
Nilmar and Rossi
VillarrealâÂÂs super striking pair made mincemeat of Mallorca and jammed two metaphorical fingers up at the visitorsâ pathetic, sulking directors who chose to sit in the stands with the El Madrigal masses in protest against Villarreal âÂÂtakingâ their Europa League spot - the kind of action even a five-year-old would dismiss as childish before wandering off to smear poo-poo over their kid brotherâÂÂs meatloaf.
Nilmar and Rossi have now banged in 19 league goals between them to make them the hottest couple in the box since Shakira and Gerard Piqué bumped uglies. Allegedly.
Simao
A possible goodbye gift from the Portuguese winger with Simao delivering three free-kicks that produced three goals, that said more about MálagaâÂÂs inability to defend than anything else really.
Back-to-back victories in la Liga for Atlético without a goal conceded sees the Rojiblancos in sixth and just two points from the Champions League, where they should be playing in future rather than piddling around in the Europa League dead-zone.
Diego Castro
ItâÂÂs woot! woot! city after the Sporting striker scored in the final seconds against Deportivo to possibly save his managerâÂÂs job in a 1-1 draw. Castro showed how loved Manuel Preciado is by the Sporting squad by running over to the bench to give his coach a big hug - with the instruction to f-off back onto the pitch again if LLL knows the potty-mouthed ways of the grouchy old goat.
Getafe
Getafe has LLL wondering why anybody reads the blog, considering a month ago it was all with the doom and gloom that the team were in danger of going down in May with manager MÃÂchel being sacked.
SundayâÂÂs 3-2 away win at AlmerÃÂa was GetafeâÂÂs fourth win in a row, putting them in seventh with 26 points and probably needing just another four victories to see them safe. (Blog pats itself on the back for its fine punditry work).
LLL is just hoping that some fans at the Coliseum will turn up to watch them at some point now.
Athletic Bilbao
An away victory against Levante by Athletic Bilbao ruins the Basque clubâÂÂs pretty-pretty, symmetrical run of LWLWLWLWLW with another âÂÂWâ added to the streak - the only time this season that Athletic have strung together two wins in a row in la Liga.
Ariz Aduriz
Showing a bit of sexy leg and pace that would certainly get Sergio Ramosâ juices flowing if clad in a skirt and without man-tackle, the Valencia striker picked up a poor clearance from Real Sociedad keeper, Claudio Bravo, to send the ball back to the goal - and then some - in injury time in Saturday nightâÂÂs clash to give the men from Mestalla three handy points.
Bad Day
Espanyol
ItâÂÂs with a hint of sour grapes and the refusal to accept the fact that José Callejón is a big old cheat, hereâÂÂs a âÂÂbah humbugâ Paul from Barcelona to tell us how the hide-tanning felt in the stands in Cornellá El-Prat.
âÂÂOops. Well, that's embarrassing, the best team won, no argument there. The way Barça don't give the opposition time on the ball was a joy to watch. Obviously being allowed to foul with impunity helps.
Fantastic reception for Iniesta when his name was read out. Well deserved of course. A Barça foul led to the first goal. Callejón fouled and injured on the floor led the classy, morally superior Barça to play on and some not very tall bloke scored.
Callejón then should have equalised but it was Callejón so you know what happened. Another quick attack from Barça and an offside Xavi got a lucky rebound and volleyed home. Pedro tapped in after Kameni didn't handle a shot from some not very tall bloke.
Osvaldo broke free, a fab finish to make it 1-3 but then he missed a sitter which would have changed the game but hey. The educationally challenged David Villa (he was at Primary school, this week) then scored two breakaway goals to make it a nightmare scoreline.
Barça will stroll the league now. It wasn't the passing that was impressive more the speed of it,Espanyol played too high up and got punished ruthlessly by Barça's pace. About six Barça, yes, you read that right, made the 25 minute metro trip despite tickets being on sale from banks on every corner of every street in the city.
A ref who had been slagged off all week by the press here choked and his linesman were beyond what is acceptable. Incredible that Spain produces footballers of the highest quality but officials who wouldn't be allowed on Hackney Marshes.
While I go away and hibernate I want to wish everyone and especially LLL and the FourFourTwo staff a merry Xmas and a happy new year.âÂÂ
Paul, Barcelona
Diego Capel
The Sevilla winger showed on Sunday night that he is still a hopeless, diving - and LLL doesnâÂÂt use this word lightly - cheat. And useless to boot (see below). Summed up the attitude opined by SevillaâÂÂs AS correspondent, Juan Jiménez, who complained that, âÂÂSevilla have lost the ambition to beat the big teams.âÂÂ
Five defeats in a row in la Liga would suggest the Andalusian outfit have lost the ambition to beat the small ones, too.
Clós Gomez
Foul, whistle, card. Foul, whistle, card. Foul, whistle, card. That was the evening for the man in the middle at the Real Madrid v Sevilla match - a match that produced two red cards and ten yellows for no good reason.
âÂÂI think the referees come here to be a hero and show what theyâÂÂve got,â noted Alvaro Arbeloa who was right on the money in this respect.
Málaga
âÂÂMercenaries!â âÂÂGah!â âÂÂMeh!â went the cries from the home crowd in the 3-0 defeat against Atlético, cries that had the visitors suddenly thinking that they were playing at the Vicente Calderón.
AlmerÃÂa
A note made by LLL whilst watching AlmerÃÂa's collapse against Getafe despite holding a 2-0 lead was 'crappy defending'. That assessment still stands a day later.
