FourFourTwo's man in Madrid, Tim Stannard, wades through the weekend's La Liga action and separates the good and bad...
RESULTS Fri 8 Mar Real Betis 2-1 Osasuna Sat 9 Mar Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Espanyol, Real Valladolid 1-1 Malaga, Barcelona 2-0 Deportivo, Mallorca 2-1 Sevilla Sun 10 Mar Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Valencia, Levante 0-0 Getafe, Celta Vigo 1-2 Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid 0-1 Real Sociedad.
Good Day
José Manuel Pinto
It wasn't exactly a dazzling display from Barça against Deportivo, with a number of starters observing the kick-off from the comfort of the bench with Milan in mind, but the 2-0 win brought three more points and a first clean sheet in two months. Blog hero, José Manuel Pinto, began a four match residence between the sticks due to potty-mouthed VÃÂctor Valdés' suspension, while Leo Messi came off the bench to find the net for the 17th league games in a row.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The Madrid man will continue to make the front covers of the local papers while the forward is the only one scoring. The 2-1 away win at Celta - inspired by a brace from Ronaldo - reflects the fact that Real MadridâÂÂs dubious away day sickness has finally been cured. It also puts the side into second place, above Atlético Madrid, for good measure.
Thibaut Courtois
The Atletico Madrid keeper, on loan from Chelsea, broke current Celta Vigo boss Abel Resino's La Liga record of 800 unbeaten minutes between the sticks, a target set in the 1990-91 campaign. The new record now stands at 820 minutes, with Courtois now on 37 since Sociedad's Xabi Prieto scored the only goal on Sunday's shock away victory.
Málaga
Tough to know where to plonk Málaga this weekend, but Manuel Pellegrini seemed happy enough with the point at Valladolid, and who is LLL to disagree? The main concern, though, will be the continued lack of goals from the forward line, with MálagaâÂÂs opener coming from the head of MartÃÂn Demichelis after a free-kick. ValenciaâÂÂs loss at Athletic Bilbao a day later also helped Málaga along the way too. After all, they just have the league to focus on soon, if things donâÂÂt go to plan against Porto during the week.
Philippe Montanier
Moving Real Sociedad into Champions League contention by beating Atlético Madrid still isnâÂÂt good enough for the clubâÂÂs president, Jokin Aperribay. âÂÂMontanierâÂÂs renovation doesnâÂÂt depend on results,â said the Basque bigwig, whose side have lost just a single game in the past 17, a 4-3 defeat against Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu.
Pepe Mel
The Betis coach has been nothing but consistent this season, insisting all along that the first priority for the club is avoiding relegation. A 2-1 home win over Osasuna on Friday night took them to 43 points, meaning it's mission all but accomplished for Betis. Pepe Mel beamed that âÂÂtoday, on 8th March, we have achieved our objective. We are the only team in la Liga that can say that today.â La Liga Loca disagrees, and suspects that at the back of every Atlético Madrid fanâÂÂs mind, thereâÂÂs a finish line marked âÂÂ42 pointsâÂÂ.
Rayo Vallecano
La Liga Loca will be delighted to write every week from this point onwards that the blog was completely wrong in predicting relegation for Rayo. Then again, a number of Rayo fans also feared the worst following the departures of Diego Costa and Michu, are therefore in the same word-eating boat. The 2-0 victory over Espanyol in Vallecas on Saturday afternoon gave Rayo 41 points - almost, almost, almost over the finishing line for survival. Almost.
Levante
The goalless draw with Getafe looks like a typical post-Europe hangover, but itâÂÂs a match that Levante were very unlucky not to win. Unfortunately though, it does leave the Valencia side with just the single win from nine matches.
Valladolid
La LigaâÂÂs stealth team keep on squeezing out points to carry them towards safety. Valladolid only have the single win from seven games but four of those results have been draws. The latest was a 1-1 at home to Málaga and leaves Valladolid on 35 and coach, Miroslav Djukic, happy with the âÂÂpositive dynamicâ of the team.
Alejandro Alfaro
Two pouncing efforts from shots bouncing off the post and goalkeeper brought about a 2-0 against the Mallorca striker's former club, Sevilla. âÂÂWe are still in the danger zone, so our heads arenâÂÂt in the clouds,â said Gregorio Manzano, who claims his job in recent weeks has merely been to restore morale to the players. It seems to be working for Mallorca, who even had a crowd watching them on Saturday night.
Iker Muniain
One of the disappointments of the season in la Liga scores his first goal in the division since October 2011 in a 1-0 win over visiting Valencia, a game in which Athletic rode their luck a little. âÂÂOnce I said the team had 20 points less than it deserved. In relation to the last games I would say we had 14 less as in the past two matches, the results have been in our favour,â admitted the ever wonderful Marcelo Bielsa, referencing last weekâÂÂs away win at Osasuna.
Bad Day
Atlético Madrid
A bit of a flat atmosphere at a chilly Vicente Calderón on Sunday evening was matched by a far from hot Atlético performance, which saw a winning run of 14 league matches at home broken by Real Sociedad. âÂÂWe had the intention, but without the clarity,â admitted Diego Simeone after a loss which came ironically (LLL thinks) after the sideâÂÂs first midweek rest since the second round of the season.
Roberto Soldado
La Liga Loca will forever have reservations in regards to Soldado due to the forward blowing chances over the bar from one metre, an effort that cost Valencia a deserved point in San Mamés.
Sevilla
Sevilla would be relegated if such things were based purely on away form (big thanks to an egg-head at Marca for bringing that fact to LLLâÂÂs attention). SaturdayâÂÂs loss to Mallorca was SevillaâÂÂs ninth away defeat of a campaign that sees just the single win from 14 on the road. And that was against Deportivo, so doesnâÂÂt really count. âÂÂThe stats away from Sevilla have been poor for a while,â admitted Unai Emery, âÂÂbut I keep believing in the team. Today we lost a final, but there are more to come and we have to pick ourselves up.â Yet more âÂÂfinalâ abuse from the Sevilla boss.
Espanyol
This is now a bit of a slump for the Pericos under the previously imperious Javier Aguirre with just one point from the last nine. Espanyol will still be as safe as a safe thing come the end of the season, but the talk of Europe a few weeks ago was clearly a little premature.
Osasuna
Topsy-turvy form at the moment from Osasuna, who followed back-to-back wins with back-to-back defeats to losses to Athletic and Betis. On the plus side for the Pamplona outfit, Osasuna did score a fine Real Madrid-style counter-attacking effort in the 2-1 defeat, a far cry from the teamâÂÂs normal more no frills, find your own seats, direct approach.
Deportivo
Nothing unexpected happened to Depor this weekend, as they suffered defeat at the Camp Nou. So itâÂÂs just as desperate a situation after the fixture as it was before, with the bottom-of-the-table side stuck on 17 points. âÂÂWe have to win seven of our final 11 games as a minimum,â said manager, Fernando Vazquez. That probably isnâÂÂt going to happen.
