RESULTS Sat Jan 30 Deportivo La Coruna 1-3 Real Madrid, Espanyol 1-0 Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Gijon 0-1 Barcelona Sun Jan 31 Atletico Madrid 0-2 Malaga, Getafe 0-0 Racing Santander, Sevilla 2-1 Valencia, Tenerife 1-3 Real Zaragoza, Valladolid 1-1 Almeria, Villarreal 0-2 Osasuna, Xerez 2-1 Mallorca
Good Day
Barcelona
âÂÂInvictusâ cried Sport after BarçaâÂÂs 1-0 win over Sporting.
âÂÂCheating scumbagsâ was the vibe from both AS and Marca, who feel that PedroâÂÂs goal was offside and came from a free-kick taken in the wrong place.
WhatâÂÂs more, Leo Messi should have been sent off, apparently, and Sporting were deserving of a spot-kick after a push from Rafa Marquez.
âÂÂA strange penalty against Madrid and a strange goal for Barcelona,â complains Tomas Guasch in MondayâÂÂs AS.
To this end, Real Madrid are now just a point behind Barcelona in MarcaâÂÂs league table based on their own refereeing of la LigaâÂÂs games.
Happily for the Culé collective, PepâÂÂs Dream Boys still have a five-point lead over Madrid in the real world, after a game where the scoreline was narrow but the dominance over the opposition was immense.
And as for PedroâÂÂs goal? Spanish TV channel Cuatro built a graphic showing that the Barça forward was offside when Andrés Iniesta made his pass.
Another, Gol TV, used the âÂÂlatest technologyâ to show that it was valid, after all.
Make of that, what you will.
Guti
These are strange days indeed.
Flying machines, talking boxes, and a Madrid media that now feels that GutiâÂÂs showboating, shot-bottling back-heel to Karim Benzema is justification enough for the midfielder to go to the World Cup with Spain.
And not as the official jester, either.
âÂÂIf he continues this way he could be very useful in South Africa,â argued the paper that branded the footballer âÂÂGodâ and forced the picnic blanket-wearing Real Madrid player to recreate his magic moment in his back garden.
Xerez
A 2-1 win over Mallorca sees the clubâÂÂs points tally moving into double figures and within touching distance - in the Mr Tickle sense - of fourth-from-bottom Valladolid who are seven points away.
Duda
With all due respect to Málaga - which is very little, as it happens, considering their owner is Lorenzo Sanz - Duda is far, far, far too good for the Andalusian side and should play more than the role of a midfielder who bounces between Málaga, where he is on loan, and Sevilla.
DudaâÂÂs early effort against Atlético and constant attacks down both flanks inspired a win for an injury-hit Málaga side at the Vicente Calderón.
He should surely persuade someone, somewhere that the Portuguese international deserves a move to a higher footballing plain.
Alvaro Negredo
Having had more sticky patches than Ever BanegaâÂÂs keyboard, Alvaro Negredo bought himself some breathing space from his many critics with two goals for Sevilla to defeat Valencia on Sunday night, including an absolute peach of a lob.
It remains to be seen if Sevilla are getting back to their best, as Manolo Jiménez claimed after the match â but having Luis Fabiano, Fredi Kanouté and an on-form Negredo in the ranks canâÂÂt be a bad thing.
Espanyol
A miserable, miserable game in El Prat saw Espanyol come away 1-0 winners against Athletic in a match that Paul from Barcelona joined the blog in taking one for the team by enduring.
âÂÂA very comfortable victory for Espanyol against a weak Athletic team. Athletic seemed to spend most of the game pretending to be injured [harsh!!!! - LLL] and hoping to stop the play.
"Bizarrely, they went mental when an Espanyol player was down and the ball was kicked out. Not much of note to report except a fine move led to Luis GarcÃÂa's tap-in. Athletic tried hard in injury time but never looked like scoring.
"Points of note - slim pickings, I'm afraid.
"Espanyol's Javi Marquez was excellent yet again. Came through the youth team and is a gem. Funny though, we don't tend to bang on about it like other teams. Didac, another from the youth team, had a solid debut â the seventh junior to make his debut this season.
"Athletic's away support was poor by their standards and their team was just as poor. The only thing poorer was, yes, youâÂÂve guessed it, the officials.
"Athletic were so poor, even the ref couldn't find a way to help them score. He was bad but his linesmen were abysmal."
Paul, Barcelona
Zaragoza
After 11 attempts Zaragoza managed to win a game and had it all tied up in a mad eight-minute spell when GayâÂÂs men knocked three past the hapless Tenerife defence.
Bad Day
Ernesto Valverde
Wow. Like the rest of the inhabitants of la PrimeraâÂÂs punditland, La Liga Loca really didnâÂÂt see the Villarreal coach being fired this weekend.
Then again, it really didnâÂÂt expect the 2-0 home defeat to Osasuna either.
The combination of the poor start to the season, the embarrassing cup exit to Celta Vigo - a side that even Atlético overcame - the near-capitulation against Zaragoza last week and this latest reverse sees Valverde out on the street.
Atlético Madrid
âÂÂTheyâÂÂre back!â âÂÂTheyâÂÂre terrible!â âÂÂTheyâÂÂre back!â âÂÂTheyâÂÂre terribleâ - and so the Spanish press continues in their coverage of Atlético Madrid, who are now lurching from lamppost to bin like Giovani dos Santos after a good night out.
SundayâÂÂs Málaga defeat was probably the worst performance it has seen at the Vicente Calderón this season and didnâÂÂt have a single positive that could be taken from the game.
Aside from the comedy result, that is.
Athletic Bilbao
The two worst halves of football endured by La Liga Loca this season that havenâÂÂt involved Deportivo - they take up 27 places - have involved Athletic Bilbao.
The first was the opening 45 minutes against Mallorca at the beginning of January.
The latest was SaturdayâÂÂs encounter at Espanyol that still makes the blog shudder just to think about it.
Valladolid
A truly desperate 1-1 draw against AlmerÃÂa sees Valladolid coach José Luis Mendilibar in MondayâÂÂs papers being tipped as the second manager this week to be losing his job.
Manucho
The Africa Cup of Nations already made it hard for the Valladolid striker to fulfil his promise of 40 goals this season.
Now the forward has another game fewer after his sending off against AlmerÃÂa, leaving him a target of 38 strikes from just 18 games.
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