La Liga Loca’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 30

Features
By published

Good Day

Pep Guardiola

When LLL first read the Barcelona line up to face Athletic Bilbao, it assumed that the Dream Boysâ boss had finally lost his mind or staggered into the dressing room half-cut and smoking like a Valladolid player.

âÂÂYusssh can all play whershhh you want! Hic!â was the imaginary team-talk from Guardiola after picking two left backs, two defensive midfielders and Dmytro Chygrynskiy in his starting line-up.

But hellâÂÂs bells it paid off with Leo Messi once again playing the Andrés Iniesta role to selfless perfection and Bojan Krkic coming back from apparent career death - if itâÂÂs possible for a 19-year-old to do that - with the perkiest of performances and two goals.

BarcelonaâÂÂs version of Brian May may have been at fault for AthleticâÂÂs one and only goal by giving the ball away, but Puyol was just as immense as he was against Arsenal.

The club captain was technically playing at right-back on Saturday night, but popped up all over the pitch, even in central midfield to release Bojan for BarçaâÂÂs second of the match.

Javi Martínez

Rather than going down like a big girlâÂÂs blouse after being on the receiving end of what can best be described as a head âÂÂnudgeâ rather than butt from Yaya Touré, the Athletic Bilbao midfielder stayed on his feet. And in his desire for a bit of afters with the Barça man, Martínez spared Touré a red card.

The Sevilla striker woke up on Saturday morning / afternoon, looked at his calendar and pondered âÂÂblow me! The World Cup is just around the corner! Time to pull my finger out of my backside and do something, me thinks.âÂÂ

And so O Fabuloso did what he had not done for much of the season and gave a ratâÂÂs posterior about his clubâÂÂs predicament, scoring a goal and an laying on an assist for Fredi Kanouté in a plodding, perfectly acceptable win over Tenerife - a team that has only picked up three points in three draws on their travels all season.

Joaquín

The other was JoaquínâÂÂs opener - a kind of reverse spin, back flick, kung-fu affair. Tasty.

The Valencia midfielder has developed a top new look involving very big hair and a wispy beard. Now resembles a type of Western-era bandito who would wake you up by sticking a gun up yer nostril and sneering âÂÂgringoâ into your terrified face.

Villarreal are now making a sneaky move for the top four places - five points away - but still have an awful long way to go, despite ASâÂÂs Javi MaltaâÂÂs rather holy views of the teamâÂÂs 2-0 win over Valladolid.

âÂÂOn a day of resurrection and of faith, Villarreal got back theirs,â gushed Malta, looking to the heavens.

A late, late but very cheeky effort from Pierre Webó sees Mallorca pick up rare booty (pirate style booty, not Beyonce style...) on their travels and sees them equal on points with fourth placed Sevilla.

An insanely good goal from a scorer that is now considered a hot shot in Espanyol having grabbed five, making him the teamâÂÂs leading scorer despite only joining in January.

The former Betis defender may not be of any use if you want him to lead from the back, having only been on the winning side five times in 18 for Atlético Madrid, the club the fallen-international joined over the summer.

But he was handy in opening the scoring in the RojiblancoâÂÂs 3-0 win over Deportivo, on Sunday night.

Atlético are all but two points safe from relegation. Heady days indeed in the Vicente Calderón.

âÂÂEither Madrid change or it will be a massacre,â warns the headline to Roberto PalomarâÂÂs article in Marca, the only journalist at the paper who hasnâÂÂt had his brain replaced by a photograph of a grinning Florentino Pérez.

In a frackinâ awful 2-0 win against hapless Racing described in the same column as âÂÂvomit-inducingâ Real Madrid continued  to zombie lurge their way towards SaturdayâÂÂs showdown against Barcelona.

MondayâÂÂs edition of AS boasts of the 100 goals scored by Madrid this season â it would have been a whole lot more were it not for pesky Alcorcón and Lyon â and declares on the front cover that Madrid are âÂÂLeaders for el Clasíco.âÂÂ

âÂÂSo what?â says the blog.

No doubt, both Madridista papers will shout statistics proving the brilliance of Manuel PellegriniâÂÂs men over the coming days, but Roberto Palomer is completely right. If Madrid donâÂÂt improve next weekend then the 6-2 spanking handed out by Barcelona at the Bernabeu, last year, will be looked upon as a fond memory.

With stories of footballers chasing floosies in nightclubs rather than training, ValladolidâÂÂs supporters showed their feelings during SundayâÂÂs 2-0 home defeat to Villarreal.

âÂÂMy figures are enough for any manager to be sacked, they are lamentableâ admitted Onesímo, the manager trying to clean up ValladolidâÂÂs sorry mess but stuck second-from-bottom of the table.

Málaga

As flat as ManicheâÂÂs favourite beanbag against Zaragoza in SaturdayâÂÂs 2-0 defeat. And defender, Juanito knows it, too. âÂÂIf we donâÂÂt play at 120% then we wonâÂÂt even beat a team from the third division.âÂÂ

MichelâÂÂs men flushed all the good work achieved during last weekâÂÂs 3-1 away win over Deportivo down the toilet with a 1-1 draw at the Coliseum against Espanyol, of all sides.

Apart from a spot of running up and down on the sidelines during the second half, the English winger did not see a great deal of action in ZaragozaâÂÂs 2-0 win over Málaga.

Then again, Pennant has not seen a great deal of action at all in 2010 with his last start being at the end of January due his non-appearance in training issues and the manager preferring Eliseu on ZaragozaâÂÂs right flank.

Scored SportingâÂÂs opener in what should have been an easy win against Xerez, but made amends for his goal in the second half with a delightful, but misplaced, back pass to his own goalkeeper to allow Alustiza to score and pick up a precious point for the struggling opposition.

FFT.com: Features * News * Interviews * Forums * Home
Interact: FFT Twitter * Facebook * La Liga Loca Twitter