La Liga Loca’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 38

By published

Good Day

Leo Messi

(Sighs) Leo Messi really is no fun at all. What was the first thing he did to celebrate his 34th league goal of the season? Ran to the stands to hug his Mum, thatâÂÂs what. Shocking behaviour.(Highlights here)

(Sighs) Pep Guardiola really is no fun at all. What was the first thing he did to celebrate his second league title in his second season in charge of Barça? Walked over to the opposition bench to hug Valladolid boss, Javier Clemente, after his sideâÂÂs relegation, thatâÂÂs what. Shocking behaviour.

Repeated Fabio CapelloâÂÂs Real  Madrid press conference performance from 2007 with his long-stored up, "youâÂÂre all a bunch of ******s" speech to the local press, except in slightly softer tones as is the norm with the chilled-out Chilean.

Real Madrid may have failed in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League - havenâÂÂt they always - but in la Liga the side picked up 96 points, scored 102 goals and won 27 games.

And seeing as the Sevilla president José Maria del Nido is not one of the blogâÂÂs favourite characters, it was fantastic sport indeed to see his frowning form sinking lower and lower into his seat as the Almería clash unfolded and SevillaâÂÂs footballing finances looked worse and worse for his side next season.

However, everything was ruined a tad with SevillaâÂÂs late winner but LLL did get to enjoy a bit of yin with his yang by seeing the sideâÂÂs admirable sporting director, Monchi, throw himself onto the bodies seated on the row behind him and begin what appeared to be the most enthusiastic of dry humps.

In a purely hard-nosed, corporate suit-wearing way, Sevilla are more likely to make waves than Mallorca in next seasonâÂÂs Champions League - should they get through the qualifying round, that is - so maybe it is the right thing all round that the Andalusian side grabbed the fourth-placed spot in the most dramatic way imaginable. (Highlights here)

However, the strike owed just as much to a brilliant cross from Jesús Navas who put the ball right into the mixer despite the pressure the midfielder was under from both the clock and an Almería defender.

Aside from getting out and about and a bit of fresh air - as fresh as it gets in smoggy Madrid - there wasnâÂÂt much point in LLL heading down to the Vicente Calderón,  on Saturday, to catch a victory for Getafe that was an inevitable as an injury from Kaká when a league match really matters.

Atleti took to the field with just one of the starters in the Europa League final, Alvaro Domínguez. And it was the centre-back who dropped one to give the ball to Pedro León to feed Roberto Soldado for his sideâÂÂs second of the evening - and a most peculiar huddled goal celebration with the Getafe striker in the middle that nearly involved the referee throwing a bucket of water over the fondling footballers.

The game couldnâÂÂt have been easier for Getafe but the fans and footballers will not give a hamsterâÂÂs hula-hoop now that they have returned to the Europa League...(Highlights here)

This late streak from Soldado may, just may make the blog rethink its attitude to the former Real Madrid man, a footballer LLL has always felt needs too many chances for each goal to be international class, but itâÂÂs something that his many supporters in Spain would disagree with considering Soldado has scored 16 league goals with two months out of action. 

Almería

Now, SevillaâÂÂs opponents on Saturday either really, really, really hate their fellow Andalusian side or they had either received âÂÂincentivesâ from a certain island-dwelling third party big enough to buy Portugal.

Or maybe they just had a Playboy Bunnies bus parked outside the stadium for the playersâ use should they have had a successful night against Sevilla.

Almería gave it an almighty go to stop Sevilla getting into the Champions League by coming from behind twice - with a cracking strike from Ortiz on the second occasion - and even ended up with fisticuffs with some of the Sevilla players after they had scored their insanely late winner.

Málaga

The sideâÂÂs remarkable ability to pick up draws this season - 16 in all and six in the last seven games - turned out to be quite handy in the end in hanging on to one more much needed point against a Real Madrid side that knew the gig was up with Barcelona happily hammering Valladolid in the Camp Nou.

LLL can just imagine the glee in the paperâÂÂs offices on Sunday night as BarcelonaâÂÂs goals went in at the Camp Nou - an action allowing even more bile to be hurled in the Chilean managerâÂÂs direction. 

However, thatâÂÂs where the club ended their season despite them fulfilling their side of SundayâÂÂs bargain with a 2-0 win over Espanyol leaving them with no other option than to watch SevillaâÂÂs late winner on the stadium video screens, whilst they themselves were filmed doing it.

AtléticoâÂÂs neighbourly act of kindness of playing their womenâÂÂs team - and the alarmingly portly Salvio - against Getafe meant that whatever Villarreal did on Saturday against Zaragoza didnâÂÂt mean diddly.

It was the perfect summary for the year,î sighs Javi Mata in AS noting that Villarreal had an awful start but a more sprightly finish in both the match and their league campaign.

But with the first part of that scenario not happening, itâÂÂs a season outside of Europe for Villarreal, next year, unless Mallorca go into administration over the summer and get themselves barred from European football in the process.(Highlights here)

When Real Madrid sold Alvaro Negredo on to Sevilla over the summer - a move criticised by many, including this blog - they should have come out and announced the real reason: because heâÂÂs a complete tool.

Negredo got himself sent off with 25 minutes to go for abuse aimed at the linesman and should have been thrown into stocks in the city centre, had his side failed to overcome Almería.

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