La Liga’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 34

Features
By published

GOOD DAY

Barcelona

When there are regurgitated guts and glass covering the streets the Catalan capital, you can be sure that it has been a good night for the culé-crazy part of the city.

It was an unexpectedly insane night in the Bernabeu with Barcelona coming to town to show Madrid who really wears the trousers in this yearâÂÂs title chase.

The league leaders were rocked on two occasions with goals from Higuaín and Ramos, but bounced back almost instantly to make sure that any Real revival was as short-lived as Juande Ramosâ reign.

âÂÂA goal-fest! Humiliation! Champions! 2-6!â yelled SportâÂÂs headline on Sunday. MondayâÂÂs edition had toned down the excitement a tad with Josep Maria Casanovas declaring that the victory in the Spanish capital was merely âÂÂthe best moment in BarcelonaâÂÂs history.âÂÂ


Barca fans paint the town red (and blue)

Florentino Pérez

Aside from Barcelona, the biggest winner from SaturdayâÂÂs mauling of Madrid was Florentino Pérez, who is set to announce his candidature for the presidential elections, next week, according to the local press.

âÂÂFlorentino Pérez will come back to rescue Madrid,â gushes MondayâÂÂs Marca who has put the insufferably smug-faced figure of their Saviour on the front cover, along with AS. The Pérez propaganda machine is only just warming up.

Back to winning ways after four dumping defeats in a row. The away victory over a completely lost-the-biscuit Villarreal came courtesy of strikes from Kanouté and Fabiano, just the third time the forward pair have both appeared on the scoresheet in la Liga this season.

But the fact that Sevilla are still 18 points behind Real Madrid shows that Manolo Jimenézâ men are still not much cop, despite their relatively lofty position.

âÂÂFootballâÂÂs a strange game. Just over a month ago Espanyol looked doomed, but the way things are going a top-10 finish could be on the cards. Five wins and one draw out of the last six matches. 12 goals for, one against.

"A sunny early evening saw Valencia with a good following (1,300) which begs the question, why this year and not all the others? 34,000 inside the stadium to see a fairly even first-half which ended goaless but with the better chances being created by Espanyol.

"The second half saw Valencia start the stronger but their fans were silent. Is there some Valencian custom about not singing in the second half? But gradually Espanyol got on top and it was no surprise when a rocket shot from Roman gave 'I can't believe he still gets a game' César no chance.

"With Villa shackled by Jarque (not... you know) it was Espanyol who were controlling the game. Then a 30-metre free-kick from Pareja put the result beyond any doubt. And thereâÂÂs more, Rufete gave the defence the run-around and was fouled in the area. Nené easily scored the penalty.

"So 3-0 against one of the top four who, despite some good movement, didn't really threaten. Villa and Silva particularly poor especially in the second half.

Stray cats 0. Barça fans arrested 5âÂÂ


Periquitos dare to dream of avoiding drop

âÂÂSafety is now real and not virtual like last week,â said relieved Mallorca manager Gregorio Manzano, who must be looking to the clubâÂÂs final four matches against Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal with considerably less stress than before.

Considering the amount of trouble Mallorca was in at the start of the season - both on and off the pitch - with the bailiffs hammering at the gates, Manzano has performed a mini-miracle to lead Mallorca into ninth with just one defeat in their last 13 matches.

Hugo Sánchez

Another coach due a dose of cap-doffing from the blog is Hugo Sánchez, who came to Almería with a reputation as being a poor manager making a living off his reputation as a player.

Two wins against Málaga and Osasuna respectively gives both clubs a chink of light in their dark relegation tunnels of doom.

Diego Forlán

As usual, AtléticoâÂÂs win over Betis in the De Lopera was a hard-fought one with the normal defensive scrambles and panics at the end.

But an 88th minute strike from Forlán, the rojiblanco strikerâÂÂs second of the night, means that Atleti can probably return to the Vicente Calderón next week without the need for body armour.

âÂÂIâÂÂm sure that next Sunday our fans will welcome us with open arms,â predicted manager Abel Resino, pushing his luck somewhat.


Forlan fires home two more

Despite a poll in Marca suggesting that 82 percent of readers want Ramos to continue on the bench, the paper is touting Arsene Wenger as MadridâÂÂs next manager, next summer.

Of course, thereâÂÂs no consideration in the paper as to why someone who is managing a club that actually plays in the Champions League will want to switch to a team governed by an all-powerful president who has the dangerous combination of knowing jack-all about football but thinking he does.

La Liga Loca probed Christoph Metzelder after the game on whether the defeat to Barça would lead to an end of season collapse for Madrid.

However, his case certainly wasnâÂÂt helped on Sunday with the previously excellent goalkeeper Stojkovic booting the ball straight at Aduriz, who gave Mallorca the second goal in their 2-1 win.

âÂÂNuts,â growled Manolo Preciado after the match.


"Dry roasted if you've got any..."

A bad day for Racing with a 2-0 home defeat to Almería, but a good day for one famous fan who returned to the stands to rapturous applause - Seve Ballesteros.

Despite the somewhat ominous banner from the fans declaring âÂÂWin or die. Last warning,â the Betis players fell to their third straight defeat.

ItâÂÂs unlikely that the club will tumble through the trap door but their supporters remain very unhappy bunnies indeed.

608 minutes without scoring a goal. Hard to believe with Víctor, Ogbeche and Goitum in the sideâÂÂs forward line.

FourFourTwo.com: More to read...
La Liga Loca home
Blogs home 
Latest Spain news
News home
Interviews home
Forums home
FourFourTwo.com home