(...with apologies to Sporting and Zaragoza who play on Thursday night)
New! Spanish results (and fixtures, and table)
GOOD DAY
Sevilla
A third win in a row for Sevilla means itâÂÂs Manolo JiménezâÂÂs side who are perched at the top of la Primera B (the competitive one) after their 2-0 win over visiting Mallorca.
However, the Sevilla coach has taken with the latest managerial fashion in Spain, started by Pep Guardiola, by claiming his side were a bit pants despite the win.
âÂÂAfter 30 minutes it all looked really good, but then we played terribly,â complained Jiménez.
In any other season aside from this sham of a campaign, then Sevilla could have been real contenders. Instead, they are current front runners in the handicap chase for third.
Barcelona, Real Madrid
Two away games, two wins.
Cristiano Ronaldo
This really isnâÂÂt looking good at all for the blogâÂÂs already fragile mental âÂÂwellnessâ - and the punishments the blog has invented in its dark, sick mind for the person who invented that word.
Just four rounds into the new season and La Liga Loca simply canna take Cristiano Ronaldo no more. Not the footballer himself - the blog is a bit of fan of the Portuguese ponce - but of the daily adulation towards MadridâÂÂs new mega-god in the local press.
Every frackinâ morning, itâÂÂs his stupid face staring out from the covers of Marca and AS with a story that the forward has scored, is scoring or is about to score. And thatâÂÂs not to mention the billboards, metro ads, magazine photos....
Or indeed the gibberish spouted by the likes of Tomás Roncero, who has responded to âÂÂCristiano SuperstarâÂÂsâ five league goals in four games by calling on France Football to give him the Ballon dâÂÂOr because âÂÂMessi has made it clear with his recent matches for Argentina that he is fallible.â And things have gone oh so swimmingly for the Real Madrid man with Portugal.
Mark the blogâÂÂs words, if Ronaldo doesnâÂÂt suffer from a knee-knacking, season-ending injury in the course of the next month then La Liga Loca is going to have to pour acid into its eyes, Let The Right One In-style. Tough times call for tough measures.
Deportivo
All last year, La Liga Loca was groaning and moaning that all Deportivo seemed to do was to get results to ensure they stayed in seventh. And how bad this was for the state of the Spanish game.
Wednesday nightâÂÂs 0-3 over Xerez has left the Galician side in... seventh. Oh dear.
Espanyol
A first victory for Espanyol in their new stadium, but more importantly their winning goal by Iván Alonso came on the same evening that Dani JarqueâÂÂs daughter, Martina, was born.
HereâÂÂs Paul from Barcelona to tell us about the match.
âÂÂA welcome three points against a limited team. A few things I learned last night.
1) Málaga had away support. In the midweek. About 100-150 of them. Who knew? My cap is doffed.
2) The standard of refereeing hit a new low last night. This bloke was the Messi/Kaká of bad refs. I don't expect eyes in the back of the head but some at the front might be useful. And one linesman didn't know the rules of football.
3) Espanyol are getting stronger week by week, played quite well last night, and the fitness looked good. The new pitch held up well. No bobbles and it didn't cut up.
4) Málaga were poor. No point playing two wide men if there's no-one in the middle to cross to. They commit an awful lot of fouls, too, and the right-back should expect a nomination come Oscars time.
Xerez at home on Sunday and in previous years I'd have said welcome to your first goal/point(s) Xerez. But this new-look team has something about them.âÂÂ
âÂÂâ Paul, Barcelona
Jorge Galán
The debut-making Osasuna youngster had only been on the pitch 29 seconds before scoring his sideâÂÂs winner against Valladolid in the 72nd minute to give the Navarran club their first victory of the season.
But even more curiously, there were two red cards in the game, neither of them for Osasuna.
Tenerife
Beware the 10,000-mile, eight-day trip faced by anyone travelling to or leaving from Tenerife. The Canaries side beat Athletic Bilbao to make it two home wins from two in la Primera this season. Pity Tenerife have failed to manage a point or even a goal on their travels.
Getafe
La Liga Loca was more than a little concerned to see that striker Roberto Soldado had been left on the Coliseum bench against Valencia, feeling âÂÂmolestedâ as the Spanish would say.
But good old Manu del Moral popped up with two, along with a free-kick stunner from Pedro León to give the mighty Getafe all three points against Valencia.
BAD DAY
Atlético Madrid
Oh, this just keeps getting better. The AlmerÃÂa match, like APOEL in the Champions League the previous week, should have been the perfect opportunity for the Rojiblancos to pick up a rousing home victory to kick start their campaign, get the season underway, etc.
Instead Atleti missed a penalty, went 1-0 down, equalised, took the lead, blew it in the last minute and very nearly lost the match in injury time.
âÂÂIt could have been a lot worse,â noted Marca of the single point picked up against AlmerÃÂa, doubling the sideâÂÂs tally for the season.
From watching the Calderón clubâÂÂs matches in this sorriest of starts to the season, it appears as if every member of the back four is as high as a kite and consistently the second to react to any danger heading towards their box.
Combined with an out-of-sorts Diego Forlán, a waste-of-space Maxi and an injured Kun Agüero, this means that the team is in terrible shape and facing a torturous Saturday night at the Mestalla.
Racing Santander
It was a no-win situation for Racing Santander manager Juan Carlos MandÃÂa. A full-on assault on Barcelona on Tuesday night would have lead to an inevitable crushing defeat and critics from a picky press.
So the coach went for a more conservative and defensive option against PepâÂÂs Dream Boys - which lead to an inevitable, crushing defeat and critics from a picky press.
âÂÂWhen you play Barcelona they make you feel smaller than you are in reality,â sighed MandÃÂa, ducking his head to avoid the local press accusations of being a big old yellow-belly.
Valencia
When Valencia get going, as they did for 20 minutes on Wednesday night against Getafe, they are a ferocious force of nature and as good as anyone else in la Liga. Their brilliant, fancy-pants effort against the Coliseum club is proof-positive.
The trouble is that 20 minutes is all you get these days from the lazy-arsed Mestalla men. In the space of a week, Valencia have taken leads in their three games against Lille, Sporting and Getafe, gone âÂÂmeeehhhâ and blown them all.
âÂÂWhere is the pride and sport of these millionaires?â complained AS columnist Pedro Morata after watching Valencia take the lead, lose it seconds later, give up and go down 3-1.
Villarreal
A painful sight indeed, to see Villarreal third from bottom with just two points...
Xerez
...but a wholly expected one to see Xerez two places below them, still without a point and still without a win in la Liga after a 3-0 home thrashing by Deportivo.
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