Saturday
Valencia (15th) v Real Zaragoza (12th) - 16.00 CEST
With all the hurly burly of last weekendâÂÂs football and various power outages, LLL didnâÂÂt find the time to bring everyone up to date with the off-pitch news from Valencia, which is just as dismal as whatâÂÂs happening on it. The club were hoping to restart construction on the New Mestalla stadium, which has been suspended since February 2009. Unfortunately, Spanish bank âÂÂBankiaâ - one of the basket case ones - has pulled out of a partnership with a local promotions company that would have seen funds given to Valencia for the sale of the old stadium and training ground and some cash to complete the teamâÂÂs new home.
For the moment, the deal looks sunk, with a gloomy club president Manuel Llorente admitting last week that âÂÂitâÂÂs still going to take a lot to get out of this reality,â and that âÂÂthe sale of footballers is necessary and one more way of financing.â However, the Mestalla big-wig was a little chirpier a few days later after penning a renewal deal with a sponsor. âÂÂSoon these clouds will blow away and weâÂÂll arrive at a good port,â predicted a metaphor-mixing Llorente.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Málaga (4th) v Betis (6th) - 18.00 CEST
What a hero! What a player! What a footballer who refuses to fall into cliché about respecting former clubs and behaving as if heâÂÂs had an unexpected tax demand when scoring a goal against them! That blog's new idol is the ever so dreamy Roque Santa Cruz, who spent last season at Betis not doing a great deal but has been brought to Málaga this season via Manchester City, his owning club, hopefully to do a little bit more.
And by great galloping gazooks, two of those teams are meeting this weekend and if the Paraguayan poster boy scores he'll take full advantage of it. âÂÂIâÂÂve always said what affection I have for the Betis fans but being here in La Rosaleda, people should understand that if I score then IoâÂÂm going to celebrate the goals with joy. I like celebrating.âÂÂ
LLL Prediction - Home win
Real Sociedad (14th) v Athletic Bilbao (16th) - 20.00 CEST
What a hero! What a player! What a footballer who refuses to fall into cliché about âÂÂfinalsâ or pretending to care about local derbies. That blog's (other) new idol is the ever-interesting, always honest and often quite contrary Real Sociedad winger Antoine Griezmann, who has been talking about SundayâÂÂs Basque battle against Athletic. âÂÂItâÂÂs important, but IâÂÂm not going to spend nights not sleeping whilst thinking about it. Of course, itâÂÂs a special match but just as much as all the others as thereâÂÂs only three points at play.âÂÂ
LLL Prediction - Home win.
Sevilla (5th) v Barcelona (1st) - 22.00 CEST
Sevilla fans and the wonderful world of Spanish football got to say a proper farewell to Frederic Kanouté this week, with his Champions For Africa charity match on Monday that raised over half-a-million euros for the former footballerâÂÂs foundation. However, one of the greatest players in SevillaâÂÂs history says that there is so much more to be done in his future career. âÂÂIâÂÂm never satisfied with what IâÂÂve done. This is only the beginning. IâÂÂve never said âÂÂthatâÂÂs enoughâÂÂ, because when I travel to Africa I see there is so much left to do.â Farewell Fredi and good luck.
LLL Prediction - Draw
Sunday
Granada (18th) v Celta Vigo (11th) - 12.00
On-loan Arsenal striker, Chu-Young Park is still the talk of the toast of the town in Vigo, after scoring just three minutes after coming onto the pitch for Celta in last weekâÂÂs win against Getafe. However the big issue surrounding the clubâÂÂs overnight sensation is whether the forward likes ham, a traditional obsession of the Spanish. âÂÂIâÂÂve tried it and itâÂÂs fantastic!â revealed CeltaâÂÂs potential saviour to sighs of relief all over the land.
LLL Prediction - Draw
Real Valladolid (13th) v Rayo Vallecano (8th) - 16.00
Those Miss Marple types are probably dying to know what happened with the Rayo Vallecano floodlights and how so many cables were cut without anybody being crispified in the process. At the time of writing, LLL has to report the answer as being âÂÂdunnoâÂÂ. The police have been in, the club are following procedure by opening an internal investigation, but these are three rumours doing the rounds.
1) It was an act of vandalism by a former employee who had both knowledge of the stadiumâÂÂs innards and evidently a bit of a grudge.
2) The teamâÂÂs Ultras acted in a protest about the Day of the Club, when season ticket holders had to pay extra to see the game, perhaps with the help of someone from rumour number one.
3) The floodlights failed due to a huge rainstorm before the match thanks to their rather ancient nature, with someone at the club panicking and come up with a sabotage story to explain it all away.
LLL Prediction - Draw
Osasuna (20th) v Levante (9th) - 18.00
âÂÂWe are at the bottom as we deserve to be there,â confessed Osasuna keeper Andrés Fernández, whose team have conceded 10 goals this season in five matches, four of which have been defeats. To find out what is going on with one of the blogâÂÂs favourite clubs, LLL decided to do an exhaustive study of formations and what-not to discover where Osasuna are going wrong and how they can improve.
Actually, thatâÂÂs a lie. Instead LLL only bothered watching the ten goals let in and hereâÂÂs what happened - a penalty, bad goalkeeping, Leo Messi, Leo Messi, bad marking, dithering defending with striker running through on goal, not defending a corner, more dithering defending, an own goal and a penalty.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Real Madrid (7th) v Deportivo (10th) - 19.50
TodayâÂÂs update is all about much ado in the Spanish capital as to who will be playing about in the hole. And no it isnâÂÂt another Sergio Ramos scandal, you filthy-minded beasties. ItâÂÂs to do with that spot Real Madrid currently have open behind the striker. At the end of last season, Mesut ÃÂzil occupied it, but he seems to have fallen out of favour with fans due to a lack of consistency, disappearing from games, being better for Germany and being out on the lash. The latter has strongly been denied by the forward who protested this week that âÂÂIâÂÂve barely been out since the beginning of the season.âÂÂ
Luka Modric is also there or thereabouts despite saying that he prefers not to play in that position and on Wednesday, Kaká reminded everyone that he was still at the club with a hat-trick (one nice goal, one off his backside, and a penalty) in morale-boosting 8-0 thrashing of Colombian side, Millonarios.
LLL Prediction - Home win
Espanyol (19th) v Atlético Madrid (2nd) - 19.00
Remember Oliver Torres from way, way, way back in August? The new young buck ready to take the Primera by storm? Well, Torres has had a bit of a tough time of it ever since, appearing in all the papers and even his home being photographed. It was so bad last weekend that the wee nipper couldnâÂÂt even get a gig for the AtléticoâÂÂs âÂÂBâ team. âÂÂSuddenly, I started seeing my name in the newspapers and first I found it hard to get used to,â admitted the midfielder to the Spanish FA's website. With Atlético now flying high as the new Real Madrid, LLL would be surprised if the name of Torres doesnâÂÂt return to the papers for a while.
LLL Prediction - Away win
Monday
Getafe (17th) v Mallorca (2nd) - 21.30
Remember Dani Güiza from way, way, way back in...er...2008? Well, heâÂÂs been at Getafe for the past season and a bit, but youâÂÂd never know considering the disco-loving striker as not exactly been a part of Luis GarcÃÂaâÂÂs plans. The forward is currently somewhere in the region of eighth-choice up front behind the fella who prods the pitch at half-time with his fork and a converted Miguel Torres. But there may be hope for Güiza and Getafe in equal measure, with a story in AS suggesting the European Championship-winning player could be off to Betis in January in what would be a return to his native Andalusia. What could possibly go wrong?
LLL Prediction - Draw
