La Liga Weekly

A Different Corner: Exploring Spanish FootballRichard Brentnall was born in England and grew up supporting West Bromwich Albion. An interesting surname Albion. It denotes a half-remembered prehistoric England. It is just that yearning for a time and place that existed, before the Premier League began and before the G-14 existed, when hearty, well-supported clubs in the Midlands could win the league or the FA Cup, that drives this book. Disheartened with life at home, with a culture and its football [...]

In today’s new interview, our friend Phil Ball from ESPN Soccernet joins us again, this time to discuss his new edition of White Storm, the story of Real Madrid from its early beginnings as Madrid FC to the Floren-team of Galacticos of today and which has finally been published after all this time in Spain, under the title “Tormenta Blanca, la historia del Real Madrid.” http://www.podbean.com/podcast-audio-video-blog-player/mp3playerdarksmallv3.swf?audioPath=http://forzafutbol.podbean.com/mf/play/68zmnh/ForzaFutbol-PhilBallInterview.mp3&autoStart=noPowered by LaLigaWeekly.com Standard Podcasts [ 69:31m]: | Play in Popup | Download

I won’t wade into the political hot-water that is Catalan independence; any people and all people have a right to self-determination. So if a group of people with Spanish citizenship, that are culturally and linguistically different from that of the dominant culture, decide that they want to be acknowledged as such, well I’m not the one to tell them no. It is interesting though, that a club like FC Barcelona that presents itself as a symbol of Catalunyan identity, is [...]

After losing to one of the worst clubs on form in Spain, RCD Espanyol led by another member of the La Liga coaching hot-seat, Almeria sacked ex-Real Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez. They have won three games this year under the coach formerly known as the pentapichichi (Getafe, Malaga and Osasuna), but it was their form in recent weeks (one win, one draw and 6 losses in their last eight games) that sunk his chances of continuing on. It could have [...]

With the holiday season coming in fast I’d like to take some time to recommend my favorite books about the Spanish League. Except for the first, these are in no particular order. Morbo, the story of Spanish Football by Phil Ball. Without question the bible on the history of Spanish football, but about much, much more. Morbo means literally morbid, but in our context it means a generalized rage against a rival. This book goes into what really drives the [...]

The Champions League draw came out today from the folks in Nyon; nice of UEFA to think about my wandering attention span to bring me back to the keyboard. In La Liga we have three very interesting, but not arresting matches. CSKA Moscow v Sevilla VfB Stuttgart v Barcelona Lyon v Real Madrid At first glance, other than the Lyon match which might present a bit of a problem for Madrid, the other two have an easy walk in the [...]

You’ll be reading a lot of reports that an entire host of players, both in and out of Spain, will be changing addresses. It’s a holiday tradition that moves more papers than actual transfer notices, but be careful this year. The financial situation has been and continues to be precarious at Valencia. Despite their position on the table, Barcelona have needs, especially on the left in attack, and Real Madrid are being run on the whims of a director that [...]

Taking a much needed break from the grind, I decided to try out these new Nike5 T-3 FS boots. I don’t play much outdoor soccer anymore, when the knees and ankles go it’s hard to play on a large pitch so I’ve been looking towards trying smaller pitches, maybe even futsal or indoor soccer, so these boots instantly hit the spot when I saw them. First impression: this is one beautiful and eye-catching design from Nike. The first color you [...]

Marca.com:Ramos: “It is not an inconvenience to play in the center. Pepe’s injury is the worst news of the season so far. I told him: we’re going to win the league.”Kanoute: “The style of Madrid is different from Barcelona’s, but I like how they play.”They appear together to support UNICEF to educate 100,000 African children.Roberto Carlos: Offers himself to reinforce Madrid. “I’d be the happiest man in the world. I could be Pepe’s substitute. If Madrid calls I’ll leave right [...]

When Alejandro, El Chori, Dominguez signed for Valencia this weekend, after a successful spell at Russian football league champions Rubin Kazan, the first reaction was obviously to consider where he would slot in with Los Che. The 28 year Argentine looks to relieve pressure on the Mestalla club for having lost David Silva to injury on his knee. El Chori, who can play all along the front-line, and is of a similar build to Silva, plus at 1.5 million euros [...]

On today’s episode of Forza Futbol Interviews, we have a very special guest Philippe Auclair, the well respected journalist for France Football and author of the biography of one of the greatest players in the history of English football, Manchester United icon Eric Cantona, entitled Cantona: The Rebel who would be King. The story begins in Marseille, continues on through his heights playing for Les Bleus in the years before Zidane, onward through his time at Leeds United and finally [...]

Marca.comCristiano employs Marca to apologize to supporters and make amends: “It won’t happen again.” His anxiousness to help his teammates provoked his reactions. He lived through similar situations in Manchester and he surpassed them. The club will not sanction him further for the red card. Kaka: out of the traveling squad due to his groin strain. The Olympique de Marseille coach says he is most concerned with…Raul! The Marseille centerback Diawara: “If I have to tackle alongside CR9, I will.” [...]