La Liga Weekly

As the Segunda games start to count down (seven matchdays left now), it is time for clubs to kick it into gear should they want to be part of the dramatic final playoff race. From my perspective, the rule of thumb is that if you are not within six points with five matches left, then just forget about it. The playoffs ain’t gonna happen so kick back and enjoy your ‘permanencia’. This week four teams of note can help themselves [...]

The top of the table in La Liga is essentially sorted out as Barcelona should win their third straight league title, barring a massive collapse of epic proportions. At the other end, things aren’t so settled as eight clubs will be locked in a battle to stay up in the Primera with five games to go, and this would be a much more exciting soccer spread to wager on. Almeria is dead last in the league with 26 points, so [...]

You have heard me mention in the last few weeks how it was such a shame that Recreativo started so poorly this season and thus ruined their chances for promotion because you could make the argument that no team has played better in the second half of the Segunda season than the Huelva-based outfit. Well, maybe there is still some time after all. Recre yet again went on the road and beat a team higher than them in the standings [...]

While I continue to bask in the glow of my nine correct predictions from last weekend, I must now turn my attention to this week’s games. This is a huge week with many pivotal games on the docket. Barcelona B – Betis is the headliner and with good reason. Betis were the team of the Segunda in the first half while Barca B have been the most dominant thus far in the second. These two teams battled to a 2-2 [...]

80,000 people packed the Santiago Bernabeau stadium on Saturday, April 16, to watch the first of four epic battles between the best two clubs in Europe. Expectations were high and the leaders of each team didn’t disappoint. Both goals were scored through penalty kicks, one by Lionel Messi (his record breaking 49th goal of the season and 30th in La Liga) and the other by Cristiano Ronaldo (82’ minute, his 29th of La Liga). Jose Mourinho’s strategy worked for most [...]

We really haven’t had a good exchange of words between coaches this season in the Segunda. Usually by now coaches have traded verbal volleys and insults about each other but that just hasn’t been the case this year in the Segunda. Maybe with Mourinho in the Primera that’s where it’s all getting channeled. In any event, finally this week we have two coaches who are getting after it: Granada’s Fabri and Numancia’s Juan Carlos Unzue. Things reached a boiling a [...]

It’s time to start seriously looking at the possibility of Barcelona B winning the Segunda. If you think I’m nuts, consider the evidence: A swift 4-0 win over Granada on Friday night has brought Barca to within six points of co-leaders Rayo and Betis. Granted, the referee gave a PK in favor of Barca B and a red card to Granada in the first half, but still, I think Barca B would have won that match at even strength. Keep [...]

Usually the Friday Night Lights game in the Segunda ends up being a sleepy affair with maybe a goal or two if we’re lucky but this week’s fixture stands to be the best of the bunch this season with Barcelona B hosting Granada. These are two of the most exciting and attack-minded teams in the Segunda and it will feature of battle between the league’s top two scorers in Granada’s Alex Geijo, the current Pichichi of the Segunda, and Barca [...]

Well, it certainly wasn’t a 0-0 draw which Jose Mourinho said he would have been content with headed into the second leg.  Even better, it was a perfect night for the home team as Harry Redknapp was only left to close his eyes in disgust and embarrassment. Bring on Barcelona??  Well, there’s still a return leg at White Hart Lane in London but the Spanish giants seem to have already locked up a place in the Champions League Semi-Finals.  “Los [...]

With each week as we near the end of the Segunda season, more and more teams get the necessary results and points to secure their ‘permanencia‘ for the following season. We are at the point of the season where now the playoff dreams are fading so the focus turns to staving off relegation and for the most part 17 teams have done so. Realistically, we are now left with five teams in the relegation race with four dropping down. that [...]

This was supposed to be an easy win.  Little Sporting Gijon (14th place in the table), dropped into the Bernabeau with little expectations except to be competitive and not get crushed.  Most people can’t even name a Sporting player because they don’t have any clear cut superstars.  Jose Mourinho hadn’t lost a league home match all season and reiterated that “los merengues” could not drop a match at home if they wanted to continue their title chase.  It was also [...]

This past week in the Segunda was one for the cranky and fed up which included both players and fans. As is ritual in Spain when a team is performing abysmally, several fans went to Albacete’s training grounds to yell at the players and call them a bunch of losers and mercenaries. I have to side with the fans here. Watching Alba play can be downright depressing. You’d be hard pressed to find a pulse on that team right now. [...]