Not A Chance
They were supposed to act like yo-yos. Come up only to go start down. But this week saw all the newly promoted sides win and not only did they win but they did it in style. First up was Granada. A lot has been said about the relationship between Granada and Italian club Udinese but nobody can deny that the city which is famous for having the famous Alhambra overlooking it has been missed in La Liga. This weekend saw the mighty Villarreal roll into town. Mighty but broken Villarreal. After picking up a hard earned point against Sevilla last weekend, the yellow subs lost at home to Bayern in the Champions League. Then that amusing and at times wicked creature ‘Irony’ made an appearance. Uche, the striker signed by Villarreal from Zaragoza and sent on loan to Granada, heaped further woes on coach Juan Carlos Garrido. Villarreal now find themselves in 19th, but that shouldn’t take away from Granada who got their first win and points of the season.
Rayo Vallecano made their way down to Getafe for a Madrid derby. The atmosphere at the Coliseum was electric. Hundreds of fans were singing and chanting and the home fans had a few chants too. In fact it appeared that there were more away fans than Getafe fans at the ground, which just proves that hot zombie porn and Koala bear ads don’t always bring success. Rayo, the club that have endured more economical woes than Ireland, are putting together a decent team and the 0-1 win will do wonders for their confidence. After leaving the ground their fans were heard chantin ‘now we are back from hell, we are going to burn down the Bernabeu’. Real fans don’t worry, with petrol prices rising in Madrid it looks unlikely.
Then we have Betis. Oh how we missed them! But is it the same without crazy old Manuel Ruiz de Lopera? A club that’s motto is ‘Long Live Betis Even When They Lose’ has some of La Liga’s best and loyal supporters. A club that once rocked the transfer world when signing Denilson has seen itself counting the pennies and for many were favourites to bounce straight down. Luckily they faced an Athletic Bilbao team under construction as Marcelo Bielsa seems hell bent on unraveling all the hard work done by Joaquin Caparros. The late Sunday kick off saw 2 goals in the first 15 minutes, 2 penalties and 2 red cards and it left Betis in 2nd behind Valencia on goal difference. Who says with Lopera gone the madness needs to end?
Roaring home
There had been doubts about Radamel Falcao. Having participated in less than 5 training sessions and played in 1 game without scoring, the player was starting to look like a waste of money!!! A goal against Celtic and a hat trick v Racing Santander had everyone in the Calderon humming Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger with most others asking: ‘Kun who?’
Fight for survival
Mourinho’s objective this year was to survive relegation. Judging by his team’s performance against Levante his team might have believed him. Levante didn’t give the Real boys an inch and for all the complaining about refs etc., Real were just poor. Di Maria saw his theatrics come back and bite Khedira in the ass, and got him sent off. Last time he will step in to help a team mate. Mourinho then claimed that his team were undermined by traps. Yes Jose, imagine that, teams want to beat you! Once again he mentioned diving, playacting and hard tackles and then kept a straight face when talking about Real and ignoring the fact that Pepe almost decapitated Xavi Torres. At least the Neymar stories are over.
Say What!
Possibly the funniest thing that will be seen this year in La Liga was Sergio Ballesteros at 36 beat Cristiano in a sprint for the ball. Granted Cristiano was far from match fit but now we have a real life version of the Tortoise and the Hare.
Why couldn’t it happen to someone else?
Two share this award. Although not La Liga, one couldn’t miss Fernando Torres going around De Gea only to donate the ball to a Man United fan sitting in row Z. Who says footballers aren’t generous! But the real victims were Osasuna. Barca were finished, apparently! Osasuna were lambs to the slaughter at the Camp Nou. One couldn’t help feel that UNICEF or the UN should have intervened on the grounds of cruelty, as Barca mopped the floor with the men from Pamplona. Barca are back! Crisis diverted. Osasuna are now stars of their own horror movie.
Quotes of the week
Pep says on Friday: What would be normal is that this year we would win nothing.
Jose answers: Let’s see if we soon get 41 points and remain in the 1st Division.
All the rest of the managers just shrug their shoulders.
Results: Sporting 0-1 Valencia, Granada 1-0 Villarreal, Mallorca 0-1 Málaga, Barcelona 8-0 Osasuna, Sevilla 1-0 Real Sociedad, Getafe 0-1 Rayo, Zaragoza 2-1 Espanyol, Atlético 4-0 Racing, Levante 1-0 Real Madrid, Athletic 2-3 Betis, Atlético B 2-3 Real Oviedo.
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