Fantasy Football La Liga

This is the beginning of a massive two weeks for Spain’s giants. With Real Madrid and Barcelona separated by just four points and next week’s El Clasico sandwiched between two legs of Champions League semi-finals this will be a real test of nerve for both sides. At the other end of the table, with six games to go, it looks increasingly like the final three have been decided with a seven point gap now opened up between the bottom three and 17th placed Villarreal.

Real Madrid host doomed Sporting Gijon on Saturday. Sporting are marooned in 19th but gave themselves hope with an impressive 3-2 win over Levante on Wednesday night. They will still need a miracle to escape the drop now though and Javier Clemente’s side won’t have much of a prayer at the Bernabeu with the form Real have been in. Jose Mourinho’s side registered another emphatic victory in midweek as they crushed their local rivals Atletico 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Los Merengues are just three goals away from scoring 107 for the season and breaking the record number of goals for a Liga season set by John Toshack’s Real in 1989-90. Ronaldo also set his own record by becoming the only player in Europe’s top four divisions to score 40 goals in successive seasons. With the midweek Champions’ League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich coming up Mourinho will be tempted to rotate his side. Ozil, Marcelo and Higuain were all rested against Atletico and could be brought back in against Gijon.

Barcelona just need to keep on winning. They visit a Levante side sat in fifth and still very much in the hunt for a place in next seasons’ Champions League. On Wednesday, Pep Guardiola’s side cruised to a 4-0 victory over Getafe to make it ten wins in a row and are in fine fettle ahead of El Clasico.

Levante caused a shock early in the season as they beat Real with a solitary Aruna Kone goal but they are 14/1 to repeat the feat against Barca. The Champions have no new injury worries and they received a boost this week as David Villa announced that he would be back in contention before the end of the season.

Unai Emery gave himself a reprieve as Valencia crushed Rayo Vallecano 4-1 in midweek to give themselves a two point cushion in third place above Malaga. The Turkish manager has come under criticism from Los Ches fans as his side’s form has dipped with Malaga and Levante threatening to steal automatic qualification to the Champions’ League. Valencia visit Espanyol on Sunday and need to keep up their momentum to keep the chasing pack at bay.

The Catalunians’ hopes of qualifying for European football next season have taken a hit in recent weeks as they are winless in five. Valencia have also won four of the last five meetings between the two sides.

See my predicted best 11 this weekend at Totelfootball.com

semirrealmadrid:

Iker Casillas 7- not much to do,

Marcelo 7- good in attack, a little bit worse in defense,

Pepe 8- very good defending, no problems with the Atletico forwards, mistake by the goal for Atletico,

Sergio Ramos 9- excellent defending, wonderful skills,

Lassana Diarra 10- man of the match,…

Real Madrid vs Osasuna

Real Madrid should maintain their lead at the top of La Liga and the
question will be ‘how many?’ against Osasuna. Real are in a rich vein
of form having won six league games in a row and their excellent form
was compounded by a solid 2-0 victory at Lyon in midweek. Jose
Mourinho’s side took top spot in La Liga thanks to Osasuna who
registered something of an upset by beating surprise leaders Levante
last week. The Basque side will need to produce something special
again if they are to take anything away from the Bernabeau. Real are
missing Kaka and Marcelo and Fabio Coentrao is doubtful. Mourinho is
expected to rotate his front line and Argentine Gonzalo Higuain should
start after being a second half substitute in France on Wednesday.

Athletico Bilbao vs Barcelona

Barcelona will be looking for their third away win on the bounce as
they visit Marcelo Bielsa’s rejuvenated Bilbao. Pep Guadiola will be
taking on his former mentor in Bielsa and be eager to get one over his
old friend as his side currently lie second and just one point behind
arch rivals Real Madrid. Bilbao are unbeaten in eight games but have
not won against the Catalans since the 2005/06 season. Both sides are
near full strength. Barca remain heavy favourites and have no fresh
injury problems with Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas and
Alex Sanchex all back to match fitness. Only Spanish forward Pedro is
missing.

Levante vs Valencia

The Andalucian derby will be one of the most intriguing ties of the
weekend. Levante will be determined to prove that last week’s loss at
Osasuna was a blip and that they are not to suffer the same fate as
Real Betis (who have lost 6 in a row since going top in September).
The loss to Osasuna was their first of the season after making their
best ever start to a Liga season. Valencia are unbeaten in five and
would leap-frog Levante into 3rd place if they can take all three
points. However, Unai Emery has lost his midfield schemer Ever Banega
to injury: the ever present Argentinian playmaker joins Sergio Canales
in the treatment room with a knee injury. Emery will shuffle his pack
and hope that Sofiane Feghouli can continue his form in front of goal.

Mallorca vs Sevilla

5th placed Sevilla head to struggling Mallorca and will be favourites
to come away with all three points and secure their first away win of
the season. Mallorca will take inspiration from Granada who earned a
shock 2-1 win over the Sevillians last weekend. Manager Joaquín
Caparrós is still looking for his first victory after taking over from
Michael Laudrup four games ago. Sevilla’s Alvaro Negredo could return
after missing his side’s defeat last week. Midfielder Tomás Pina could
return for Mallorca

Real Betis vs Malaga

Two sides who have struggled after making bright starts to the season:
Malaga sit 6th while Real Betis are languishing in 14th having now
lost six in a row. Malaga secured their win against Espanyol last week
largely thanks to an inspired Salomón Rondón and will be looking for
more of the same from the Venezuelan striker. Julio Baptista is still
missing with a foot injury.

Espanyol v Villarreal

Espanyol will be favourites to get back to winning ways at home to
Villarreal. The Yellow Submarine gained just their second win of the
season at home to Rayo Vallecano last week but suffered another defeat
at home in the Champions League in midweek, all but ending their
chances of progressing to the final 16. With strikers Nilmar, Rossi
and Ruben all missing, manager Juan Carlos Garrido will need to pull
off something special to get anything from the game.

Getafe v Atletico Madrid

Getafe should triumph over Atletico who have a miserable away record
this term. Former Spain international Dani Guiza is starting to
rediscover his form and could well add to his tally for the season
against a very shaky Atletico defence.

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad

Rayo will be without veteran striker Raul Tamudo as they take on
struggling Sociedad. A win for the Madrid side would see them return
to the top half of the table.

Real Zaragoza v Sporting Gijon

Real Zaragoza just about have the edge in this bottom of La Liga
clash. Former Spurs striker Helder Postiga is finding his form for the
Iberian side and Gijon have lost three of their hour away games so
far.

Granada v Racing Santander

Granada earned a shock win at Sevilla on Monday to lift them off the
foot of the table and will be hoping the three points kick starts the
season.  Fellow strugglers Racing registered their first win of the
season last weekend at home to Betis but are currently tied with
Granada in the relegation zone.

golsdarodada:

Gols de Sevilla 2x1 Sporting Gijón - Campeonato Espanhol 16-10-2011

“Valencia defender Adil Rami is happy to answer to his nickname, “Shrek.” The French-Moroccan will freely admit it’s because he eats voraciously and has been known, just occasionally, to belch. Loudly.”

by Graham Hunter at ESPN. Follow link for more. Great piece about Valencia’s new defender, Rami.

(Forzafutbol) Mikel Arteta signed for Arsenal on August 31st for a fee of around £10million, which means that his career path has taken him from Barcelona to Arsenal, just like the departing player he was brought into replace. His route to Islington, though, was an awful lot more circuitous than Cesc Fabregas‘ was!

Marcelo Bielsa’s seemingly blank canvas has sprung to life, as hopes of a masterpiece have been suddenly rekindled in Bilbao. Here as ever on all things in the Basque Country, is Will Unwin.

Surrealism is dead in the Basque Country, and the locals couldn’t be happier. The early season performances were more painful to watch than Luis Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou, which saw the protagonist slit open a woman’s eye. Square pegs were repeatedly pushed into round holes, as new manager Marcelo Bielsa aimed to put his imprint on Athletic Bilbao, but he quickly changed to something more traditional. Like the artistic movement of the 1920’s, Bielsa seemed to be rebelling against what had gone before, and like with the surrealists of 90 years ago, he has had his detractors early on, but he’s on the way to getting it right.

wikipov:

Negredo Spain Leaves The Concentration Of ! http://newish.info/28191-negredo-spain-leaves-the-concentration-of

larojacampeones:

Full La Liga Standings after the conclusion of this weekend’s games

(via larojacampeones-deactivated2011)