La Liga craziness continues: part 7

KdjaCL

Cracking game on tonight, hopefully athletico get a result vs Barca.
Recreativo are the form team in Spain and i reckon they beat Real.
Depor are ****.Valencia won last night

Ideal results would be Barca Real losing and Sevilla winning/drawing meaning 2 points seperate the top four with 3 games to go.


Sun 20 Deportivo v Sevilla (5pm)** SS2, 5pm La Liga
Sun 20 Recreativo v Real Madrid (6pm) SS2, 6pm La Liga
Sun 20 Atletico Madrid v Barcelona (8pm) SS2, 8pm La Liga

**Second half only

Pts P W D L GF GA +/-
1 Barcelona 66 34 19 9 6 64 30 34
2 Real Madrid 66 34 20 6 8 55 34 21
3 Valencia 65 35 20 5 10 50 32 18
4 Sevilla 64 34 19 7 8 59 32 27
5 Zaragoza 58 35 16 10 9 51 37 14

Thankfully i put up with the missus entire family yesterday for the whole day so she fcuking off with kids tonight so i can cabbage in peace watch all of th above.

kdjac

Attractive Nun

You hopeless romantic!

Paul Tergat

Real are top at the moment due to their better results against Barca!

Never usually cheer for Real but really hope they hang on and win the league. although with this league you cannot predict anything!!!

Bateman

Looking forward to this evening's action immensely, I have Valencia backed at 32/1 from a month or so back, and obviously if all 3 teams fail to win this evening things will get really interesting. Atletico - Barcelona is always an exciting game, there are usually plenty of goals at both ends, and that could be bad news for Barcelona, who have been relying on one-goal victories lately. Tonight could be the night where their whole season unravels; I fancy Sevilla could be the big winners; out of 3 away fixtures, theirs is the most winnable; Valencia went to La Coruna and won a couple of weeks ago, Depor don't have the stomach to compete with the top teams anymore.

PHB

I really hope that Real win this league, so it should be fun to watch tonight. I think after last week, they showed they have the mental strength to win.

LegacyUser

I hope Barca still do it...

Im_No_Superman

I hope Real win it. Its looking good for them too, they are 2-0 up, Robhino and Ruud. The Barce vs Athletico game should be a good one, pressure is really on them now.

~Rebel~

in betting i went for wins for both, basically working on the assumption that once barca know real have won they'll have to give everything to getting the win themselves. i know we've seen with chelsea that this doesnt always work as an inspiration to really perform, but with their attacking prowess i could see them getting the win they need to stay in the race.

Raskolnikov

Real Madrid really are on fire tonight. Robinho has possibly played his best game of the season, he looks super sharp. Beckham has been brilliant too, quality delivery after quality delivery, he set Robinho up nicely for the first.

Recreativo strike to make it 1-2! Squeaky bum time for Real!

Raskolnikov

14 minutes left, Guti comes on for Robinho.

Bet he'll get sent off

Im_No_Superman

2-2! :eek:

Chardee MacDennis

2-2 could this be there run over?

shocking marking.

Raskolnikov

Roberto Carlos has been absolute shíte in this game.

Chardee MacDennis

and he pops up and saves the day, lol!!

Im_No_Superman

Raskolnikov wrote:

Roberto Carlos has been absolute shíte in this game.

3-2! CARLOS!

Raskolnikov

I was just going to give out abour Ruud too for spurning so many chances :P

Lovely pass.

Raskolnikov

Well that's it. Huge pressure on Barcelona to win tonight.

KdjaCL

Recreativo should have won that game, Real/Beckham were excellent but Rec deserved something from the game.

Sevilla were excellent in the 2nd half earlier, coming from behind to win 2-1.


Pressure is on barca now.


kdjac

_blank_

Raskolnikov wrote:

Roberto Carlos has been absolute shíte in this game.

Very good!

Wish I knew chinese though

Can't get the English stream working - anyone else watching on it?

Bateman

That was an utterly breathtaking end to any game of football, credit to Madrid, they werre guilty of some amount of wastage but still managed to get the job done in the most dramatic of circumstances. I really can't see Barcelona winning next but I have a feeling it's going to be another rollercoaster, just like the Madrid game.

Raskolnikov

KdjaCL wrote:

Recreativo should have won that game

What game were you watching!?

Raskolnikov

I wonder what things were like in the Barcelona dressing room when news came in that Real won?

Bateman

Pretty silent I would imagine. Their performances of late suggest they want other results to win it for them. They are hoping they won't have to go and win it themselves.

PHB

That was incredibly enjoyable

Raskolnikov

Awaiting the expected Barcelona penalty.

Zapp Brannigan

Any streams for the Barca match?

~Rebel~

Messi gives Barca the lead.

Slurms, the usual, www.rojadirecta.com

<edit> zambrotta puts in a second

<EDIT,EDIT> and eto'o puts in a 3rd. wish i was watching this match, have just clicked refresh 3 times on livescore.com and each time theres a new goal for barca! stupid stupid study.

KdjaCL

Atletico playing 5 in midfield and the dodgiest keeper ever :eek:

Went down to 10 when maniche went off injured, Messi drove to the middle played a 1-2 and finished well. 2nd Zambrotta got a 60 yard pass from Thuram and the keeeper ran out to the edge of the box easiet lob ever, 3rd keeper misread a low cross and Eto throw his leg at it.

6 minutes of Madness really, unless they bring Aguero or Mista cant see them scoring with only 1 up front.

kdjac

_blank_

The Sopcast stream is working nicely.

That's Barca with the win anyway.

Im_No_Superman

What a beautiful goal. 4-0. Ath Madrid are hopeless at the back.

~Rebel~

hehe, the goal went in again just as i clicked refresh. i should do that more often!

Necronomicon

Damn it, sounds like I missed a cracker in the Madrid game.

Barcelona pretty much just toying with Athletico at this stage.

Royale with Cheese

Nice work Ronaldinho. Dive and get somebody sent off.

Necronomicon

5-0. Nice finish from Messi. Pity for Barca goal difference doesn't count.

Raskolnikov

No fight from Atletico at all. Disappointing game.

KdjaCL

So then 6-0 .......

the 5 in midfield fromt he start hindered atletico more so than barca, that and a dodgy keeper didnt help.


kdjac

Bounty Hunter

6-0 wow

PHB

Darn, shoulda watched

I guess this is their response to Real Madrid winning

Bateman

Fair play to Barcelona. So no-one blinks this weekend and it's as you were. Onto next weekend.:)

redspider

Very entertaining stuff, and what with Sevilla and Valencia also winning, this league is going to go down to the last match most likely. The table is now:

Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS
1 Real Madrid 35 10 4 3 26 16 11 2 5 32 20 22 69
2 Barcelona 35 13 4 0 38 10 7 5 6 32 20 40 69
3 Sevilla 35 14 2 1 38 11 6 5 7 23 22 28 67
4 Valencia 35 14 1 2 35 10 6 4 8 15 22 18 65
5 Real Zaragoza 35 12 4 2 31 14 4 6 7 20 23 14 58

Note that Barca have a +40 goal difference, a full 18 ahead of Real and 12 ahead of Sevilla.


Redspider

kinaldo

Another fantastic weekend in Spanish football! Who would have thought all four challengers would for a change actually win their tough away games? Miraculous Madrid; stunning Barca!

Real Madrid were lucky in the end (aren't all champions 'lucky'?) but should have murdered Recreativo before they got one back. Had they not won that game it would have been tragic. They were so comfortable, so dominant, but they just can't resist making things difficult / exciting for themselves. I think Ramos at right back might be better off after all. He seems more effective there and doesn't make as many costly mistakes. Apart from a few kamikaze like defensive errors Real were still by far the superior team.

I missed the Barca match, most unfortunately. You guys with Sky Sports, BBC, RTE, Eurosport etc. are soooooooo lucky. ESPN are the kings of amateurishness. Never mind the constant 'buffering', the relentless commercials and cringe worthy commentary; ESPN will advertise a game, have it listed on the digibox programs, then proceed to show the World's Stongest Man contest and NBA without any notice, having kept viewers up all night under the misapprehension of seeing potentially the game of the season.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

As for their result, unbelievable. Without having seen it my initial reaction is one of shock and disappointment in Atletico. A disgrace by the sounds of it and I'm sure questions will be asked. They always give Barca a good game and any decent La Liga side should never lose 6-0 at home. I notice Getafe also won 5-1 away to Espanyol...



Anyway,

Title run-in fixtures:

Saturday, 26 May 2007
Barcelona v Getafe, 21:00
Real Madrid v Deportivo La Coruna, 19:00

Sunday, 27 May 2007
Sevilla v Real Zaragoza, 20:00
Valencia v Villarreal, 18:00

Sunday, 10 June 2007
Barcelona v Espanyol, 20:00
Mallorca v Sevilla, 20:00
Levante v Valencia, 20:00
Real Zaragoza v Real Madrid, 20:00

Sunday, 17 June 2007
Gimnastic v Barcelona, 20:00
Real Madrid v Mallorca, 20:00
Sevilla v Villarreal, 20:00
Valencia v Real Sociedad, 20:00

If Los Merengues can win at Zaragoza the title should be theirs. That would be the smart money at least, but does anyone remember in the early 90s, when Barca won 5 title in a row, Madrid twice went into the final game ahead (?) only to lose at Tenerife? And Bebeto missed a last minute penalty which would have won Deportivo the title!

I have a feeling we're going down that road again...

kinaldo

redspider wrote:

Note that Barca have a +40 goal difference, a full 18 ahead of Real and 12 ahead of Sevilla.


Redspider

Also note that if all four challengers were to finish level Madrid have a vastly superior record in the head to head league (no 6-0 cakewalks included).

----P-W-D-L-F-A-PTS
Mad-6-4-1-1-12-8-13
Sev-6-3-0-3-10-10-9
Val-6-2-1-3-6-8-7
Bar-6-1-2-3-9-11-5

Only an unlucky defeat at Sevilla and an injury time Messi goal denied them a grand slam, so to speak.

PHB

This is great, we can watch Spanish football until June 17th, and then pre-season tours will start for United early July. A total of two weeks without football

Mr. Presentable

Raskolnikov wrote:

I wonder what things were like in the Barcelona dressing room when news came in that Real won?

I'd be more interested in what was said in the Atletico dressing room when word of the Real win came in

Dont be at yourself

With Zaragoza having to play both Real & Sevilla, they're going to have a big say in the outcome of the league. I stuck a few quid on Madrid at 11/1 earlier on in the season, so fingers crossed they can hold their nerve.

JPA

PHB wrote:

This is great, we can watch Spanish football until June 17th, and then pre-season tours will start for United early July. A total of two weeks without football

Copa America? June 26 to July 15.

PHB

Fantastic! Is that on Sky Sports? That's great news Are Brazil putting out a real team, or a fake team? i.e. Is Kaka gona play :P

JPA

PHB wrote:

Fantastic! Is that on Sky Sports? That's great news Are Brazil putting out a real team, or a fake team? i.e. Is Kaka gona play :P

Ya I believe it's on sky Sports. The coach wants Kaka and Ronaldinho but whether they go is another matter. And the real Ronaldo said he wants to play so we'll see.

Necronomicon

There's also the Amsterdamn tournament in there somewhere as well isn't there?

kinaldo

kinaldo wrote:

As for their result, unbelievable. Without having seen it my initial reaction is one of shock and disappointment in Atletico. A disgrace by the sounds of it and I'm sure questions will be asked. They always give Barca a good game and any decent La Liga side should never lose 6-0 at home. I notice Getafe also won 5-1 away to Espanyol...

The inevitable controversy is well underway, and they're not talking about refs this time. Phil Ball's latest Spanish football column from Soccernet sheds some light:

Yes - it's that time again. Every season around this period, with three or four games remaining, the talk in Spain turns to 'maletines', a mythical word which translates as 'suitcases' but which carries with it a cultural baggage that has extended the meaning of the word into a concept unique to La Liga. The suitcases, as explained in previous years in this column, are of course stuffed full with wads of notes, or wads of metaphorical ones - it doesn't matter.

In Spain, one team can apparently pay another team to play well, a perfectly legal practice, assuming that it actually does go on. You cannot pay a team to lose, of course, but there's no problem in a team with something to play for promising a few euros to a side lounging in mid-table comfort, dreaming of the poolside and the piña coladas. But it's complicated, enormously complicated...

<snip>

t's also around this time of the season that some old granny from deepest rural Spain is dragged into the spotlight after winning millions on the pools with a single, simple, one euro bet. Said granny was of course the only person in the country to dream up results such as Atlético Madrid 0 Barcelona 6, or Espanyol 1 Getafe 5. The rest of the serious pools' punters, after spending time and thought on the likely outcomes of the weekend's games, just shrugged their shoulders and tossed their pieces of paper into the bin.

As Atlético Madrid's still baby-faced star forward Fernando 'The Child' Torres admitted in midweek, 'No suitcases have arrived yet, as far as I know', in ironic reference to the rumours that their illustrious neighbours from the Bernabéu would have been expected to send a few suitcases their way, just to make sure that they gave Barça a game. 'Why would we let Barça win?' asked Torres, rhetorically, before adding 'We still have to secure our UEFA place'. During the same press conference, with unfortunate timing, team-mate Peter Luccin claimed that he nevertheless wanted Barça to win the league. No Atlético player worth his salt would admit to wanting Real Madrid to win it, but Luccin's words may come to haunt him next week when the post-mortems begin.

Barcelona, of course, may also have sent a few cases-worth down to deepest Huelva, where Recreativo were playing Real Madrid in an awkward looking encounter for the new leaders. The suitcase would have been of mutual benefit to Recre and Barça, helping the Catalans to clamber back onto their throne whilst in defeating Atlético Madrid, Barça would help seventh-placed Recre realise their faint but still-alive hopes of catching Atlético and pinching their UEFA place from them. Confused? Not surprising.

In the end, Real Madrid won 2-3 with a last-gasp goal from the old warhorse Roberto Carlos, and as mentioned Barcelona stuffed Atlético 0-6 at the Calderón, an extraordinary result which changes yet again the colour and tone of the ending to this weirdest of seasons. Atlético's previous worst home result was a 0-4 defeat at home to Betis in 1980, which shows the enormity of this defeat, especially given the home side's tepid improvement of late and Barça's wretched form.

full article

(always well worth reading)

kinaldo

kinaldo wrote:

but does anyone remember in the early 90s, when Barca won 5 title in a row, Madrid twice went into the final game ahead (?) only to lose at Tenerife? And Bebeto missed a last minute penalty which would have won Deportivo the title!

I have a feeling we're going down that road again...

Funny I should mention it!

(although Bebeto's penalty miss wasn't relevant to those two Tenerife seasons - but it did occur in the final minute of the 93/94 season costing Depor a title)

Real Madrid Between Record And 'Tenerife Syndrome'