La Liga 2012/2013

MisterAnarchy

On the eve of the return of arguably the best league in the world ,La Liga, I think its time for a dedicated thread .

The campaign will begin tomorrow and will end on 1 June 2013.

The big two in La Liga will duel for the title as Jose Mourinho's Merengues seek to retain the trophy that they wrestled off their Catalan rivals after the Blaugrana's three successive triumphs.

This season will see a new late kick off time of 11pm Spanish time or 10pm Irish time for the first 2 weeks .

The newly promoted sides are Deportivo La Coruña, Celta Vigo and Real Valladolid.

Will Messi and Ronaldo be able to maintain their fierce rivalry and phenomenal goalscoring feats ?
The two players were neck-and-neck in the goalscoring charts last season, with the Argentinian hitting 50 in the league compared to Ronaldo’s 46, with an incredible 73 in all competitions for Messi and 60 for the Madrid star.

It could also be an uncertain future for some La Liga sides.
Mid- and low-level teams are being squeezed by the Spanish banking giants that have less and less credit to give out.
Madrid and Barcelona still make 10 times more than any other club in television revenue but are being financed, partly, by major financial institutions that are collapsing and being propped up by the Spanish government courtesy of the European Central Bank.

It should be an epic season !

HalloweenJack

It will be interesting to see how Valencia do under Pellegrino.

I thought Emery was doing a good job, three seasons in a row in third place. Realistically, it was the best they could do, especially with the club's hands tied owing to the Nueva Mestalla. I'll keep an eye on his progress at Spartak as he's a manager I rate a lot.

I think it'd be madness to predict who'll finish in the top half. As mentioned, the recession is hitting all the other clubs a lot harder than Real and Barça.

As for my love, Atleti, I think we can build on last year and hopefully get back into the CL. Simeone has been nothing short of incredible since replacing Manzano. The squad looks like it can build from last year. I've always been a fan of Emre but get the feeling he'll be a bit-part player. I'm disappointed with the sale of Salvio, I thought he could really be one for the future.

It's nice to see Celta back, they were always a team I had a soft spot for. And, of course, I'm hoping Rayo, my second team, can stay up again this year but maybe a tad more comfortably than last year.

MisterAnarchy

HalloweenJack wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how Valencia do under Pellegrino.

I thought Emery was doing a good job, three seasons in a row in third place. Realistically, it was the best they could do, especially with the club's hands tied owing to the Nueva Mestalla. I'll keep an eye on his progress at Spartak as he's a manager I rate a lot.

Emery did a very good job when you consider all the players sold by Valencia over the last few years but he didnt get on well with the board.

It wasn't that long ago that Valencia was supplying the largest number of national players to the Spanish national team.
The current economic situation has transformed the squad .
Its a sign of the times that for this season's first La Liga match on Sunday in Madrid, Pellegrino could go in with a starting eleven made up entirely of foreign players.

Paully D

Ronaldooooooooooooooooooooooo!

miralize

Scott Minto is returning as host of Revista. Kill me now.

Roger Sterling

Seems like the big two will be further ahead than ever this year.Lots of clubs sem to be struggling.

Nuri Sahin

Can't wait for the first Ronaldo v Messi argument.

miralize

Malaga beat Celta Vigo 1-0, with a late enough goal, thanks to 16 year old Fabrice Olinga.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/the-malaga-winner-youngest-ever-la-liga-goal-scorer-1st-la-liga-goal-of-the-season-fabrice-olinga-v-celta-vigo/

MD1990

2-0 Sevilla h/t
very poor crowd at the game

Mars Bar

MD1990 wrote: »

2-0 Sevilla h/t
very poor crowd at the game

2-1 now

Sevilla had a goal but was ruled out for offside

Mars Bar

Mallorca score in just under 2 minutes. Terrible defending but the touch and finish were still brilliant!

Mars Bar

Jaysus, only 6 minutes gone and it's 1-1. Could be loads of goals in this yet!

Stevecw

Mars Bar wrote: »

Jaysus, only 6 minutes gone and it's 1-1. Could be loads of goals in this yet!

Some start alrite, Mallorca also could have scored 2 more. Might have to record MOTD as this will be hard to turn off!

MD1990

shocking crowd at Mallorca too but the game is at 11pm at night
Wakoso just scored for Espanyol
i seen earlier the programme
that 55m has been spent in La Liga
compared to 44m in the Championship
there is no money in La Liga at all apart from Real & Barca
they need to do something about an equal share of TV money

carlop

MD1990 wrote: »

2-0 Sevilla h/t
very poor crowd at the game

Sevilla's Ultras, the Biris, are in a dispute with the president at the moment and boycotted the match tonight. That, combined with the fact that most people in August will head for the beach or mountains, would have accounted for the poor crowd.

Mars Bar

Hemed gets his second for Mallorca! Caught a volley on the hop...

NIMAN

Big fan of Spanish footie, but to be honest, the league is a shadow of its former self, back in the day when teams like Sevilla, Atletico, Valencia, Depor, Bilbao and Osasuna would give the big 2 a decent game.

Now the league is more or less based on who wins the Clasico's.

I remember Sevilla being a real tough team to beat, but didn't Madrid score 6 home and away against them last season?

CR 7

Real 1-1 Valencia at half time. Casillas in a bad way after a Pepe headbutt 5 minutes ago. He's still standing, but only just. Should have been taken off immediately.

Mars Bar

Surprised they let Casillas play on.

One of my friends went up for a header and headed another girl in the side of the head just like Pepe did to Casillas. The girl ended up with a burst eardrum and a bleed on her brain!

dRNk SAnTA

What's the reason for the 11pm kick offs? What time do they usually play at? I know Spanish people enjoy a late one but that's ridiculous.

Mars Bar

Attend a football match at 11pm > Getting shcuthered in a pub/nightclub at 11pm.

"The kick-off times were conditioned by an agreement between the LFP and the AFE (the players' union) that the Spanish league season should start on the same weekend as the rest of the leagues in Europe, on August 18," the statement reads.

"The players need to be protected from the high temperatures of mid August and so the AFE asked us to make sure that no games started before 19:00CET.

"Therefore, we have had to schedule games at unusual times in August. Kick-off times will return to the usual times as of the third weekend of the season.

Nuri Sahin

There should be more late KO's during the season. Works well for my crazy sleep pattern!

Betis hammering Bilbao at the San Memes btw, 0-3 last time I checked.

Blatter

Barça's lineup vs Real Sociedad: Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Tello, Messi, Pedro

ArmaniJeanss

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

What's the reason for the 11pm kick offs? What time do they usually play at? I know Spanish people enjoy a late one but that's ridiculous.

In fairness its only an hour later than normal, 10PM is a standard enough kick off time in Spain.
It'd be a bit like Super Sunday in England kicking off at 5pm instead of 4pm.

Nuri Sahin

-Ade- wrote: »

There should be more late KO's during the season. Works well for my crazy sleep pattern!

Betis hammering Bilbao at the San Memes btw, 0-3 last time I checked.

3-2 now

miralize

Blatter wrote: »

Barça's lineup vs Real Sociedad: Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Tello, Messi, Pedro

It's very... unique. especially if Vilanova wanted to settle the team for the season. But this suggests that he's still trying to figure out

a) the fitness of a few players
b) the starting xi for the whole season
c) Resting players like Iniesta & Pique for Madrid.

The team will be chop & changed for a few matches I think.

eagle eye

GTFI! Bilbao now 3-3 with Betis from 3-0 down. And without Llorente.:D

eagle eye

Betis score 4-3:(

Nuri Sahin

G'wan the Betis, 4-3

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Blatter wrote: »

Barça's lineup vs Real Sociedad: Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Tello, Messi, Pedro

Delighted to see Pedro back in starting XI, hopefully he'll rediscover his form and be the player we all know he can be, started to show signs of it towards the end of last season. Surprised to see Tello starting, I really like the player but I didn't think we'd see much of him this season with Affelay, Cuenca, Pedro, Alexis and of course Villa and Messi all ahead him in the pecking order, under Pep anyway.

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

What's the reason for the 11pm kick offs? What time do they usually play at? I know Spanish people enjoy a late one but that's ridiculous.

Along with the weather, it's also to facilitate viewers. No way would they schedule the big 2 to be playing at the same time.

Mars Bar wrote: »

Attend a football match at 11pm > Getting shcuthered in a pub/nightclub at 11pm.

Doesn't factor in really, Spaniards by and large only really hit the nightclubs around 12-1. I think they'd normally only be having their dinner around 10/11.

eagle eye

Ugh, all the hard work to get back level and the defense falls apart then.:(

gimmick

Perfectly good Valencia goal ruled out. The corruption has already started. Just hand them the trophy now as I cannot stand the amount of blatant cheating that will happen this season. A joke.

klose

A yellow for a handball in spain no matter what? Bit harsh..

eagle eye

gimmick wrote: »

Perfectly good Valencia goal ruled out. The corruption has already started. Just hand them the trophy now as I cannot stand the amount of blatant cheating that will happen this season. A joke.

You might feel at home in this forum. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=576

miralize

Valencia taking points away from RM at home on the first week of La Liga! Nice!

gimmick

Should have been all 3 but thats refs and Real for ya :rolleyes:

Chancer3001

i dont think pique is rested. think hes just plain dropped.

miralize

Chancer3001 wrote: »

i dont think pique is rested. think hes just plain dropped.

And why do you think that? He played on Wednesday. He has a match against RM midweek.

1-0 Puyol!!!

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Delighted for Puyol :D:D:D

eagle eye

Puyol back with a bang!

MisterAnarchy

gimmick wrote: »

Should have been all 3 but thats refs and Real for ya :rolleyes:

Seems like the referees are favouring Real again this season
It was a farce last season ,I think Real conceded their first penalty in April and that was only after all the hullabaloo in the media over the favouritism .

1-0 Barca !

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Woah..

miralize

1-1 Castro scored. Hmm... ALves positioning was woeful

Gonzovision

Shocking defending

eagle eye

Wow nice goal, these guys are not afraid to get forward.

Glico Man

Great finish from Castro

Chancer3001

claaaaaas finish!

miralize

MESSI!!! 2-1

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Fcuks sake Messi..! That's just unreal!! 2-1

eagle eye

The first of 50 maybe!

Glico Man

Well... theres #1, only took 10 minutes. How many can he get this season?