Hola a todos! (Hello everyone!) a huge thank you to everyone who read and commented on my La Liga updates so far, am so pleased that many of you are taking an interest in Spanish football it means a lot to me. :)
So welcome back to the second round of La Liga results as we take a look back on all the action from the Primera Liga and the news as its has happened. Plenty of transfers in and around as Barcelona concluded the signing of Arsenal midfielder Alex Song whilst Real Madrid loan duo of Nuri Sahin (Liverpool) and Ricardo Carvalho (QPR) left on season long loans to English clubs. Valencia have also continued spending with the signing of Aly Cissoko from Lyon for €7m a replacement it seems for the departed Jordi Alba.
Bilbao are still in negotiations over the sales of Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez and Luka Modric has completed his move from Tottenham to Real Madrid the fee seems a bit unclear as three different sites I checked gave three different values! But its between €30-€40 million euro’s in a long drawn out saga the deal is finally concluded.
The first El Clasico of the season was won by Barcelona after a 3-2 victory in the Supercopa first leg they had trailed from a Ronaldo header until Pedro, Messi and Xavi put Barca into a strong lead, a Valdes error allowed Di Maria to profit and keep the game alive, the teams meet again on Wednesday to decide the trophy.
So lets have a look at the results as they happened in round 2 of La Liga :-
Real Sociedad 2 — 1 Celta Vigo
Real Sociedad (4-3-3) — Bravo, Ansotegi, Gonzalez, De la Bella, Bergara, Illarramendi, Estrada, Preieto, Vela, Griezmann, Agirrexte
Celta Vigo (4-5-1) — Varas, Mallo, Cabral, Tunez, Lago, Oubina, Alex Lopez, de Lucas, Fernandez, Krohn-Dehli, Aspas
So Sociedad bounced back from there humbling at the Nou Camp to register their first victory of the season as Celta suffered back to back defeats. Celta did lead on the stroke of 49 minutes as Enrique de Lucas scored Celta’a first goal since returning to the top division but they couldnt hold that lead for long as the excellent Griezmann wonderfully set up Agirrexte to equalise. Bad defending from Celta allowed former Arsenal player Carlos Vela to steal possession and square the ball to Agirrexte for his second as Celta struggled to cope.
Goals : Agirrexte 54′, 61′ — de Lucas 49′
Ana’s Man of the Match : Antoine Griezmann, another tremendous display from the young French man a real talent for the future.
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Real Betis 1 — 2 Rayo Vallecano
Real Betis (4-5-1) — Fabricio, Chica, Paulao, Dorado, Nacho, Benat, Canas, Agra, Pereira, Juan Carlos, Molina
Rayo Vallecano (4-5-1) — Ruben, Titio, Javi Fuego, Amat, Casado, Trashorras, Adrian, Leo, Piti, Jose Carlos, Billie Nielsen
Rayo Vallecano made it two wins from two after an impressive victory away at Real Betis, an early start as we saw two goals in the opening five minutes Leo crossing in for Piti to tap in with only three minutes gone. Molina equalised with his third goal for the season just two minutes later as Betis began to dominate the game. However once Rayo survived that pressure they began to dominate themselves in a very impressive passage of play when substitute Bangoura set-up Leo and he made no mistake as Rayo make it a 100% win rate so far.
Goals : Molina 5′ — Pita 3′, Leo 63′
Ana’s Man of the Match : Leo Baptistao, scored one and created one in a lively contribution from the Rayo forward.
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Espanyol 1 — 2 Real Zaragoza
Espanyol (4-5-1) — Alvarez, Rodgriguez, Moreno, Capdevilla, Sanchez, Verdu, Javi Lopez, Mubarak, Cristian Gomez, Alvaro Vasquez, Albin
Real Zaragoza (4-5-1) — Roberto, Paredes, Goni, Abraham, Pinter, Gonzalez, Apono, Montanes, Mari, Oriol, Postiga
Espanyol made it a second successive defeat and worrying signs ahead it looks like for the Catalan side in a feisty game which saw a host of yellow cards and one red. Things began well enough as Vasquez scored a brilliant effort just before half time however things collapsed in the second. Albin who was already booked handled in the area earning him a second yellow card as Apono stepped up to level the game, the hardworking Postiga then earned the away side a vital three points very late on to the dismay of the home crowd.
Goals : Alvaro Vasquez 43′, Albin S/O 51 — Apono 51′, Postiga 89
Ana’s Man of the Match : Apono, worked tirelessly in the midfield showing a good touch and good ability capped with his cool penalty conversion.
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Malaga 1 — 1 Real Mallorca
Malaga (4-5-1) — Caballero, Demichelis, Weligton, Sanchez, Monreal, Duda, Portillo, Camacho, Buonanotte, Isco, Fernandez
Real Mallorca (4-4-2) — Aouate, Lopez, Bigas, Nunes, Ximo Navarro, Pereira, Pina, Marquez, Nsue, Victor, Hemed
Malaga continued their spell of good form with a good point at home against Mallorca in a fairly un-eventful game. Mallorca again looked very good in spells as Tomer Hemed fresh from his two goals against Espanyol last week took his tally to three as a cross from Nsue found him perfectly to head in on 67 minutes. However Malaga were saved late again by a teenager last week 16 year old Olinga this time 19 year old Juanmi who scored with practically his first touch, a point each.
Goals : Juanmi 77′, Eliseu S/O 90′ — Hemed 67′
Ana’s Man of the Match — Emilio Nsue, great cross for the opening goal and was never shy of running at the Malaga defense.
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Osasuna 1 — 2 Barcelona
Osasuna (4-5-1) — Fernandez, Bertran, Arribas, Damia, Flano, Punal, Sisi, Cejudo, Lamah, Loe, Llorente
Barcelona (4-3-3) — Valdes, Alba, Pique, Puyol, Alves, Busquets, Fabregas, Iniesta, Tello, Messi, Alexis Sanchez
A far from assured display from the Catalan giants as Osasuna put in a determined display in Pamplona. Last season Osasuna managed to beat Barca 3-2 and the home side looked like they could repeat that again taking the lead on 17 minutes when a great cross from Lamah found Joseba Llorente to convert to the delight of the home crowd. Barca created a few half chances but should have been a second goal down when Busquets was caught in possession allowing substitute Nino to race clear, but he lacked composure as his finish hit the side netting a glorious chance wasted.
They were made to pay in harsh circumstance as the referee inadvertently blocked an Osasuna player and Barca attacked in numbers, Pedro bursting wide cut the ball back to Alexis Sanchez who in turn squared for what looked like an offside Lionel Messi who tapped the away side back into the game. Punal was red carded for his protest as Osasuna felt aggrieved, and worse was still to come when Jordi Alba crossed for Messi to pass in the winner for a hard earned three points.
Goals : Llorente 17′, Punal S/O 78 — Messi 75′, 80′
Ana’s Man of the Match — Lionel Messi, when needed he can win games on his own and even though he was quiet he still managed to score twice.
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Getafe 2 — 1 Real Madrid
Getafe (4-5-1) — Moya, Valera, Abraham, Alexis, Miguel Torres, Castro, Lafita, Barrada, Michel, Xavi Torres, Miku
Real Madrid (4-2-3-1) — Casillas, Arbeloa, Albiol, Ramos, Marcelo, Alonso, Diarra, di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo, Higuain
Shock of the round came in the derby between Madrid and small town rivals Getafe who shocked there more illustrious neighbours. Usually a formality at Getafe turned into a nightmare as Madrid lost to continue there poor start despite Higuain scoring first just before the half hour mark.
However their Achilles heal struck again as a cross from Barrada was met by Valera and the game was all square but things were about to get even worse when substitute Colunga raced past Albiol to square for the impressive Barrada to score with the home crowd stunned! Worse still for Madrid as Fabio Coentrao was red carded despite being an unused sub to compound the misery for the defending champions.
Goals : Valera 53′, Barrada 75 — Higuain 27, Coentrao S/O
Ana’s Man of the Match — Abdel Barrada, created the first with a great cross then struck an unlikely winner in an impressive performance.
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Granada 1 — 1 Sevilla
Granada (4-2-3-1) — Tono, Gomez, Nyom, Siqeira, Lopez, Romero, Mikel Rico, Iriney, Orellana, El Arabi, Floro Flores
Sevilla (4-3-3) — Lopez, Cicinho, Fazio, Navarro, Spahic, Navas, Medel, Rakitic, Trochowski, Reyes, Negredo
The first Andalusian derby took place and the points were shared as Granada claimed there first point of the season, Sevilla had an uphill battle from the 34th minute as goal keeper Diego Lopez was shown a straight red card after fouling Floro Flores in the area, Siqeira stepped up against his replacement Palop but saw his effort saved only for Mikel Rico to pounce on the rebound to give the home side the advantage. Just before half time Alvaro Negredo headed in as the ten men fought back and held on quite comfortably until the end as Marchis wasted two great chances and Floro Flores struck the crossbar.
Goals : Mikel Rico 37′ — Negredo 45′, Lopez S/O 34
Ana’s Man of the Match — Fabian Orellana, another impressive performance causing Sevilla all kinds of problems.
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Valencia 3 — 3 Deportivo
Valencia (4-4-2) — Alves, Pereira, Costa, Ruiz, Mathieu, Feghouli, Tino Costa, Gago, Guardado, Jonas, Soldado
Deportivo (4-5-1) — Aranzubia, Pablo, Aythami, Marchena, Evaldo, Dominguez, Aguilar, Gama, Valeron, Pizzi, Riki
A six game thriller in Pellegrino’s first home game in charge of Valencia but it will will feel like a defeat after throwing away the lead, Jonas and Soldado were in inspired form as the former twice set up the Spaniard as Valencia took control being two up just before the half hour mark. Depor were not giving up though and Abdel Aguilar pulled one back but when Feghouli fired in the game seemed won for Valencia at least. Chances a plenty in the second half for both teams but again Aguilar on the score sheet reducing Valencia’s lead once again.
Then a penalty which looked harsh as Ricardo Costa was sent off for a little push on Riki inside the area, Pizzi stepped up to seal a fantastic away point for the newly promoted club.
Goals : Soldado 11′, 28′, Feghouli 43′, Costa S/O 76 — Aguilar 38′, 59′, Pizzi 77′
Ana’s Man of the Match : Jonas, two great assists and the forming of a good partnership with Roberto Soldado will see Valencia well all season.
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Real Valladolid 2 — 0 Levante
Real Valladolid (4-2-3-1) — Jaime, Rukavina, Valiente, Balenziaga, Rubio, Rueda, Victor Perez, Ebert, Oscar, Omar, Guerra
Levante (4-5-1) — Munua, Lell, Ballesteros, Navarro, Lopez, Diop, Michel, Barkero, Juanlu, Iborra, Angel
So Valladolid make it two wins from two and are making fun of my pre-season prediction that they would get relegated! However it was another feisty affair which boiled over on the 37 minute when Levante defender Navarro was shown another red card lots of them in the round 2 fixtures! A penalty was awarded and Victor Perez converted to give the home team the lead, he would convert a second penalty ten minutes later to seal a perfect start for a team I fancied for relegation.
Goals : Victor Perez 28′, 48′ — Navarro S/O 37
Ana’s Man of the match — Victor Perez, showed great composure to convert both penalties to win Valladolid’s first home game since being promoted.
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Atletico Madrid 4 — 0 Athletic Bilbao
Atletico Madrid (4-5-1) — Courtais, Juan Fran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe, Suarez, Gabi, Koke, Turan, Rodriguez, Falcao
Athletic Bilbao (4-3-3) — Iraizoz, Iraola, Gurpegi, San Jose, Perez, Iturraspe, Ander, De Marcos, Susaeta, Lopez, Aduriz
Things are not going to well for Bielsa so far in La Liga, two games two defeats and nine conceded doesn’t make great reading as the losses of Javi Martinez and Llorente are already taking the toll and they are still at the club! Atletico a team I fancied to do very well this season were fantastic as their star man Falcao shone with an excellent hat-tick the first in La Liga this season. His first was an individual piece of magic, and his second a tap in from an excellent cross his third a penalty as Atletico send a message to Chelsea that this wont be a routine victory for them in the upcoming Super Cup.
Tiago added a fourth late on as Bilbao looked a shadow of the team that beat the likes of Manchester United last season in the Europa League, Bielsa has a big job on now as Bilbao must improve and very quickly.
Goals : Falcao 20′, 42′, 59′, Tiago 84′
Ana’s Man of the Match : Radamel Falcao, who else! Splendid hat-trick of goals and increasing his value with every passing game a top striker and an ideal replacement for the departed Sergio Aguero.
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That concludes the second round of results so far in La Liga! Some big shocks with Real Madrid losing, Barcelona struggling away at Osasuna and Atletico putting four past a pretty hopeless Bilbao.
The early table looks like this, and makes good reading for Barcelona’s fans maybe they should end it now! Valladolid and Vallecano lie in second and third whilst Mallorca in fourth at the bottom lies Bilbao then Osasuna two teams I felt would have good campaigns but still very early so am expecting lots to change.
Thank you all for commenting on my previous La Liga post! As always any thoughts and opinions are welcomed on layout, style, content etc, this is still a work in progress idea so anything you want to add then please feel free to let me know in the comments below.
Also interesting to hear your thoughts on the big two in Spain, Real Madrid struggling and Barcelona well of the pace in Pamplona also Bilbao! Every one’s second favourite team struggling at the bottom already with the worst defense in the league usually where they are so strong and where will Llorente and Javi Martinez end up?
Please post you reactions below and I look forward to reading them. :)
