La Liga Round 8 : Almost A Brilliant Comeback

Hola a todos! :)

Hope you are all enjoying the new football manager or at least the pre-version thingy! (am so technical! ;)) and all of the very useful guides that have already been posted. I so far have stuck to my guns in not buying it as of yet, that may change of course! But for now am quite happy with watching others get excited over it. :)

As you may remember I am writing regular La Liga updates which have been on hold due to the long international break, which saw my team Spain claim four points in the beating of Belarus and a home draw against France.

So with a few days on holiday and a mini break from rel life stuff, lets have a look at how round eight went :-

(3rd) Malaga 2 — 1 Real Valladolid (10th)

So another victory for Malaga who have put to rest the mini selling spree which began the season after coming from behind to beat Valladolid. Manucho had scored early for the away side to give them a shock lead but was later red carded as one the stars of La Liga so far Isco pulled Malaga back into the game with a fine finish from the edge of the area. Joaquin latched onto a fumble from the keeper to tap in the Malaga winner to stay in third position.

Goals : Isco 37′, Joaqin 87 — Manucho 9′, Manucho S/O 81

Ana’s Man of the Match : Isco (Malaga)

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(4th) Real Madrid 2 — 0 Celta Vigo (13th)

Real Madrid remain eight points behind leaders Barcelona with a victory over Celta, Gonzalo Higuain’s fluke opener had them ahead and a penalty for Ronaldo sealed a home victory as Real were far from there best as they chase the leaders and are currently fourth.

Goals : Higuain 11′, Ronaldo 67′

Ana’s Man of the Match : Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid)

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(9th) Valencia 3 — 2 Athletic Bilbao (17th)

Valencia produced a final flurry to steal all three points late on against Bilbao, the away side had began the better and took the lead when a sublime strike for Aduriz beat the helpless Guaita in the Valencia goal. Scoring goals hasnt been that much of a problem so far for the Basque side however conceding poor goals has and so that struck again when Soldado leveled from the penalty spot, but they were back in front with half an hour gone when Aduriz headed in from a corner. Cue a famous Bilbao collapse as Ander Herrera was red carded allowing Tino Costa to look to have stolen a point after a scrappy bit of play, Bilbao were stunned and stunned again when a cross was whipped in and substitute Valdez grabbed the winner a terrific fightback for the home side.

Goals : Soldado 26′, Costa 88′, Valdez 90′ — Aduriz 19′, 30′, Herrera S/O 67

Ana’s Man of the Match : Artiz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao)

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(18th) Deportivo 4 — 5 Barcelona (1st)

No I havent miss typed anything you are reading in correctly! An amazing game was shared at the Riazor as Deportivo almost fought back twice but ended with nothing as Barca’s looked a little shaky. Nothing to worry about early on as Fabregas found Jordi Alba who slotted past the keeper to give Barca the lead with only two minutes gone, four minutes later and Messi found Tello who passed in the second through the keepers legs before Messi smashed in the third inside of twenty minutes as the game looked won.

A debatable penalty allowed Pizzi to get the scores to three one, as Alex Bergantinos smashed Depor back into the game as Valdes fumbled it a little, but before half time a delightful through ball from Fabregas found Messi  who struck back across the keeper and back into a more comfortable lead. Cue yet another fight back as Pizzi struck a freekick which maybe Valdes could have done better with but Deportivo were once again back in the game.

Things though got worse for Barcelona when Mascherano was shown a pretty harsh second yellow card and had to play the remainder with ten players, cue a mazy unstoppable run and finish from Lionel Messi for his hat trick and again what looked like all three points until a crazy piece of play from Jordi Alba has he looped his clearence over Valdes and into his own goal but Barca held firm to win an amazing game. Phew!! :)

Goals : Pizzi 26′, 47′, Bergantinos 37′, Alba O/G 80′ — Alba 3′, Tello 8′, Messi 18′, 43′ , 77′, Mascherano S/O 49

Ana’s Man of the Match : Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

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(11th) Getafe 0 — 1 Levante (6th)

Levante moved into sixth with a narrow away victory at Getafe, Michel’s stunning 35 yard strike was enough to win a pretty poor game.

Goals : Michel 87′

Ana’s Man of the Match : No one! :)

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(19th) Espanyol 3 — 2 Rayo Vallecano (12th)

So finally Espanyol claimed their first victory of the season in a game that had everything including two red cards, Rayo opened the scoring when Leo latched onto a horrendous pass to race clear and finish with his looped header as the linesman said the ball had gone over the line, Espanyol levelled when two players broke the offside trap but it was the more composed Verdu who scored making in one each. The home side then took the lead after Rayo failed to clear a corner and Verdu striking again before a fortunate break allowed Leo to control and finish to make it two two.

With moments left Sergio Garcia guided in a fantastic cross which was met by Christian Stuani giving Espanyol their first three points of the season, good for them! :)

Goals : Verdu 37′, 48′, Stuani 93′ Colotto S/O 81 — Leo 12, 63′ , Labaka S/O 69

Ana’s Man of the Match : Joan Verdu (Espanyol)

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(16th) Granada 1 — 2 Real Zaragoza (14th)

Good away victory for Zaragoza who had first Helder Postiga to thank after a great ball played in found his head to open the scoring, Victor Rodriguez doubled the scoring with a an easy finish as Zaragoza looked good. Iriney was shown a red card as El Arabi headed in from a corner but Granada fell to defeat as Zaragoza took the points.

Goals : El Arabi 77′ , Iriney S/O 72 — Postiga 3′, Rodriguez 27′

Ana’s Man of the Match : Helder Postiga ( Real Zaragoza)

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(20th) Osasuna 0 — 0 Real Betis (6th)

Lackluster game with no real talking points except for Osasuna legend Patxi Punal’s record breaking 463rd appearance for the home side. :)

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(15th) Real Sociedad 0 — 1 Atletico Madrid (2nd)

A game sealed with a brilliant goal from who else but Radamel Falcao, his late freekick was enough to finally get the goal there play deserved as they close to level on points with Barcelona and are looking a real title threat this season.

Goals : Falcao 90′

Ana’s Man of the Match : Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)

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(5th) Sevilla 3 — 2 Real Mallorca (8th)

Sevilla twice battled back to seal a victory over Mallorca to claim fifth place, Bigas scored first for Mallorca but Alvaro Negredo leveled minuted later as the home team dominated. However Tomer Hemed scored a good goal for the away side as Sevilla payed for miss chances. Chances they eventually took as Negredo headed the game level again and Cicinho’s stunning volley sealed an impressive win in the end.

Goals : Negredo 29′, 55′, Cicinho 74′ — Bigas 26′, Hemed 30′

Ana’s Man of the Match : Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

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As always that was that! Its still Barca and Atletico leading the way with Malaga and Real Madrid in hot pursuit with Sevilla going along nicely so far also. Depor’s heroics saw them drop into the relegation zone alongside main stays Espanyol and Osasuna but the full league table can be found here and well as my other updates which live here!

As always any questions or thoughts you have then feel free to pop them below and I will do my very best to respond to them, and now a question that will always spark debate but I have been asked it so many times I feel its right to ask others! So here goes (and no arguments please just an opinion) who do you think is better and why Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi?

I have said my opinions so will be nice to hear yours, and a final question Falcao will he stay or will he go??

As always thanks so much for reading and see you soon, take care everyone!! :)