Spanish Siesta: Catch up on the Past Week in La Liga!
By Dominic Vieira
The 24th round of Spain’s La Liga started with a victory for relegation strugglers Zaragoza over Getafe, two vital goals by Suazo in the 3’ and 19’ gave the side the much needed 3 points and places them four points above the drop line. This win was followed by Real Madrid’s highly-anticipated victory against hosts Tenerife, the team from The Canaries was in desperate need of points as they have a total of 20 in La Liga.
However, the result ended up being a 1-5 thrashing for the visiting side that played an aggressive and fast match, more goals could have been added to the tally. Los Merengues goals were scored by in-form Higuian (29’ & 41’), Kaká (48’), Ronaldo got his name on the score sheet by converting the penalty this time (79’) and legend Raúl grabbed the last in injury time. Ayuoze managed to pull one back for the home side in the 46th minute. On the same night, league leaders and defending champions FC Barcelona had to play against Málaga, knowing that a defeat will allow Real sit at the top of the league with 59 points. The Catalans did not slip up and opened the result with a beautiful strict from cantera product Pedro. But the Barcelona celebrations were ceased after former Madrid boy, Valdo, equalized the result on the 81st minute; Nou Camp was silent… But 5 minutes later, the Messiah, yet again, saved the game for the Catalans after combining another set of vintage play between Xavi, Dani Alves and himself. 3 points in the bag, enough said!
On Sunday we were entertained with many early kick offs, there were draws between Sevilla vs Bilbao (0-0) and last placed Xerez hosted Catalan side Espanyol which ended 1-1; the away team were up 0-1 thanks to a goal by Osvaldo but the hosts put up a fight and earned a well deserved point thanks to a Bernejo goal. Underperforming Villareal salvaged the much needed 3 points after beating Deportivo by a close margin of 1-0, thanks to a first half strike from Llorente. Gijón managed to continue their good season and climb up 10th by beating Camacho’s Osasuna 3-2, a late strike by Diego Castro won the side the match. There were also wins for high flyers Mallorca who beat relegation bound Valladolid 1-2 and Santander lost 0-2 to Almeria.
The biggest match this week was the clash between Atlético Madrid and Valencia, the game was played at a packed Vicente Calderón. After a Great spell of dominance from the home side, the visitors hit the opposition with a fast counter attack and Spanish international David Silva netted the goal. The goal is a controversial one as prior the play Reyes was clearly fouled before Valencia won possession, first mistake made by the ref. 10 minutes later, a controversial penalty was awarded to the home side after a clean challenge by Marchena in the box on Aguero; it took a long time for the referee to make the decision and badly sent off the Valencia defender. Seconds later it was 1-1. With 12 minutes to go, almost unbeatable Sanchez became easily beatable and Forlan, Aguero and Jurado each hit a goal and wrapped up the match. However, the match was clearly overshadowed by Alfonso Pérez Burrull, he has now been dropped for next week’s matches. It was a great weekend of Spain’s finest football. On Wednesday Spain will be playing former world champions France in a friendly, but lets be honest, is it really a friendly?
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