La Liga closing in on its finals...

[gerrit]

I think it's justified enough to have a La Liga topic here. I notice we got enough football fans here but no topic to discuss the best league in the world? (sorry England but apart from Rooney and Torres all world class players are playing in the Spanish league nowadays)



So after the Clasico of last week (which was quite historical: Pep Guardiola is the first Barca coach to win 4 Clasico's in a row, which is impressive especially since Real had won all previous home games) Barça is leading with 3 points ahead of the arch rivals.

A look at the program remaining show us that Barcelona have a rather easy home schedule but a terribly tough away schedule left:
- home the only true challenge should be tonight vs Deportivo. The other 3 remaining home games are against the bottom 3 Xerez, Tenerife and Valladolid which in theory should be 3 easy games for Barça.
- the away program however... First there is the city derby with Espanyol (who may not have anything left to play for but they will not want to lose their first city derby in their new stadium!) and then there are two tough away games to Villarreal and Sevilla who both struggle for European spots.


Real Madrid's program looks slightly easier although an away game at Mallorca who have an impressive home record is a tough nut to crack.


One other thing to keep in mind is the number of games. Barça has an average of 2 games a week coming up thanks to 2 mid-week La Liga games + 2 midweek European duties in the Champions League semi-finals. Real has the slight advantage they can focus only on the Liga.


On the other hand, the pressure on Real must be incredible. They spent an amazing sum of money on new signings but risk to be left without any trophy in the end. To add to the nightmare their arch rivals from Barcelona may very well win the Champions League right at the Bernabeu soil, while city rivals Atletico Madrid are in the running for the Europa League and Copa del Rey trophies. Imagine the humiliation if Real would see their two worst rivals take the trophies after spending all that money on Benzema, Ronaldo, Kaka, etc


Valencia is more or less sure of 3rd place and Champions League slot.


For the 4th and last CL ticket it seems to be a tough race between Mallorca, Sevilla and very likely Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao are also still believing in their chances.

Personally Mallorca is my favourite Spanish club (in the title race I prefer Barça over Madrid but Mallorca are my favourites) and while I strongly believe they'll get at least a Europa League ticket it's waiting if UEFA will grant them a license for Europe given the current financial situation in Real Mallorca. Athletic Bilbao has apparently already indicated they consider going to court if Mallorca would get the UEFA license and take away the European slot.


At bottom Xerez look doomed, Tenerife and Valladolid have revived their chances of survival somewhat with their wins last weekend.


So place your bets on the La Liga

[SteveHall]

Real Madrid to win. Barcelona out of relegation worries!

Don't forget Geta for Europe and I am very worried that, after a mini-revival, Málaga may commit suicide. Tenerife, Xérez, Zaragoza and Valladolid have hit some form. Osasuna are out of trouble so I fear that Málaga may be playing San Andreu next season,

Worst collpase? Hércules. Amazing ..... and when your manager says, "I don't know what's happening" you realise that you are about to lose out on promotion ...... or his name is Ian Dowie.

Real Sociedad, Cartagena and Levante to go up.

[gerrit]

Not sure why the press all over the world talks about Barcelona being unlucky in the derby, I saw the entire game and thought Espanyol deserved the win to be honest. Barca had more posession the second half but Kameni didn't have any tricky balls to stop, while Espanyol were very unlucky not to score just before half time. It was remarkable that, while most teams choose to defend against Barca, Espanyol was really trying to attack. I guess this was their "match of the year", the city derby for the first time in the new stadium...

Real closing in to 1 point now but still I don't see Barça give this out of hands. They do have a tricky away calendar (including Villarreal coming up next I believe) but then their remaining home games (bottom three teams visiting Camp Nou) should be an easy one.

Mallorca should be sure of European football now (= top 6 finish) so I'm very happy, although having 4th spot so close before the end it'd be disappointing to miss the Champions League slot and play "only" Europa League. Especially because Mallorca is in need of money it'd be great to qualify for the CL now. The home game against Real is what I fear most, but I do think the European ticket (be it CL or Europa League) should be in the pocket now. Nice win against Osasuna yesterday

[SteveHall]

A draw was a fair result I thought and with that Barcelona's bubble is now burst. 1000 miles by coach this week gives them the excuse they need to implode and hand the title back to its rightful owners. Real Madrid win all their remaining matches to be crowned worthy champions. End of.

[El Tonto]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

A draw was a fair result I thought and with that Barcelona's bubble is now burst. 1000 miles by coach this week gives them the excuse they need to implode and hand the title back to its rightful owners. Real Madrid win all their remaining matches to be crowned worthy champions. End of.

Just returned from Madrid after attending Real Madrid game on Sunday. Real Madrid were in total control from the beginning and defended high up the pitch. David Villa was ineffective because they could not get the ball to him. Valencia were very physical which made it a stop/ start game and prevented a passing game. All in all it was a good game Real deserved the win. Don't rule out Real Madrid just yet.

[SteveHall]

¡¡Hala Madrid¡¡

[El Tonto]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

¡¡Hala Madrid¡¡

I second that. What will the effect on Barcelona's defeat have on La Liga race now!!!

[jojo]

oh good (NOT), a football thread! didnt realise form the title. I'll not come in here again lol!!!

Jo xxx

[SteveHall]

Why, Jojo? We would value your input into the likely destination of the title and on Barcelona's tactics to overcome a two goal deficit.

[littleredrooster]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

Why, Jojo? We would value your input into the likely destination of the title and on Barcelona's tactics to overcome a two goal deficit.

Going to be an interesting second leg.
Barca maybe had a bit of a rough deal both from the ref and the travelling,but have to give credit to Inter and especially THE SPECIAL ONE who had obviously figured out Barca's weakness from the start.
The fact that Inter were caught offside 5 times before they even scored should have given Barca a clue what they were up to, and were indeed eventually caught out repeatedly with through balls into the empty space behind their hi-line.

As for the Barca /Real tussle,difficult one to call now, with so much pressure on Barca,but without doubt the two classicos clearly demonstrated which side was best of the two by far.
Recent classicos must have been quite an embarrasment for Real,especially in view of the cash they have dished out.