The Spanish Football/la Liga Thread

[Papillon]

I think Bilbao could cause a shock in the cup final. It will be closer then people think. They schooled Manchester United in March.

Yeah they did over two legs, in both matches really, but the main thing worth mentioning here was motivation. The United players didn't give a shit, just like Man City's players, and Bilbao were lucky to get them really. They upped their game against players giving 90% of their effort, and an easy stroll. People say this game alone highlights the difference between Spain and England, but I stronly disagree.

[dudevillaisnice]

They have a better chance now that Puyol is ruled out

[BOF]

Vallecano still doing their best to be relegated. 6 losses on the spin and gone from almost Europa League places to the brink of relegation with one game to go. At least for them they have the head-to-head against Zaragoza. If both lose and Gijon win, then Gijon have the head-to-head over both of them. Zaragoza can only stay up on points. Fun fun.

[Zatman]

dont expect Gijon to win and I hope Zaragoza stay up as really like their team over the years

[AVFCforever1991]

Am glad Villarreal got out of Relegation scrap, wouldnt have like to see them go down, hope Sporting go down.. I think zaragoza will go down in the end.. I like Rayo they always have big scorelines, And hope that Levante get CL because I think they have deserved it more than Malaga, who have just spent like Man city to get that 4th place..

And Bilbao won't win in the final against Athletico, they are way to inconsistent, but that's the beauty of football you just never know.

[AVFCforever1991]

Other sides will simply just mark the shit out of him in the future.

He scored 53 goals last season and 47 the season before that. I think opposition clubs have been aware of him for a while now. How can they "mark the shit out of him" exactly? They cant kick the shit out of him any more like they could do to players of his ability/status during the 80s, 90s and to a certain extent the 00s. Personally I think the biggest factor on how he does from now on is how the next Barcelona manager decides to utilize him. He has scored 210 in 217 under Guardiola.

Play like chelsea did? and have luck on your side.

[BOF]

Am glad Villarreal got out of Relegation scrap

They're not out of it by any stretch. They are 1 point above the drop zone. If they lose on the last day against Atletico Madrid then they're in grave danger. They don't have the H2H against Zaragoza. They do have it against Vallecano and they're safe in a 3-way H2H (of 41pts). But they ain't out of anything yet.

[AVFCforever1991]

Am glad Villarreal got out of Relegation scrap

They're not out of it by any stretch. They are 1 point above the drop zone. If they lose on the last day against Atletico Madrid then they're in grave danger. They don't have the H2H against Zaragoza. They do have it against Vallecano and they're safe in a 3-way H2H (of 41pts). But they ain't out of anything yet.

Still hope they don't go down, one of my favorite spanish teams of the past 10 years, I remember when they had the likes of Forlan and Riquelme, ahh those were the days. Who have rayo got on the last day?

[BOF]

Vallecano have a 6-pointer at home against Granada who are themselves in the relegation fight. So that match could go either way. Granada gave Real Madrid a tough time last time out (losing 1-2) so on form you could even say they are the favourites.

Villareal will be boosted by being at home and because Atletico will be coming off a Europa League final. The result of that final might dictate how motivated Madrid are in that one. But they're a dangerous side regardless, with Falcao up front.

Finally, Zaragoza are away to a Getafe side who have definitely got nothing to play for and who haven't won in 4 games. Zaragoza's problem is their away form.

I wouldn't be putting money on anything, but the odds are that Villareal will probably just about get away with it. Just.

[AVFCforever1991]

Villarreal have a great home record, this year.. So I can see them just edging past Atletico.. yeah but grenada do struggle more when playing away.. Its still a pretty amazing the Zaragoza season, weren't they bottom at some point? gone on quite a good run of form...Who do you think will end up going down? I think form will go out the window when Grenada go to Rayo..

Hate to admit I dont want Rayo to go down, in every match I have seen them play it has always end to end.. great team to watch.

[BOF]

Zaragoza have been on an unbelievable run to get where they are.

Here's a table of the most recent 16 games

[table color=#bccde9:22d2057154]

[row][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154] [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]TEAM [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]P [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]W [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]D [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]L [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]F [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]A [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]Pts [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]GD [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]PPG [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]LP

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]1 [col]Barcelona [col]16 [col]14 [col]0 [col]2 [col]51 [col]14 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]42 [col]+37 [col]2.63 [col]2

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]2 [col]Real Madrid [col]16 [col]13 [col]3 [col]0 [col]46 [col]12 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]42 [col]+34 [col]2.63 [col]1

[row color=#ffff00:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]3 [col]Real Zaragoza [col]16 [col]9 [col]1 [col]6 [col]18 [col]23 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]28 [col]-5 [col]1.75 [col]18

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]4 [col]Málaga [col]16 [col]8 [col]3 [col]5 [col]28 [col]22 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]27 [col]+6 [col]1.69 [col]4

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]5 [col]Mallorca [col]16 [col]8 [col]3 [col]5 [col]23 [col]17 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]27 [col]+6 [col]1.69 [col]6

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]6 [col]Valencia [col]16 [col]7 [col]3 [col]6 [col]28 [col]21 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]24 [col]+7 [col]1.5 [col]3

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]7 [col]Sevilla [col]16 [col]7 [col]2 [col]7 [col]25 [col]22 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]23 [col]+3 [col]1.44 [col]10

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]8 [col]Atlético Madrid [col]16 [col]6 [col]5 [col]5 [col]21 [col]19 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]23 [col]+2 [col]1.44 [col]5

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]9 [col]Real Betis [col]16 [col]6 [col]5 [col]5 [col]22 [col]24 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]23 [col]-2 [col]1.44 [col]12

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]10 [col]Osasuna [col]16 [col]6 [col]5 [col]5 [col]17 [col]26 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]23 [col]-9 [col]1.44 [col]8

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]11 [col]Real Sociedad [col]16 [col]5 [col]5 [col]6 [col]22 [col]22 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]20 [col]0 [col]1.25 [col]14

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]12 [col]Levante [col]16 [col]6 [col]2 [col]8 [col]24 [col]25 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]20 [col]-1 [col]1.25 [col]7

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]13 [col]Getafe [col]16 [col]5 [col]5 [col]6 [col]18 [col]22 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]20 [col]-4 [col]1.25 [col]11

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]14 [col]Athletic Bilbao [col]16 [col]5 [col]4 [col]7 [col]16 [col]21 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]19 [col]-5 [col]1.19 [col]9

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]15 [col]Villarreal [col]16 [col]4 [col]6 [col]6 [col]19 [col]23 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]18 [col]-4 [col]1.13 [col]16

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]16 [col]Sporting Gijón [col]16 [col]5 [col]3 [col]8 [col]22 [col]29 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]18 [col]-7 [col]1.13 [col]19

[row color=#bccde9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]17 [col]Granada [col]16 [col]5 [col]2 [col]9 [col]19 [col]27 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]17 [col]-8 [col]1.06 [col]15

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]18 [col]Rayo Vallecano [col]16 [col]5 [col]0 [col]11 [col]27 [col]41 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]15 [col]-14 [col]0.94 [col]17

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]19 [col]Espanyol [col]16 [col]3 [col]4 [col]9 [col]20 [col]31 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]13 [col]-11 [col]0.81 [col]13

[row color=#5a84c9:22d2057154][mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]20 [col]Racing Santander [col]16 [col]0 [col]5 [col]11 [col]8 [col]33 [mcol color=#000000:22d2057154]5 [col]-25 [col]0.31 [col]20

[/table]

I have no particular affinity with Zaragoza so I don't care if they go down, but I think Vallecano will lose against Granada so I think on balance it'll probably be Rayo dropping down. Which would be an amazing fall from grace.

[Zatman]

dont think so about Rayo vs Granada. Granada had 3 red cards after thegame 1 for attacking referee with a bottle and according to Sid Lowe was 3 of their best players got them

[BOF]

Well that might change things alright. We'll just have to wait and see. My money stays in my pocket though.

[AVFCforever1991]

Im going for a Villarreal draw, rayo Win, and zaragoza Draw.

[Stevo985]

There's a lot of talk about match fixing regarding Zaragoza coming from Spain.

It's mostly by the teams around them, and seems to just be pure speculation attempting to explain their recent run, with no evidence behind it. But it's there. Mostly from Granada I think, because they had a ref from Zaragoza reffing their last game which they lost, due to a penalty.

[AVFCforever1991]

There's a lot of talk about match fixing regarding Zaragoza coming from Spain.

It's mostly by the teams around them, and seems to just be pure speculation attempting to explain their recent run, with no evidence behind it. But it's there. Mostly from Granada I think, because they had a ref from Zaragoza reffing their last game which they lost, due to a penalty.

yeah I heard something about that, a really controversial call..I can see it though.. hope its not the case.

[Zatman]

yeah but referee had a great game in Granada vs Real Madrid. The penalty was a for a rugby tackle on Ronaldo and cant blame ref that the defender sliced into his own net. Was no need for the players to attack him after the games as a scapegoat

[Stevo985]

Yeah, I didn't see it. But from what I heard (Football Weekly) they said it wasn't a bad performance by the ref at all.

But it was stupid to appoint a ref from Zaragoza for the game!

[BOF]

But it was stupid to appoint a ref from Zaragoza for the game!

Agreed. It gives people unnecessary and all-too-convenient ammunition for a conspiracy theory.

[Zatman]

Apparently he wasnt from Zaragoza but he had family from there