Decided to create a thread to discuss La Liga issues.
Though the (probably) two best teams in the world play here, which accounts for the usual insinuations that the league is a 2-horse race, we have a lot of good teams here that don't have fan threads.

Valencia, Espanyol, Yellow Submarine (Villareal), Gijon, Getafe, Almeria, Zaragoza, Athletico Madrid, Deportivo La Coruna (Riazor boys), etc, these are all good teams, and I think we never get to discuss these games on NL. All our regular customers: Barca fans, Galacticos, Sevilla fans like Ruudie, etc, let's get together and discuss the league here.

All league stories in the LFP, and even the Segunda are welcome here.

This is very good and an opportunity to discuss other matches that threads are not created for like the match with Villarreal today.

I can see the exploits of that Barcelona b team and they even won 2-3 away today but sad that they cannot be promoted. I also hope our castilla team will get promoted too and lets even start with a burning issue in la liga.

What should be done to the money allocations from tv rights because i think the other teams need good funding to perform in the league and especially in Europe. It is sad that Villarreal is the only remaining Spanish team in the Europa league with Valencia, A.Madrid and Sevilla dropping out of Europe at this stage.

Or what exactly is the reason for the below par performance this season.

Pharoh:

This is very good and an opportunity to discuss other matches that threads are not created for like the match with Villarreal today.

I can see the exploits of that Barcelona b team and they even won 2-3 away today but sad that they cannot be promoted. I also hope our castilla team will get promoted too and lets even start with a burning issue in la liga.

What should be done to the money allocations from tv rights because i think the other teams need good funding to perform in the league and especially in Europe. It is sad that Villarreal is the only remaining Spanish team in the Europa league with Valencia, A.Madrid and Sevilla dropping out of Europe at this stage.

Or what exactly is the reason for the below par performance this season.

The TV rights issue is a real bummer. The Big Two, Barcelona and Real Madrid, have their own separate deals with CANAL and Sky, and subsequently the bulk of the money. That has left the clubs basically not getting enough in revenues to build squads that can compete favourably at home and in Europe.

Hopefully with the onset of foreign investment in some clubs like Malaga, things might change a bit, and some of these clubs can raise their profiles a bit. Though the said Malaga is about to be relegated anyway

Some live scores from Today:

Espanyol 1 - Racing Santander
Deportivo La Coruna 0 - 1 RCD Mallorca
Levante 2 - 0 Malaga

Last night Valencia was able to overcome a stubborn Getafe, with Roberto Soldado scoring 4 goals in the 2nd half. Finally they get back to winning ways! Villareal's loss to FCB didn't help their course, so it looks like they don't avoid the playoffs, and may be looking over their shoulder, as Espanyol is still fighting for that last CL slot.

More games to come tonight. Sevilla faces Zaragoza and our own Uche. Sevilla has looked good of late, and should nick this one, but let's see if they can keep in-form Ike Uche in check.

@Pharoh,
Here's some interesting analysis from a January entry in Harry Train's blog on Soccernet. It tries to look at the money issue, and concludes that the status quo may well remain the same even after the new TV deal. Check it out here.

AjanleKoko:

Some live scores from Today:

Espanyol 1 - Racing Santander
Deportivo La Coruna 0 - 1 RCD Mallorca
Levante 2 - 0 Malaga

Last night Valencia was able to overcome a stubborn Getafe, with Roberto Soldado scoring 4 goals in the 2nd half. Finally they get back to winning ways! Villareal's loss to FCB didn't help their course, so it looks like they don't avoid the playoffs, and may be looking over their shoulder, as Espanyol is still fighting for that last CL slot.

More games to come tonight. Sevilla faces Zaragoza and our own Uche. Sevilla has looked good of late, and should nick this one, but let's see if they can keep in-form Ike Uche in check.

The Depor game ended 2-1 in their favour, I saw the match. Mallorca scored first through a Webo header after a nice work from Marti down the right flank. Depor were on the back foot for major parts of the first half but they woke up in the second half. Xisco Nadal recieved a through ball from midfield and calmly slotted past Aouate and Lassad scored the winner.
Webo was later sent off.

Sevilla defeated Zaragoza 3-1.

AjanleKoko:

The TV rights issue is a real bummer. The Big Two, Barcelona and Real Madrid, have their own separate deals with CANAL and Sky, and subsequently the bulk of the money. That has left the clubs basically not getting enough in revenues to build squads that can compete favourably at home and in Europe.

Hopefully with the onset of foreign investment in some clubs like Malaga, things might change a bit, and some of these clubs can raise their profiles a bit. Though the said Malaga is about to be relegated anyway

Absolutely! I'm with the 'rebel' clubs on this one - Zaragoza, Villareal, Sevilla, Espanyol and the Basque outfits. They are against a deal that will see Barca and Madrid share 34% of tv revenue, Valencia and Atletico, 11% and the remaining will be for the other teams. They are proposing a collective deal similar to what is obtainable in the EPL and French league and I think this is just the best way to bring about some level of competition to the league. The tv revenue is extremely skewed towards Barca and Madrid and if it continues this way more teams will fade into oblivion. Already, teams like Mallorca, Betis, Depor have all faded into irrelevance because of financial troubles.
Besides, a collective tv deal will help La Liga break into big markets like China and the US because people will get the chance to see the other teams which is good for the league unlike what we have now where tv firms will rather just buy Madrid and Barca's rights.
I pray they embrace this collective deal.

Osasuna 2 - 3 Atletico madrid.
Atletico through Diego Costa's hatrick completed a comeback though Ricardo missed a penalty and Osasuna finished with ten men. It was good for ATM hope for an Europa spot.

My take is this (concerning the tv deals)

Real Madrid and barcelona are way ahead of the rest of them.

For them to perform better they need better endorsements as well, sponsorships.

If the tv rights is improved may be more FDI would come in to make clubs like valencia and villareal stronger.

Pharoh:

This is very good and an opportunity to discuss other matches that threads are not created for like the match with Villarreal today.

I can see the exploits of that Barcelona b team and they even won 2-3 away today  but sad that they cannot be promoted. I also hope our castilla team will get promoted too and lets even start with a burning issue in la liga.

What should be done to the money allocations from tv rights because i think the other teams need good funding to perform in the league and especially in Europe. It is sad that Villarreal is the only remaining Spanish team in the Europa league with Valencia, A.Madrid and Sevilla dropping out of Europe at this stage. 

Or what exactly is the reason for the below par performance this season.

Athletico went thru a rough couple of months. Visit by the anti-corruption agency (not once)! With their over 450ME debt, and a Coach who hasnt played with the same XI in consecutive league games since 26/04/09, they were always going to regress a bit. Future of De Gea, Augero, Forlan not certain

Villareal, the only Spanish side left in Europa, had a big win yesterday, 5-1 against Twente at the Madrigal.
However, they'll have to pass through one of the fellow Iberian sides (Portuguese) to get to the final. Porto, Braga, and Benfica all had good results as well, and might just make up the final four. Dynamo were forced to a 1-1 draw by Braga.

It would be a great year for Spanish footie if both European competitions were won by a Spanish team. Real or Barca winning the Champions League, and Yellow Submarine taking Europa. Let's see how things go.

Villareal will play Porto in the s/final.
The other s/final tie will likely be an all Portugese affair with Benfica and Braga already in good position to qualify.
Rossi, meanwhile, is EL top scorer with 9 goals.
I'm sure Villareal will beat Porto when they meet in the semis. Sevilla defeated Porto 1-0 at the Dragao.

I'm looking forward to a La Liga European double. La Liga was actually the last league to complete a European double with Barcelona and Sevilla winning the UCL and Uefa Cup respectively in 2006.

medjai:

Villareal will play Porto in the s/final.
The other s/final tie will likely be an all Portugese affair with Benfica and Braga already in good position to qualify.
Rossi, meanwhile, is EL top scorer with 9 goals.
I'm sure Villareal will beat Porto when they meet in the semis. Sevilla defeated Porto 1-0 at the Dragao.

I'm looking forward to a La Liga European double. La Liga was actually the last league to complete a European double with Barcelona and Sevilla winning the UCL and Uefa Cup respectively in 2006.

Falcao of Porto has 10 goals, when you add yesterday's hat-trick.

This week's beauty should be Valencia - Villareal, at the Mestalla. The true top of the table clash, since 1st and 2nd are not really up for discussion anyway. Valencia have shaken off their blip, while Villareal are on and off in the league at the moment. Expect this to be a seriously open game.

Valencia 3-0 Villareal on 61 minutes.
Soldado, Mata, and Banega the scorers.
Yellow submarine's defenders are totally hopeless today. What is happening?


Full time and it ended 5-0. Not exactly the cracker we all thought it would be. Villareal looked tired from the Europa, Valencia battered them mercilessly and dominated all through. Soldado and Mata both grabbed braces.

AjanleKoko:

Valencia 3-0 Villareal on 61 minutes.
Soldado, Mata, and Banega the scorers.
Yellow submarine's defenders are totally hopeless today. What is happening?


Full time and it ended 5-0. Not exactly the cracker we all thought it would be. Villareal looked tired from the Europa, Valencia battered them mercilessly and dominated all through. Soldado and Mata both grabbed braces.

An anti-climax at the end of the day. Villareal really missed the services of their captain, Gonzalo Rodriguez, who's out for the season - their defence just wasn't it. Yeah, I think they were fatigued from their midweek EL match. They have a very small squad and it's like they are concentrating their energy on the EL. They're still 8 points ahead of 5th placed Sevilla.
Los Che were just ill on the night. 6 goals in two games for Soldado. Banega, Mata, Pablo Hernandez, Tino Costa, Topal, were all amazing. Until recent, Soldado had been playing from the bench. Emery preferred Aduriz.

medjai:

An anti-climax at the end of the day. Villareal really missed the services of their captain, Gonzalo Rodriguez, who's out for the season - their defence just wasn't it. Yeah, I think they were fatigued from their midweek EL match. They have a very small squad and it's like they are concentrating their energy on the EL. They're still 8 points ahead of 5th placed Sevilla.
Los Che were just ill on the night. 6 goals in two games for Soldado. Banega, Mata, Pablo Hernandez, Tino Costa, Topal, were all amazing. Until recent, Soldado had been playing from the bench. Emery preferred Aduriz.

Your analysis is right and i think also that they were tired from the Europa league matches and to me there was no point winning this match. The fifth placed team is not going to threaten them anytime soon so they have the right to relax but the goal margin is too much. I don't mind if they pass through the qualifiers for the champions league next season provided that they win the Europa league for la liga.

AjanleKoko:

This week's beauty should be Valencia - Villareal, at the Mestalla. The true top of the table clash, since 1st and 2nd are not really up for discussion anyway. Valencia have shaken off their blip, while Villareal are on and off in the league at the moment. Expect this to be a seriously open game.

The structure of the league table and the avtivities of villareal in the europa league might have affected what we saw yesterday. I want the present top four to represent in the champions league next season but guys who do you wish to qualify for the europa league.

My choice would be from A.madrid, Malorca, sevilla and espanyol. My heart sincerely goes for espanyol out of the lot because they have really impressed this season and wish they will be rewarded for that.

@ above

U should add Bilbao to that list of Uefa Cup hopefuls. I want them to qualify, simple reason, I'm a big Llorente fan.

On a very mischievous note, Barca's Goal difference is equal to the no of total points the EPL leaders, United have.

medjai:

An anti-climax at the end of the day. Villareal really missed the services of their captain, Gonzalo Rodriguez, who's out for the season - their defence just wasn't it. Yeah, I think they were fatigued from their midweek EL match. They have a very small squad and it's like they are concentrating their energy on the EL. They're still 8 points ahead of 5th placed Sevilla.

I wonder how Yellow Submarine will hold out against Porto in the semis, given their makeshift defence.
I'd have expected Capdevilla to have started at the back in the Valencia game. he was in some kind of left-sided midfield role, and couldn't provide the acceleration required.

Pharoh:

The structure of the league table and the avtivities of villareal in the europa league might have affected what we saw yesterday. I want the present top four to represent in the champions league next season but guys who do you wish to qualify for the europa league.

My choice would be from  A.madrid, Malorca, sevilla and espanyol.  My heart sincerely goes for espanyol out of the lot because they have really impressed this season and wish they will be rewarded for that.

I second that. The first two are experienced campaigners, so they have my vote. Mallorca and Espanyol have shown good form this season, but one of them will likely lose out to Bilbao. Espanyol will need to reinforce their squad for Europe should they qualify, I'm not too sure they have much depth on their bench. Let's see how things turn out.

AjanleKoko:



I second that. The first two are experienced campaigners, so they have my vote. Mallorca and Espanyol have shown good form this season, but one of them will likely lose out to Bilbao. Espanyol will need to reinforce their squad for Europe should they qualify, I'm not too sure they have much depth on their bench. Let's see how things turn out.

Espanyol too. They were in the all Spanish Uefa Cup final 2007, lost to Sevilla.
They sold a couple of key players in the last transfer window - Didac Vila to Milan and Victor Ruiz to Napoli - but they are still holding on. I love the way they play, they have a good midfield. I'd love them to qualify but whichever team qualifies deserves it.

Gonzalo Rodriguez out for the season; Santi Cazorla and Nilmar both suspended - I pray Villareal would just hold on to make the semis.

Yes! Hala Yellow subs!!
FC Twente 1 vs Villareal 3. Rossi netted his 9th EL goal of the season and his 26th of the season. They'll now face Porto in the semis. I wish them luck.
The other s/final is between Braga and Benfica.

Portugese clubs controls the Europa league in the semis with villareal as only spanish representative. Shame to other leagues - ligue 1, bundesliga, epl, serie a, eredsivie etc.

congratulations to them!

^^

There were two dutch clubs at the just concluded stage so i will not count them among the under-performing league. Shakther donestk and dynamo kyiv are from Ukraine with both clubs impressing in their respective competition as well. The Porto vs Villarreal match should have been the final and i foresee a very tough match but the subs should progress though and win the league.

This weekend, the noise about the Clasico actually saw us miss a lot of the other games.
Valencia had a 3-0 stroll at Almeria, which all but confirms that they are returning to the Segunda, and Sevilla unfortunately had a reversal of fortune against Getafe. Depending on how things turn out tonight between Villareal and Zaragoza, it may have to be the Europa League for the Andalusians.

So the top four and bottom three essentially stay the same. The title race is all but decided, as well as 3rd place, but the last Champions League slot . . . hmm, I would hold my breath and see how the Europa Semis affect the balance in favour of either Villareal or Sevilla. Though it's a tight one.

I wish athletico won their game against espanyol.

but a draw is better than a loss

I just saw the Almeria vs Valencia highlights. Valencia were really ill. Soldado scored again and the third goal from Alba was really fantastic.
I think Valencia's problem is Emery. Now that he has brought a little consistency to the side, they're performing. Until now, he hardly played the same XI and he preferred Aduriz to Soldado, who clearly is a better striker, in attack.
They'd have at least been fighting RM for 2nd place and probably would have gone further than the 1st k/o round in the CL.

medjai:

I just saw the Almeria vs Valencia highlights. Valencia were really ill. Soldado scored again and the third goal from Alba was really fantastic.
I think Valencia's problem is Emery. Now that he has brought a little consistency to the side, they're performing. Until now, he hardly played the same XI and he preferred Aduriz to Soldado, who clearly is a better striker, in attack.
They'd have at least been fighting RM for 2nd place and probably would have gone further than the 1st k/o round in the CL.

We might see a better challenge from them next season, let's see how it goes for them in the summer transfer window. I have a strong feeling that team is going to be raided. Villareal as well.

Getafe nears takeover

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/909448/la-liga-side-to-be-renamed-team-dubai-after-takeover?cc=3888

medjai:

Getafe nears takeover

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/909448/la-liga-side-to-be-renamed-team-dubai-after-takeover?cc=3888

Saw the news already but i do not like how they want the team name to be changed, this is not good for la liga.
The clubs in England and other leagues do not have to change their names or is it because getafe is a small club?

These three matches for the weekend will be very interesting, madrid might fed a weakened team or a strong team depending on their la liga goals. Valencia will not want to slip up because Villarreal will just pounce on the third position if they win their match against sevilla. Now to osasuna one of the teams that has been a stumbling block to real madrid this season, well barcelona should just be careful of this team because they are really good defensively and play on the counter as well. I believe sevilla is going to win or Villarreal will like to settle for a draw as they just want to maintain their fourth position and concentrate on the Europa league.

Anyway i am looking forward to these three matches starting from the valencia game.

Valencia ? - ? Real Madrid
Barcelona ? - ? Osasuna
Sevilla ? - ? Villarreal