Are Osasuna about to set a new standard? They could end the season as the best awful team of all time. For much of the season, La Liga pundits have been united in their view of the relegation scrap: ” Stick a fork in it, it’s done.” Their logic is compelling: the bottom three are awful … More Osasuna’s exercise in magnificent futility
The little clubs that can: Leganes and Eibar clash in La Liga.
With just twelve league games left before they bulldoze the Estadio Vicente Calderon, Las Palmas make their final La Liga trip to the world’s first all-seater stadium.
The logic is alluring. Javier Hernandez has scored 9 in 22 for Bayer Leverkusen this season, while the club that let him go have managed 24 in 20 Premier League games. So if Manchester United had held onto the Mexican they’d therefore have been a lot better off. Reality isn’t that simple though: circumstances matter … More 5 Reasons Why Javier Hernandez Might Not Have Saved Van Gaal’s Season
A penny for your thoughts Rafa. Understanding what’s going on in the now ex-Real Madrid coach’s head at the moment would be fascinating. If nothing else, Benitez has given the impression throughout his career that he knows his own mind. Often his strength of opinion has ultimately been to the detriment of his job security: … More What will Rafa Benitez’s demise at Real Madrid mean for Florentino Perez?
How a blow was struck for brave officiating this weekend. … More SWAY OF THE DAY: Spanish Referees
As I watch Levante crash to a 4-0 defeat at home to Real Sociedad, a performance described by the Revista podcast as the worst by any team in La Liga so far this season, a kid sits in front of my wearing a coat bearing the slogan “Never EVER give up.” He left before the … More Is Levante’s Pretty-Ugly Fairy Tale Finally Over?
There might be one more, meaningless game to come, but last weekend saw the final game at San Mames, the first football ground built in Spain. It looks its age, but it’s packed with history. The new stadium, already overshadowing the old and waiting for its opportunity to engulf it, has a lot to live … More The Final Week of San Mames
Scouting isn’t rocket science! Every time a Premier League side signs a good foreign player the nation goes crazy. Who is this mystery guy? Where did he come from? Anyone with a decent knowledge of the game outside the UK would have known that the likes of Santi Cazorla, Oscar and Papisse Demba Cissé were … More Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens A week after the vice–president of the LFP, the governing body which runs Spanish football’s top two divisions, claimed there is match fixing in La Liga, how appropriate that this weekend sees a rematch of perhaps last season’s most controversial match. Granada versus Real Madrid doesn’t immediately grab you … More La Liga: The spectre of match fixing looms
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens Their remaining time on the pitch is running out: some bewitched us and are embarking on a final lap of honour; others won’t be missed until they’re gone. It’s time to raise our hats to the players who won’t be around forever. Last night Juan Carlos Valerón watched his … More Last Chance To See: Juan Carlos Valerón
Peripheral Vision 