La Liga

[Twizzle]

giving two penalties away didn't help

haven't been able to watch Seville for ages, ESPN seem to be ignoring them

back into 4th spot after a mid season slump with just a few games to go

 

[weasel]

Fifth spot, Twizzle. Mallorca is still clinging to fourth, two points clear of Sevilla. It seems a two horse race for that spot now (Valencia plays two of the bottom three teams at home in their last three matches so you can pretty much bank on them clinching third). Villarreal and Getafe are still mathematical chances, but it's unlikely.

Mallorca's remaining three games:
Real Madrid (H)
Deportivo La Coruna (A)
Espanyol (H)

Sevilla's remaining three games:
Racing Santander (A)
Barcelona (H)
Almeria(A)

Mallorca should pick up three points for sure at home against Espanyol, apart from that, all the matches are hard to predict. Racing and Almeria are both at the lower end of the ladder but Sevilla's away form is very erratic, victory in neither of those games should be taken for granted. Depor is a tough away trip for Mallorca (although they picked up a fantastic win last night in San Mames, which is by no means an easy away trip).

That leaves the other two games, each club has the opportunity to have a big say in the title race. Mallorca have the first chance midweek against Madrid, and if they can take any points here, it'll just about guarantee Barca the title (they'll only need to win home games against Tenerife and Valladolid, regardless of their trip to Sevilla), as well as being a giant step towards claiming fourth. Lose and they'll be opening the door for Sevilla, who would be able to do themselves, and Madrid as well, a huge favour with an upset result next weekend against Barcelona.

I'm a bit torn here, obviously I want Barcelona to win the title, so I'm really hoping Mallorca can get something out of the game against Madrid, but I would like to see Sevilla go another year in the CL. I do like seeing different teams take their bow in the CL from time to time, but I doubt Mallorca would even get through qualifying, having not played in Europe for ages they won't be seeded in the non-champions qualifying round, which means they could well be playing a team like Man City, Lyon or Werder Bremen to get through, in other words, f**ked. Their home crowds are abysmal too, I think everyone in the Balearics is too interested in partying and going to the beach to bother with football.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Almeria 4 - 2 Villarreal
Barcelona 4 - 1 Tenerife
Getafe 1 - 1 Sporting Gijon
Valencia 3 - 1 Xerez

 

[pennywisealfie]

can we finally agree now that Zlatan sucks sh*t?

Bojan and Pedro should be the usual starters.

Dani Alves was aawwwwwwesome this morning. what a performance.

Henry making a rare appearance....

 

[Ridders]

Sevilla rout Racing 5-1 to keep the pressure on Mallorca.

Speaking of Mallorca, atm they are leading Real Madrid 1-0.

 

[Ridders]

Ronaldo...Wow. Just too good. His first ever Real Madrid hattrick. Real up 3-1. Not a good day for Mallorca

 

[Twizzle]

Spurs and Seville both get up

wohooo

 

[Bulldog Force]

Oh boy. Are Sevilla going to run up our arse for a CL spot!

 

[Twizzle]

we already beat Madrid this season

 

[pennywisealfie]

godammit!! someone beat Real!!!

 

[weasel]

You know I was reading an interesting opinion from a Madrid fan on another forum the other day who was saying the scheduling of the last few weeks, where Barca have always been playing their game before Madrid's, has been rigged by a Barca-biased FA, and that playing first has a huge advantage, but I see it the other way around.

Madrid had to find late goals to win over Zaragoza and Osasuna the last few rounds, and if they'd drop points in either the title race would pretty much be over. But both times they already knew that the win was absolutely essential, and just had to keep looking for that winning goal right until the end. It's much easier for the team to motivate itself to do that when they know that nothing but winning will do. I wonder if Madrid would have had the same killer instinct to find that last minute goal against Osasuna if Barca's tricky away trip to Villarreal was played after that game.

 

[pennywisealfie]

You know I was reading an interesting opinion from a Madrid fan on another forum the other day who was saying the scheduling of the last few weeks, where Barca have always been playing their game before Madrid's, has been rigged by a Barca-biased FA, and that playing first has a huge advantage, but I see it the other way around.

Madrid had to find late goals to win over Zaragoza and Osasuna the last few rounds, and if they'd drop points in either the title race would pretty much be over. But both times they already knew that the win was absolutely essential, and just had to keep looking for that winning goal right until the end. It's much easier for the team to motivate itself to do that when they know that nothing but winning will do. I wonder if Madrid would have had the same killer instinct to find that last minute goal against Osasuna if Barca's tricky away trip to Villarreal was played after that game.

agreed. Just like when in the penalty shootout, i reckon the team going 2nd has the advantage.

 

[Ridders]

Big day in La Liga. Title could possibly be decided today.

Sevilla vs Barca on atm. Barca already up 1-0 via Messi's goal in the 5th min.

 

[Ridders]

Halftime for each game.

Barca 2 Sevilla 0
Real 1 Bilbao 1

As it stands, Barca would win the title today

 

[Ridders]

Well well, La Liga's winner will be decided in the final round. Real eventually demolished ten-man Bibao 5-1 while Barca beat ten-man Sevilla 3-2. Despite the loss, Sevilla still hold 4th spot as Mallorca lost 1-0 to Deportivo. Fight for 4th will also go down to the final round.

Interesting that La Liga's title race could also decide which teams face relegation. Barca face Valladolid, who are currently in a relegation spot with 36 points while Real face Malaga, who are out of the relegation zone but are also on 36 points. Going to be an exciting final round with so much up for grabs across the table.

 

[Twizzle]

nice comeback from Seville, albeit too late

nice to see Mallorca go down

 

[Bulldog Force]

That was by far one of the most thrilling matches of the La Liga season for Barca! Sevilla put up a great fight. The final round is going to be a screamer right across Spain. I can't remember the last time so much was still up for grabs in the final round. Bring it on

 

[weasel]

Yeh, Sevilla hasn't got that away spot yet though, still face an Andalucian derby away from home, while Mallorca should win their final game.

Barcelona will probably be champions now, but Real Madrid does deserve some credit. Their Champions League flop aside, they have built a fantastic team. Ronaldo is showing that Messi can't take his mantle for best player in the world for granted, I do suspect that Madrid would have been champions in any other league, and if they don't do their usual over-reaction this summer and bring ten new players and a new manager in, I can see them once more becoming a giant in the CL. The EPL giants can't afford to have another complacent off-season like last summer if they don't want to fall behind.

 

[Ridders]

It's amazing that Barca could need 99 points to secure the title.

 

[weasel]

Since 97/98, when La Liga reduced from 22 to 20 teams, making a 38 round 3 points per win format, the highest point tally in a season had been Barcelona's 87 from last year, but more interestingly, the highest second place points total had been 80 for Real Madrid in the 2004/2005 season. 75 points is about the average for second place, so if Barca and Madrid both win next weekend, Real's 98 points for second place would be astounding.