La Liga

The fact that last weekend’s draw between Barcelona and Sport Gijon was highlighted as one of the biggest upsets of the campaign so far, was perhaps the most telling sign yet that the race for the title has become... well anything but a race.

Weeks and weeks of Barcelona victories had seen the Catalan club open up an eight point lead on a Real side that in truth had only lost once and drawn twice, yet faced a wide gap to the summit.

With just 5 points now separating the sides and after Barca suffered a rare defeat at Arsenal in midweek, hopes were high that the panic would spread across the Nou Camp faithful.

On Saturday, Real Madrid took advantage of playing a day early to move to within two points of Pep Guardiola’s men thanks to a comfortable 2- 0 win over lowly Levante.

Goals from Karim Benzema and Ricardo Carvalho in the opening half proved decisive, with conditions decidedly rain-soaked at the Bernabeu.

The win saw Jose Mourinho celebrate nine years since his last home defeat. But as has often been the case for the Special One this season, Barca promptly played party poopers with another win. This time over Athletic Bilbao, on Sunday and thus re-established their five point lead.

Things started well for the Catalans, with David Villa putting them ahead after four minutes. But when Andoni Iraola equalised from the spot just six minutes into the second half, the home fans would have been forgiven for thinking they were set to drop yet more points.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man and there are few that fit that bill more than Lionel Messi. With just over ten minutes remaining, and the game heading towards a dull draw, the young Argentine came up with what could yet be a priceless winner. How Barca would operate without him is difficult to say, but what is definite is that Messi has now scored a ridiculous 25 goals in 21 league appearances this season.

With Barca and Real winning, another familiar scenario played out elsewhere over the weekend – the chasing pack dropping points.

Third placed Valencia had to settle for a draw against lowly Sporting Gijon, who certainly earned the point with a battling 0-0 that saw the side move to 16th but still just a point off the relegation zone.

Elsewhere fourth place Villarreal suffered a similar fate against big spending struggler Málaga. Marco Rubén’s first half goal had seen the Yellow Submarine take a deserved lead.

But with the clock running down and Villarreal set to go level on points with Valencia, Málaga snatched a late draw with Sebastian Fernández scoring with just eight minutes remaining.

With Bilbao losing to Barcelona, the Catalan club’s cross town rivals Espanyol had the ideal chance to close the gap in the chase for European football. But they fell well short against an Osasuna side welcoming new manager José Luis Mendilibar to the Reyno de Navarra.

The hosts had previously overcome Real Madrid at home, and made short work of an Espanyol side who have struggled in recent weeks. Iranian midfielder Javad Nekounam opened the scoring after 15 minutes before adding a second from the spot ten minutes into the second period.

Goals from Lolo and Fernando Soriano late on sealed a comprehensive victory for the Pamplona based club, who moved up to fourteenth, but similarly remained just two points off the relegation places.

With so many of the top half of the table losing, Atlético Madrid manager Quique Sánchez Flores would have been forgiven for feeling more than a little nervous at the prospect of facing a visit to Real Zaragoza and La Romareda.

After all, Los Rojiblancos went into the match off the back of four straight defeats in La Liga and with pressure mounting once again on the manager.

But much like Messi for Barca, Atlético’s own mercurial Argentine proved decisive. With Sergio Agüero scoring after an impressive counter attacking move, to secure all three points for the perennial underachievers.

Another surprise struggler facing off against one of the relegation battlers was Sevilla, who took on Hercules having failed to win any of their last six competitive matches.

But the game ultimately offered fans of the Andalusian club a hint of better days to come, with new signing Ivan Rakitić taking centre stage with what proved to be the winning goal. The result left the club just three points off Espanyol.

The win also saw Sevilla move three points clear of Getafe, who suffered a late defeat away at mid table Racing Santander. With just a minute of normal time remaining, a 0-0 draw seemed on the cards. But a moment of madness from defender Ivan Marcano saw the away side concede a penalty for a foul on Giovani Dos Santos and also saw the Italian dismissed. Pablo Pinillos stepped up to convert the spot kick and move the visitors further away from the ever congested relegation zone.

In truth, much of the weekend’s high drama was reserved for a contest between two of the sides stuck in the mire of the bottom half. Almeria took on Deportivo in a game that truly encapsulated the term six pointer.

And in a weekend of Argentinian heroes, the home fans were treated to moment of magic from Pablo Piatti, who gave Almeria the lead on 48 minutes.

The stage was then set for Deportivo keeper Daniel Aranzubia, who having kept the home from extending their lead, popped up deep into stoppage time to head in a precious equaliser to leave Almeria second bottom and deep in trouble.

Goal-scoring keepers, topsy-turvy contests and late drama. Thank goodness for the threat of relegation from La Liga, otherwise there would be very little else to play for...


Work by Jack Beresford