La Liga 2012, Week 11: Athletic bests Sevilla; Barcelona, Real Madrid on the Road

Lionel Messi is pretty much God. Or that’s the way the Catalan press has been pitching him for the past few years. And today, for the infinitieth time, he answered suffering Barça fans prayers with a magical display.

Barcelona came into Mallorca leading Real Madrid in the horse race by eight points--more than enough to feel nice and comfy. But they lost over the week, a tough, draining match at Celtic in Glasgow in the Champions League. Celtic found Chelsea’s rhythm from last season against Tito Vilanova’s men, boxing them in and striking quickly on the counter, and the Scots had the same success--a defense-heavy 2-1 victory.

Mallorca are themselves looking to rebound from a disappointing 1-0 loss last week to Deportivo La Coruna. No doubt they are “thrilled” that they must attempt to bounce back against Barca. They certainly won’t roll over for Barca and their ability to strike effectively on the counter attack will give them a chance to threaten the Blaugrana. They’ll just to have to make sure they defend well enough to make their counters potentially matter.

Mallorca injuries and suspensions

(21:30 CET, 3:30 PM EST)

Yes, it’s still too early to draw an real conclusions about where these teams will end up in the final Liga tally--just look at where everyone was last year at this point. But, despite how fun it has been to watch Betis at times, I don’t think it’s crazy to say that both of these sides will be happy to escape relegation this season.