It seems like every week I come in with some sort of swagger or excitement and pick some random game to be a "shootout" or a "blowout." Inevitably, those games end 1-1, 0-0 or some variation of 1-0. It's infuriating. Of course, who would have expected that last weekend's Valencia vs. Athletic Bilbao would be overshadowed by Levante's 0-3 win against Villarreal, or Osasuna's 3-0 dismantling of Zaragoza? Ah, well, we soldier on. Here's this week's narrative: Hopefully Villarreal can at least begin to put the pieces back together again--they're better than this. I hope. (Oh, and I lost my bet that Sevilla's "Proud of Andalucía" shirts (-300) would beat out Cesc's return (+150) as the reigning narrative of the weekend. Should've bet on "embarrassing fight due to racial slur" (-500)).
Spanish La Liga 2011, Week 9 Preview And Fixtures: Real Madrid Host Reeling Villarreal, Barcelona Travel To Granada
Hey look! It’s a midweek set of La Liga fixtures. And it’s featuring Real Madrid vs. Villarreal! Oh, wait, this isn’t 2008. Villarreal suck.
Tuesday, October 25
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
The almighty, invincible Barcelona--wounded after a trying draw at home--taking on a recently-promoted bottom feeder? How many goals can you legally score in a match?
Pick: 0-∞ Yeah, the infinity signs are back, people.
Sevilla vs. Racing Santander
22:00 CET (4:00 PM EST)
Two narratives are at work here: Sevilla is coming off a morale-boosting draw at Barcelona, and are looking to build on their momentum. Racing is coming off a disheartening loss to Espanyol. At the same time, Sevilla expended a huge amount of effort at the Camp Nou, plus, Javi Varas probably doesn't have that many more amazing saves left in him. Plus, Racing will be trying desperately to turn the tide, so...you buying this? Nah, me neither.
Pick: 2-0 to Sevilla
Wednesday, October 26
Zaragoza vs. Valencia
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
Zaragoza suck. I don’t care how disheartened Valencia is after that 1-1 draw with Athletic, Zaragoza are just terrible.
Pick: 2-1 to Valencia. Roberto Soldado’s imminent return doesn’t bode well either.
Getafe vs. Osasuna
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
Well, I just can’t make heads or tails of Osasuna. My current theory is that last weekend’s dismantling of Zaragoza was a result of a combination of the facts that a) Zaragoza suck b) Osasuna got lucky and c) Zaragoza got unlucky. As such, I don’t think Osasuna’s luck will continue.
Pick: 1-1, but again, I wouldn’t put money on this one.
Levante vs. Real Sociedad
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011-2012 la Liga leaders, Levante!
Pick: 1-1, but I’ve been wrong about Levante over and over and over again.
Rayo Vallecano vs. Málaga
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
OK, let's be real. Málaga is nowhere near as bad as they looked in the first half of their 0-4 loss to Real Madrid. Madrid is just that good, especially against teams with a lackluster defense. They did look better in the second half...though they were already down four. Hmm.
Pick: 1-2 to Málaga. I’m just sad Van Nistelrooy didn’t score against Madrid.
22:00 CET (4:00 PM EST)
I said this last week: Mallorca is known for strong, defensive play. I forgot to mention boring. They backed this up with a scintillating 1-1 draw last week. I expect similar results Wednesday.
Pick: 0-0.
Real Madrid vs. Villarreal
22:00 CET (4:00 PM EST)
Two years ago, this would have been the marquee matchup of the week. Now, since Villarreal has been so bad, it’s going to be somewhat overlooked: Madrid is a matchup nightmare for the Submarine, who are particularly bad against quick-strike counter-attacking offenses with a lot of scoring punch, and well, Real Madrid looked really, really good last week. If Villarreal can come out and make a statement, then maybe they’ll be able to turn their season around. Should be interesting, at the very least.
Pick: 3-1 to Madrid.
Thursday, October 27
Espanyol vs. Real Betis
20:00 CET (2:00 PM EST)
Espanyol scraped out a 1-0 win last weekend against a below-mediocre Racing Santander side; Betis lost at home 0-2 to bottom feeders Rayo Vallecano. I’m expecting something similar to play out on Thursday.
Pick: 2-0 to Espanyol.
Athletic Bilbao vs. Atlético Madrid
22:00 CET (4:00 PM EST)
It's the much-anticipated matchup of the athletic clubs, a rivalry that no one knows exists. More importantly, we'll get to watch two of my favorite strikers in the world, Fernando Llorente of Athletic and Radamel Falcao of Atleti go shot for shot. Game on!
Pick: 1-2 to Atleti. What? They’re much better away from home!
