La Liga Saturday: Barcelona, Real Madrid Both Fall To Clubs Fighting To Avoid Relegation

The more Sociedad looked for a goal however, the more space it created for Barca and the more stretched out Sociedad became. When Barcelona was able to take advantage of the space, Sociedad was forced to resort to clutching and grabbing in a desperate attempt to prevent a break. Yet the minutes wore on and Barca was unable to find a second goal.

Sociedad’s persistent attack paid off in the 70th minute after a short pass at the top off the box, took a deflection and found Ifran charging on net. Pinto did his best to make himself big in front of the striker, but Ifran was able to beat the keeper and leave Barcelona stunned. It wasn’t a pretty goal, but Sociedad won’t complain.

In the 12th minute, Dani Alves was forced in to action after a nasty tackle from behind on Martin Montoya by Raul Tamudo. Tamudo was shown a yellow card and Montoya left the pitch with what looked like a shoulder or collar bone injury. Two minutes later, Sociedad nearly took the lead after the before mentioned Tamudo just missed wide to the right after a beautiful chip found the forward breaking in on Jose Pinto. It was a busy stretch for Tamudo who Ray Hudson called, “Class in a Glass”.

Xavi and Messi had a laugh during the celebration as Xavi apparently told Messi that ball wasn’t for you. It was a tremendous reaction from Messi to even be close to the pass and an amazing bit of vision and skill by Xavi to see the opening at hit Thiago with a 30+ yard pass.

After a fairly dull first half, things got much more interesting in the second half in Madrid.

The game picked up the pace after the Madrid goal and series of close plays left Madrid frustrated as they were denied a penalty and minutes later Karim Benzema’s header rattled the crossbar. Madrid began pushing harder for the equalizer and despite a plethora of good chances, they were unable to find the back of the net.

Sociedad will be hoping for Barcelona to put on a similarly flat performance to Real Madrid as they look to remove themselves from the relegation battle at the bottom of the table.

Bench: Zubikarai; Jon Ansotegui, Gorka Urkola, Diego Ifran, Francisco Sutil, David Zurutuza, Illarramendi

Real Madrid did threaten a couple times in the half thanks to free kicks in dangerous spots outside the Zaragoza box, but neither set piece troubled Zaragoza goalkeeper Antonio Doblas. Madrid best chance of the half came in the 18th minute when Kaka’s shot from outside the box went just wide of goal.

As is usually the case, just as I was ready to write off the half and complain about how totally dull it was, Zaragoza struck.

Bench: Leo Franco; Edmilson, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Maurizio Lanzaro, Nobrega Braulio, Ivan Obradovic, Adam Pinter

Saturday, 12pm ET

With Madrid likely still smarting from their midweek home loss to Barcelona in their Champions League semifinal first leg, Zaragoza could be facing an angry Los Blancos squad. Zaragoza is one point out of the relegation zone and could really use a result...but this might not be the match to get them in. Fortunately, several teams around Zaragoza in the table are facing tough matches as well, so a loss probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. In 61 trips to the Bernabéu, Zaragoza has had a positive result (win or draw) only ten times.