Spanish La Liga, Round 35: Real Madrid Thump Sevilla 6-2

All hope is not lost for Espanyol however, they had a couple good breaks on the counter attack and we’ve seen over the past weeks that Barca will give their opponents chances, you just have to take advantage of them.

No truth to the rumor that Victor Valdés was sitting on the goal checking his smartphone and doing a sudoko puzzle.

RCD Espanyol XI: Idriss Carlos Kameni, Javi Chica, Jordi Amat, Raúl Rodríguez, Ernesto Galán; Javi López, Javi Márquez, Joan Verdú; José Callejón, Iván Alonso, Pablo Osvaldo

Bench: Cristian Alvarez; Luis Garcia, Rui Fonte, David López, Álvaro Vázquez, Albert Canal, Isaías Sánchez

It was a great play by Mesut Özil who sent a pin-point pass right by the Sevilla back line that had pushed up nearly to midfield in a desperate attempt to find late goals that at least could help with their goal differential. As good as Ronaldo was finding the net, Özil was deadly for Madrid setting up three of their five goals.

Oh yeah, Ronaldo got his fourth goal in the 75th minute. Sevilla’s Negredo also got his brace with a nice header in the 84th minute, but it was little more than a consolation goal at that point.

Madrid added a third right before the half. Mesut Özil had an open shot, but instead dropped a pass back to Kaká who beat Varas with a hard low shot to the far post. Just a clinic deconstruction of Sevilla by Mourinho’s team.

“It’s a shooting gallery and Varas is the duck.”

Atlético Madrid went on the attack in the second half, as you knew they would, trailing 2-0. They looked much better in possession and the space and time Málaga were getting in the first half, didn’t appear to be there anymore. Instead, Málaga was content to absorb pressure and hold on to their lead. Trouble is, all the possession in the world doesn’t do any good if you aren’t able to create any goal scoring opportunities with it.

Atlético tried to change things up in the 60th minute, replacing the ineffective Raúl García with Diego Forlán and it did seem to help a bit. Forlán brought some needed offensive aggression but the second half clock continued to tick on and Madrid wasn’t finding goals.

For Sevilla, they’ll be looking to take advantage of Atlético Madrid’s loss and move back in to a Europa League spot.

Bench: Andrés Palop; Alexis, Renato, Jesús Navas, Arouna Koné, Martín Cáceres, Diego Perotti

Before the match kicked-off, both teams stood for a moment of silence in honor of Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros who passed away today after a prolonged battle with brain cancer.

Very cautious opening 15 minutes from sides, as Málaga don’t want to give up anything easy and Atlético was content to be patient and wait for their chance. Atlético had to make an early substitution after defender Luis Perea went down with a hamstring injury. Perea was diagnosed with a torn muscle in his leg and will miss the rest of the season.

After an avalanche of goals to end the first half, things started off a bit calmer in the second as both teams realized that playing some defense might be a good plan. David Trezeguet entered the match for Hércules in the 51st minute, replacing goal scorer Sendoa. Trezeguet is Hércules leading goalscorer on the season with 11.

Things got a bit ugly in the 61st minute after Hércules’ Nelso Haedo Valdez tangled with Domingo and was shown a quick red card by the referee. Valdez was livid, and despite bumping Domingo in the back, the Racing defender sold a phantom elbow. Valdez’s decision to lean right over the fallen player and tell him how he felt about his play probably didn’t help his case. It was tough to tell if the referee awarded the card for the contact or for Valdez’s animated comments to Domingo. Either way, Hércules was left to finish the match with 10 men.

Two teams that have been playing well of late meet at Vicente Calderon with very different priorities.

Atlético hold on to a Europa League spot and a victory could go a long way towards gaining a firm grip on that position. Málaga on the other hand sit 15th in the table, only 2 points out of the relegation zone. Manuel Pellegrini’s team will face a tough task in trying to get a result on Atlético’s home field.

What a tremendously entertaining, high energy, back and forth paced half. Five goals, virtually no defending, definitely what you’d expect from two teams in desperate need of the full three points from today’s match.

The early goal only energized Hércules who went right on the attack, threatening the Racing goal multiple times and forcing some excellent saves from goalkeeper Toño. It was essentially an all out siege by Hércules on the Racing goal and if not for the dreaded triumvirate of good goalkeeping, well timed defending and off target shooting, you could have easily seen Hércules with a two or three goal advantage early.

Hércules needs three points to have any chance to avoid relegation, Racing needs three points to keep them safely out of the drop zone. Hércules manager Miroslav Djukic says his side can survive, despite a 3-1 loss to Malaga last week, thanks to their attacking style. David Trezeguet, who has 11 goals for Hércules this season, should be available for today’s match.

As for Racing, manager Marcelino Garcia Toral believes one more win should be enough to keep his club in nLa Liga next season. It should be an interesting match between two teams with a lot to play for.

Saturday, 12pm ET

Almeria is relegated, but Getafe still has a fight on their hands to remain in the top flight of Spanish soccer. They sit in 18th, one point from safety with a traffic jam of teams ahead of them. At this point, Getafe needs to focus on just finding points and not worrying about what is happening above them in the table. For Almeria, it’s all about playing the spoiler and trying to drag another club down to the second division with them.