La Liga, Week 17: Barcelona Draw Espanyol In Thrilling Catalan Derby

Ultimately, this game is going to come down to some combination of pride (on Espanyol’s part) and desire (on Barça’s part): if Espanyol can play up the “let’s win the derby!” angle with the crowd, and if Barcelona come out flat and don’t seem to want the match, then Espanyol might be able to pull out a draw. If Barça put some effort into their performance, as I expect they will, then this should be a pretty easy game for them. Sorry, pericos.

Game Date/Time: Sunday, Jan. 8, 3:30 p.m. ET, 9:30 p.m. local

But during Sunday’s match against Valencia, something seemed to awaken in this side: they possessed the ball brilliantly, created chances on goal throughout the match, and generally outplayed los ché. The yellow submarine was resurfacing, lighting the world on fire once again with that slick, speedy brand of football that made them world-famous. OK, fine, I might be exaggerating; but honestly, only a little.

Sure, their two goals came on defensive errors--the first after only 14 minutes, came courtesy of Marco Rubén, who controlled a ball in the area and was barely marked as he stroked it in, the second four minutes later seemed like the same play, though it started from a free kick and Gonzalo Rodríguez tapped it in--but they played their yellow behinds off all match and it showed. Were it not for a late equalizer from Aduriz in the 87th minute (and a bit of utter brilliance from Miguel at the end of the first half), they would have walked away much-deserved winners.

Madrid all but ended the game just 70 seconds into the second half, when Gonzalo Higuain scored from 15 yards, finishing off a cross by Marcelo. The best piece of brilliance in the match came in the 50th minute, when Özil found Benzema with a pinpoint long ball, which Benzema controlled and struck into the back of the net. Unfortunately for Benzema and Madrid, the Frenchman injured his ankle during the shot and had to exit the game, with Jose Maria Callejon replacing him.

Ronaldo scored his team’s final goal in the 90th minute. The setup was lucky, but the finish was anything but. A miscontrol by substitute Kaka caused the ball to fall into Ronaldo’s path at the edge of the area, and he ripped a shot into the back of the net with a rocket of a shot.

Racing Santander 1-0 Real Zaragoza

In the short term, firing Javier Aguirre has not made Zaragoza any better. Racing were the superior team while Zara’s defense looked shaky, and they were lucky that Racing’s finishing was poor. The game’s only goal came just before the stroke of halftime, with Bernardo scoring on a header, nodding in a corner kick.

Granada Lineup (4-5-1): Roberto; Nyom, Iñigo López, Diakhate, Siquiera; Mikel Rico, Yebda, Uche, Martin, Benitez; Ighalo

Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. local time. You can catch the game on GolTV in both the USA and Canada, and it’s on Sky Sports in the UK.

Madrid made things hard for themselves in mid-week, falling behind 2-0 to Malaga at home in the Copa Del Rey. They rallied back, however, scoring three goals in the second half to win 3-2 and put themselves in the driver’s seat heading into the second leg of that tie next week. They’ll be feeling confident heading into this match after that great second half performance, and they’ll be happy that they got their post-break hangover out of the way before a league match.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, January 7, 2:00 p.m. ET

La Liga is back! After a winter break spent fantasizing about what Kaká would look like in a PSG uniform (or was it Chelsea? Wait, or Juventus?), and actually finding out what José Antonio Reyes looks like in a Sevilla kit (wait, we already knew that?) I’m pretty ready for some football. So bring on the duopoly!

Pick: 1-1 draw.