After Real Madrid barely eeked by Real Betis last night--thanks, in part, to some controversial refereeing decisions--Atletico Madrid scraped by Granada with some some tough calls (and Radamel Falcao). And all of this after Barcelona’s Gerard Piqué was suspended for calling a referee’s decision “premeditated.” It’s a tough time to be a ref in Spain.
Racing Santander 0-2 FC Barcelona: Leo Messi Is Better Than Racing
Barcelona thrashed Racing. By every conceivable metric. From shots to possession to (the only one that matters) goals, Barcelona had their way with Racing’s very poor defense. And it’s not like Racing is the worst side in the league--they’re almost the worst side in the league. But Barça has been pretty poor away from home, so there wasn’t any real guarantee that they would dominate this game.
But it would be hard not to dominate with Messi playing as well as he has been over the last couple matches. He scored five goals against Bayern Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday--an awesome match, and was super-ready to play this match. That’s kind of a huge advantage, no matter how many emo defenders you’re missing.
Read Article >Valencia 2-2 Mallorca: Chés Choke, Squander Two Goal Lead
Their second goal seemed to cement their dominance--and lock in the three points: Mallorca defender Tejero and keeper Aouate made a major error in communication, and their misplay fell right to the feet of Valencia forward Aduriz. 2-0 and the game was locked up.
Not so fast. Mallorca came out of the gate looking to get back in the match, and they brought themselves back to respectability almost immediately: Pereira found Nsue with a brilliant ball, and the striker slotted it home with ease in the 57th minute. Less than 10 minutes later, lightning would strike: the play fell to Nsue on the wing, and the playmaker slotted it back into Víctor, who stepped right in front of Valencia defender Mathieu.
Read Article >La Liga Week 26: Atletico Madrid, Espanyol Take Home Important Victories
Granada were badly hurt by the goal. They tried to react for the rest of the match, but had a very complicated time moving out of Atleti’s midfield; both sides had a couple chances in the second half, but nothing of interest until the 84th minute. Henrique, the player who had already been incorrectly penalized for a non-handball, went to ground to try to dispossess one of the Atleti players; Mateu Lahoz showed him a direct red card, an extremely harsh choice given the way the game had progressed.
Minutes later, Radamel Falcao scored to end the match, after a fantastic run by Juanfran. The goal was pretty much incidental, but I like the way that Falcao celebrates, so I guess there’s that.
Read Article >La Liga 2012, Week 26 Preview And Fixtures: Barcelona, Real Madrid Hit The Road
HE’S A GOLDEN GOD 18:00 CET (12:00 PM EST)
This is one of the only games between two sides vying for European competitions this week...and it kinda sucks. Levante are a brutal side to play--they’re defensive, hyper-physical, and tend to base their matches around shutting down the other side’s offense rather than creating anything themselves. And Málaga? Well, they have no defense. So...it could end up being a bloodbath.
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