La Liga, Week 30: Sevilla defeats Atheltic Bilbao on a late goal

Rayo took the lead early in the 14th minute when Lass made a nice move just inside the Celta box, evading a defender and crossing the ball. Piti was waiting and finished off the pass with a nice back-heel to give Rayo a 1-0 lead. Jose Manuel Casado’s cross in from the left wing was tapped in by Andrija Delibasic in the 83rd to secure the points.

Espanyol are all but safe for next year’s top flight after a 2-0 win over Osasuna today. Osasuna remain five points clear of the drop zone and while that will probably be enough, a few more points would make everyone feel better.

Atletico missed a wonderful chance to take an early lead in the 6th minute after Diego Costa sliced apart the Getafe defense down the left wing before finding Radamel Falcao unmarked less than 6-yards in front of the goal. Falcao’s normally lethal self completely botched the effort, sending the ball wide of the goal.

Luis García Plaza was forced to make a substitution in the 17th minute after Pedro León tweaked a muscle injury he was carrying. It was a bit of a risk to play León and it didn’t work out so well for Getafe.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Opponent decides to play extremely deep and try to beat Barcelona on the counter attack. Barcelona starts a bit shaky but settles in and begins dominating possession. Barca goals inevitably come. Sound familiar?

Mallorca tried just that plan today and it worked for all of 20 minutes before their defense was unlocked by Barcelona with their usual style and wizardry.

Depor got things going in the 11th minute when Bruno Gama picked up the ball on the edge of the area and then cut inside and blasted a low shot into the bottom corner past Roberto Gago.

Zaragoza pulled even five minutes later after Depor defender Aythami Artiles was called for a handball in the box, giving the visitors a penalty. Hélder Postiga took the PK for Zaragoza and cooly beat Daniel Aranzubía with a shot to the bottom corner, making it 1-1.

Levante took a surprising lead in the 31st minute hitting Real Madrid on the counter attack. Pedro Ríos led the attack and made a great cutback pass into the center of the Madrid area where Michel fumbled his first touch a bit, but still managed to get off a shot thanks to the slow reaction of the Madrid defenders. Michel’s short range effort took a deflection and beat Diego Lopez, putting Levante up 1-0.

The lead would be short lived.

Despite all the issues, it’s hard to see Barcelona slipping up in this match. The Blaugrana have won ten straight league matches at home, while Mallorca have only won twice on the road in their last 16 matches. Mallorca have also conceded 32 goals on the road this season, second most in the league behind only Depor.

Mallorca, who sit in 19th place, are desperate for points and will have a tall task ahead of them to get them off Barca at the Camp Nou. Head coach Gregorio Manzano will have both Pedro Bigas and Kevin Garcia back for this game.

Levante will welcome back Sergio Ballesteros, Pedro Lopez and Nabil El Zhar this weekend. All three served card related suspensions last week. Midfielder Valdo has recovered from a knee injury and is expected to be on the bench.

None.

Betis’ Nosa Igiebor got the match going with a yellow card in the opening minute for an ugly two-footed tackle on Mikel Rico. He was lucky not to be shown a red card honestly.

That was the low point from Betis and it was all unicorns and rainbows from there for Pepe Mel’s side.