Inside Spanish Football

Barcelona took another step forward in their Champions League campaign, eliminating Manchester United 4-0 on aggregate after a 3-0 win in the second leg of the Nou Camp. Lionel Messi was the star for the Blaugrana with two goals. His great rival Cristiano Ronaldo also netted on the same evening, but he was powerless to stop Juventus from exiting the tournament at the hands of a youthful Ajax side.

Messi flies to the Wanda, read Marca (Atleti’s Wanda Metropolitano will be the venue for this year’s final)

AS chose to focus on Cristiano and Juventus’ loss to Ajax, while Mundo went with the headline “A Messifinales”

Continue reading “Spanish newspaper reaction to Barcelona 3-0 Man Utd & Ajax 1-2 Juventus”

Here is La Liga’s Team of the week for Round 32. This TOTW doesn’t include Real Madrid or Leganes players as their game was played on Monday night.

Team of the week: Oblak (Atleti), Montero (Atleti), Mercado (Sevilla), Nacho (Valladolid), Zaldua (Sociedad), Escalante (Eibar), Sarabia (Sevilla), Guedes (Valencia), Griezmann (Atleti), Inaki (Bilbao), Santi Mina (Valencia)

Three teams- Atleti, Valencia and Sevilla, make up almost two thirds of the TOTW. Atleti, who beat Celta 2-0, have Oblak, Montero and Griezmann in the XI. Valencia, who beat Levante 3-1, are represented by Guedes and Santi Mina while Mercado and Sarabia are in for Sevilla, who edged Betis in a five goal thriller.

There is no Barcelona player- the Blaugrana effectively played a B side who drew 0-0 with bottom of the table Huesca. Continue reading “La Liga Team of the Week- Round 32- 18/19 Season”

Here’s a look at La Liga’s team of the week from GW29. Valencia’s 1-0 result at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla was a big one for Los Che- they’ve now gone 16 games unbeaten, a record they last achieved 77 years back in 1942. It also saw VCF leapfrog Sevilla in the league standings.

Only three home teams won their respective games in Round 29- Barcelona and Real being two, with Celta the third thanks to their thrilling 3-2 win over Villarreal. Atletico registered their biggest win of the season, and that 4-0 triumph against Alaves has seen nominations in the TOTW for goalkeeper Oblak and Thomas Partey, who scored a fantastic goal over the weekend.

Team of the Week: Oblak (Atleti), Nunez (Athletic Bilbao), Lenglet (Barca), Navas (Sevilla), Gaya (Valencia), Partey (Atleti), Morales (Levante), Kondogbia (Valencia), Benzema (Real Madrid), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Iago Aspas (Celta)

La Liga Round 29 Results

Girona 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Getafe 0-2 Leganes
Barca 2-0 Espanyol Continue reading “La Liga Team of the Week Round 29- March 29-31 2019”

From the Spanish press itself, here’s a look at La Liga’s team of the week for games played in Round 28.

The week saw the return of Zinedine Zidane for the second time at Real Madrid, and the Frenchman started off with a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo. It earned nominations for Keylor Navas in goal and Luka Modric in midfield. The victory brought Real to within two points of Atleti, whose misery from their Champions League exit spilled into their performance domestically, with Athletic Club registering a 2-0 win over Diego Simeone’s men at San Mames.

Ligue 1 Team of the Week Round 29 2018/19 season: Navas (Real Madrid), Pique and Lenglet (both Barca), Djene (Getafe), Theo Hernandez (Sociedad), Modric (Real Madrid), Januzaj (Sociedad), Jony (Alaves), Messi and Suarez (both Barca), Portu (Girona)

Continue reading “La Liga Team of the Week- Round 28 March 2019”

The Spanish media were effusive in their praise for Cristiano Ronaldo as the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star single handedly powered Juventus into the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Some would’ve wondered whether the Bianconeri overpaid for a 33 year old, but on the evidence of performances like these, that money looks like pocket change currently. No other player would’ve perhaps been able to do this, less so against Simeone’s Atleti, who are known to be miserly in defence and rarely suffer nights like these. In the eight years that the Argentine has been in charge of Los Colchoneros, they had never previously lost a knockout tie where they had triumphed in the first leg (CL, EL and Copa)

Instead Ronaldo’s hat trick saw Atleti join cross town rivals Real in going out of the competition and kept Italy’s CL hopes alive (Roma had lost to Porto the week before). The Italian media also praised Ronaldo, while in Spain, Marca carried the headline “Cristiano Impone Su Ley” (Cristiano gets his way). AS ran “Cristiano- Rey de la Champions” meaning Cristiano- King of Champions.

Barcelona are the only Spanish team alive in the Champions League now, and they are up against Bruno Genesio’s OL tonight. History favours the Catalans, and the twin exits of Atleti and Real will have the Blaugrana believing that this could be their year in Europe. England, on the other hand, could have four representatives in the quarters if Liverpool get the better of Bayern.

The Spanish Football Federation have confirmed the venues for the remainder of Spain’s home Euro 2020 qualifiers to be played later this year. La Furia Roja are in Group F alongside Norway, Sweden, Romania, Faroe Islands and Malta.

Spain’s home European qualifiers- venue and date

Spain v Norway 23 March, 2019 at Estadio Mestalla, Valencia
Spain v Sweden 10 June, 2019 at Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Spain v Faroes 8 September, 2019 at El Molinon, Gijon
Spain v Malta 15 November, 2019 at Ramon de Carranza, Cadiz
Spain v Romania 18 Nov, 2019 at Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid

That’s two home qualifiers in Madrid and one each in Gijon, Cadiz and Valencia.