Inside Spanish Football

He may have been left out of Luis Enrique’s Spanish side for the November internationals, but Paco Alcacer has been in SOME form for Dortmund this season and continued his fantastic run with the winning goal for BVB in their Klassiker game against Bayern over the weekend. Alcacer’s 73rd minute goal separated the two sides at the final whistle and gave BVB a seven point lead over Bayern. This is a result that could have a big impact on the title race in Germany- Bayern have never won the BuLi from a seven point deficit over the leaders at this stage of the season.

The goal was Alcacer’s 8th for Dortmund this season, and he’s a big reason for their rather unique stat of having the most goals scored by substitutes in Europe so far (18 across all competitions Continue reading “Paco Alcacer gives Dortmund Der Klassiker win against Bayern”

Here is how Spanish teams fared in Europe in midweek in their respective Champions League and Europa League clashes. Also check out which club’s players made it to the CL and EL Teams of the Week,

Champions League (3 Wins, One Draw)

Inter 1-1 Barcelona
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Dortmund
Viktoria Plzen 0-5 Real Madrid
Valencia 3-1 Young Boys

Europa League (1 Win, 2 Draws)

Akhisarspor 2-3 Sevilla
Rapid Vienna 0-0 Villarreal
Real Betis 1-1 Milan

As you can see, NO Spanish team lost in their Round 4 CL and EL clashes this week. Everyone bar Villarreal in Austria against Rapid also scored. The strongest results were perhaps Atleti’s 2-0 win over Dortmund (after having being beaten 4-0 in the previous round in Germany) and Betis’ draw at home against Milan.

Champions League Team of the Week MD4 18/19: Horvath, Filipe Luis, Manolas, Bernat, Mahrez, Vanaken, Kroos, Soler, Benzema, Lewandowski, Jesus Continue reading “Spanish players named in Champions League & Europa League Team of the Week- MD4 2018-19 season”

True to his word, Spain coach Luis Enrique has sprung a few surprises for his third squad, announced today (November 8, 2018). There is a return for Barcelona left back Jordi Alba who was left out of Enrique’s first two squads ( presumably for personal reasons- the two did not get on when Enrique was Barca coach)

Who has Enrique left out of the Spain squad for November 2018?

Notable omissions from Enrique’s squad include Marcos Alonso, Paco Alcacer, Marc Bartra, Nacho and Raul Albiol. Thiago and Koke also miss out due to injury. Alcacer in particular is a tad surprising given his goal scoring record this season for Dortmund.

Who are the new names in Spain’s squad?

The notable new names in Enrique’s list are Espanyol’s Mario Hermoso, Villarreal’s Pablo Fornals and Celta’s Brais Mendez. Continue reading “Spain Roster for November 2018 Internationals | Jordi Alba returns, Marcos Alonso & Paco Alcacer dropped from squad”

Here is La Liga’s Team of the Week for Round 11, as named by Spanish newspaper Marca. Real Betis are the only team to have more than one player, with two representatives in the XI in the form of left back Junior Firpo and attacking midfielder Sergio Canales.

La Liga TOTW MD11:- Bono (Girona), Junior (Betis), Ramos (Real Madrid), Savic (Atletico Madrid), Ruben Pena (Eibar), Campana (Levante), Oscar Rodriguez (Leganes), Alcaraz (Valladolid), Canales (Betis), Luis Suarez (Barcelona), Maxi Gomez (Celta)

Week 11 was a “draw” weekend in La Liga, with as many as half of the fixtures ending in draws. The highest scoring game was the 3-3 one between Betis and Celta. Only one game didn’t produce a goal- the stalemate between Sociedad and Sevilla at the Anoeta.

La Liga Results Week 11 18/19 season

Leganes 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid 2-0 Real Valladolid
Valencia 0-1 Girona Continue reading “La Liga Team of the Week (Round 11)- 2018-19 season”