Eibar The Engine: La Liga 14/15

the worst that can be said of any barcelona team is that they resemble arsenal, an early goal and more or less runing the first half, 25 minutes later and madrid have scored three from fast breaks and set plays

look who's basque

Messi hattrick earning him the all time record of goals in La Liga

The 5th was nice.

Ronaldo now has 20 goals in 11 league appearances this season.

http://i.imgur.com/dEICUSx.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ub5PXxXEID4#t=235

having a central defender who can do that is useful, as well as having two 6'3 cbs (one of whom who is quick)

messi was playing more of a false nine today but it would be interesting to see a 41212 with mascherano behind iniesta and rakitic

https://vine.co/v/O1BHIhrarbL

barcelona have 20 minutes to do something against valencia

they sub mathieu and rakitic replaces mascherno in midfield

they look fairly inept today but thats mostly the forwards' fault so hopefully not a reason to dismiss the mascherano in defensive midfield option

about five minutes before the end i was thinking about how enjoyable it is when a team attacks constantly and badly for the whole game and then wins right and the end

valencia's defending was mostly impeccable, a superb block from otamendi preventing messi, and then after several corners busquets scores a rebound almost exactly at the expiry of the three minutes injury time

valencia look very solid though, nuno is quite the rara avis as a former goalkeeper managing at a high level fitba team but you can see how well built this team is, even though the attack isn't at the level of the best valencia sides

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhEfSUPnZL4

slightly absurd to think that fernando torres once captained diego simeone

and captained his assistant, german burgos who is a year older still

soontomove
7h ago
2 3

In reading some comments on Spanish based papers, AM fans are mixed about his return. As a RM and AM fan, I only hope he can do what El Guaje did for AM last season. One thing is sure, he'll get a rousing cheer when he takes the field at Calderón for the first time. Simeone will know how to use him.

As a RM and AM fan

Uhm..

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/04/2468BB1D00000578-2896201-image-a-35_1420378236740.jpg

real sociedad just beat barcelona, luis enrique's decision to give messi and neymar an extra couple of days off and then leaving them on the bench was a shit idea

real madrid lost to valencia so they narrowly miss out on the consecutive wins record, otamendi got good notices and he seems to be rapidly becoming a very useful defender in an era of shit defenders

la real's main signing finnbogason who i disparaged without ever having seen him play on the basis of his 'natural finisher' rep has now failed to score in eleven la liga appearances, and is playing under a manager famous for wrecking strikers

we're not gonna give moyesy any credit here then

didnt see the game and his prior record is alright without being great for a squad that should easily be in the top half, but he has seemingly got them more organized and competitive as youd expect

barcelona regularly get turned over in euskadi so given the lineup they fielded it wasnt a huge surprise

nonethteless hope he does well, same as for most expatriate british coaches

Poor Alfred tbh

osasuna had a weirdly good record against them before the fall aye

Real Sociedad are the 1st team to win in a La Liga home game vs RMA, ATL & FCB in the same season since Sevilla in the 2006/07.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2015/01/14/barcelona-3-1-atletico-madrid-neymar-messi-suarez/

^^^ disappointed the revive wasn't the vine of Moysey eating crisps tbh

https://vine.co/v/ODQhPg61e5H

The Santiago Bernabéu stadium will be renamed the Abu Dhabi Bernabéu, according to the Spanish sports newspaper AS. The report has not been confirmed by Real Madrid but their president, Florentino Pérez, was caught on camera admitting to a member of the regional government that the stadium will be called whatever the Abu Dhabi investment group Ipic wants it to be called.

Watching Athletic Barca in the copa rn. Athleti down to nine men, Turan threw his shoe at the linesman. Good fun.

http://www.blaugranas.com/media/galeria/25/9/3/3/5/n_f_c_barcelona_cristian_tello-6775339.jpeg

Atletico 3-0 Real (Griezmann 66')

4-0 in the end including this from niguez, one of two first rate young midfielders on their books along with oliver torres who has scored six in the league so far this season at porto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiekUoBfzqU

Athletic Bilbao: Iraizoz; de Marcos, Etxeita, Laporte, Balenziaga; Mikel Rico, San José, Unai López, Susaeta, Muniain; Aduriz.

Subs: Aurtenetxe, Beñat, Ibai, Iago Herrerín, Gurpegui, Aketxe, Williams

Iñaki Williams, el Balotelli de Lezama nacido en Bilbao y de padres ghaneses

Nobody was safe in the former Barça players rant. He went for everyone and anyone. Including Messi, who he was more than happy to speak about.

"I think that last season he ate more pizzas than he should have done or was necessary," Rexach said about Barcelona's No.10.

Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Mascherano, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar. Subs: Ter Stegen, Adriano, Bartra, Busquets, Rafinha, Xavi, Pedro.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo. Subs: Navas, Varane, Arbeloa, Silva, Illarramendi, Jese, Hernandez.

ha

barcelona can barely retain possession so alves chips it forward from the halfway line and two seconds later suarez scores

only saw the 2nd half. RM well on top for the ten mins or so until Suarez scored, after that it was like the midweek City game all over again, chance after chance squandered. What is Bale for exactly? Anonymous 2nd half.

http://gfycat.com/HeartfeltTidyBear

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAvOsO0WYAA7HfX.jpg

that makes me like them more tbh

what may have gone on, it will have been asked

check out the painting above the locker

hopefully a self portrait

rafinha appears to be borrowing his comportment and expression from guillem balague

altogether they oughtn't to be too pleased with themselves given they squandered so many chances to get to 3-1, which would have equalized the head to head record and thereby probably favouring barcelona's better goal difference in the event they end equal on points

neymar was especially rash and wasteful

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/apr/11/barcelona-coaching-champions-league

lj's euskad favourites departed on the final day, it helped that depor played barcelona after they had already won the league

“Carlo is part of our history because he won the Décima for us,” said Pérez.

“But here the demands are very high and we need to give Real Madrid a new push that allows us to reach the level that we want to be.

“It was a very difficult decision to make; the demands at this club are the utmost because Madrid always wants to win silverware.

“The affection that the players and the fans have for Carlo is the same as the affection I myself have for him.”

Ancelotti is set to have back surgery this summer to correct a long-standing problem and had indicated that he will take a break from football.

given that ancelotti was leaving anyway, it seems churlish in the extreme to nonetheless effectively fire him for not being good enough, which is to say coming second to clearly the best team in europe and a narrow cl semifinal defeat

it didn't help that his team was fucked about with in the offseason and more attacking players added while losing the unique skillset of di maria

Lionel Messi

That first goal was unbelievable.

Maradona '86 stuff. Maybe better.

the shot was the genius part of this one

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/05/elche-relegated-tax-debts-eibar

the real madrid website profile of benzema now shows that as well as losing several kg, he is now 3cm taller than he was on the archived version from 2013, quite the growth spurt for a 27 year old

Real Madrid’s social media team hit the headlines last week after refusing to congratulate Barcelona on their treble win.

Reports circulated that the Real Madrid social media manager was under orders from above not to congratulate Barcelona.

Spanish newspaper Sport today revealed that Real Madrid chose to congratulate their rivals using traditional mail after realising it was too late to congratulate them on Twitter.

Barcelona publicly thanked Real Madrid for the mail but it has emerged that the mail was sent postage due, leaving Barcelona to stump up €23.98 to actually receive the mail.

First class

Iaspas / Guidetti have put Vigo 4-1 up vs Barca.

Jackson Martinez is moving to Guangzhou as a replacement for Elkeson for €42m-€45m.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/feb/02/jackson-martinez-atletico-madrid-guangzhou-evergrande

He should probably have two goals a game if he gets anything like his old form back.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/gary-neville-relishing-special-night-7301319

The rookie manager will look for respite from his side’s horror league results in a huge Copa del Rey semi-final first leg away at Barcelona , and Neville admitted that such a big game is an early highlight in his young coaching career.

“I cant wait,” he smiled in a press conference.

“These are the moments you live for as a coach, as a player.

lol

Currently 7-0 down.

lol and valencia fans didn't think unai emery was good enough for them....

messi hat-trick, suarez 4 (that's 35 in 33 games or something ridiculous)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/35524846

Live Gary Neville's Valencia v Barcelona

Francis Ford Coppola's Gary Neville's Valencia

"I'm the head coach of Valencia, I will be the head coach of Valencia for the rest of this season. If I leave, Pako will leave. He's come to be part of my coaching staff," Neville said at the time.

"I understand it might look like there's something going on. There absolutely isn't."

Gary Neville's Valencia

telegraph is liveblogging it can you believe?

i mean i like MNF as much as the next person but seriously....

Looks like Atleti might be blowing their chance to win La Liga. 1-1 against Levante with 7 minutes to go. The game is on Sky 2 for some reason now

am spending a week in spain to do some writing at the end of the month, starting with a weekend in malaga. picked up two tickets for the visit of bilbao. seems like both are a little above middling these days, if that's not too ambitious? any players to watch out for?

Kevin Prince Boateng just put Las Palmas 3-1 up at the Bernabeu following Bale getting sent off for repeated fouling. What a world.

Perfect moment for Real to lose again. It's like clockwork, end of Feb, beginning of March, the Spanish title contender fumbles. (Real did a Houdini last weekend, so it's well about time)

(Will be seeing my very first Liga match live in May, Sociedad vs Malaga, as I'm staying in San Seb for two months. Got the tickets today. Stoked)

Magnificent from Ronaldo in the Supercopa - scores a terrific goal, gets booked for taking his shirt off to celebrate and gets a second yellow for diving within the space of three minutes.

Montella’s first game in charge of Sevilla started with Betis scoring after 21 seconds. Now losing 3-4 with twenty five minutes to go. Amazing match.

Shucks, I missed this one.

Did Guardado play for Betis?

Hi all, I am planning a trip to Barcelona for late December and would very much like to take in a Barca match. They're slated to play Alaves on Dec 22, though apparently that exact date might not be set in stone? (my knowledge of football logistics is quite limited). We can book a trip such that the 22nd is right in the middle of our stay so that if the date gets moved a couple of days on either side we'd be OK, is that sufficiently safe?

More generally, was wondering if anyone who'd been to a match had any advice on tickets. Should I just go ahead and buy now at the FC Barcelona website, or is it preferable to wait? Also what's a good section? Any other tips would be much appreciated too, thanks!

don't have the best advice but:

the lfp are ridiculous and move around games within about two weeks of them happening quite often, it tends just to be moving a game from the sunday to saturday generally;
the camp nou is huge and won't sell out for a game against alaves so not to worry about availability of tickets, though tickets for spanish football games also are only available fairly close to the date the game takes place (i.e. if you look at barcelona's ticket site now i almost guarantee you there will be no tickets available for games in the league next season registration yet) - also barca tickets are quite expensive, not as bad as going to one of the big premier league clubs tho iirc;
the camp nou, as i mentioned before, is huge, the stands are also not very steep, so the nosebleed sections are not a great place to watch a game of football from

thanks for the tips, especially the last one there. it actually does look like you can reserve tickets for the match on the Barca site but you're not able to select your precise seats or even guarantee you and your companion are side-by-side unless you spring for the VIP option. so it definitely looks like waiting until much closer to the match is preferable.

ah, i guess on reflection my advice is based on my experiences 9 years ago so things may have changed

Jim's right in that the league shuffles matches around a lot, but you might just be in the clear with that 22nd of December date. There will be no copa or European fixtures that close to christmas, so perhaps there will be no need to move around matches. I think you are ok waiting till a month or six weeks before the match, I believe that's what we did at the time (which was also something like 10 years ago though). Should be a fun trip!

good advice itt. I went to a december match vs vigo, the last before the break, and sprung for expensive tix 6 weeks before. Probably not necessary? maybe 2/3 full. Fun and worth doing of course

horrible news that luis garcia's daughter has passed away aged nine after illness

enrique

explains why he stepped down from spain job, kinda surprised, but glad, that he and his family were given their privacy at the time and subsequently.

desperately sad and yes, surprisingly nice that the press kept a lid on things

fuckit, hopping between tabs. enrique of course.

Sevilla vs Sociedad is wild.

5th minute - Sevilla score
6th minute - Sevilla score own goal
7th minute - Sevilla score