Eibar The Engine: La Liga 14/15

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