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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 11: Girona on a roll, Eibar pelted and an offside hat trick
Friday Turns out it’s really hard to ring up 25 percent possession and win a football match. Getafe learned this the hard way at Real Betis, who came back from a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2. Barça reject Cristian Tello was brilliant in the second half, assisting goals for Tonny Sanabria (his seventh in seven games!) and…
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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 10: Sarabian Nights, Girona do the thing, Atlético do theirs
Saturday Valencia continued its pulsating start to the season with a 2-1 win at rock-bottom Alavés. Giovanni de Biasi’s men gave los Che the ball, but they still managed to score off two errors: a giveaway which resulted in a Simone Zaza strike (his ninth of the season) and a penalty tucked away by Rodrigo. Atlético Madrid simply cannot get…
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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 9: Los Che go off as Leganés move into fifth, Las Palmas hit the rocks
Changing things up a little this week, as I’ll be going day-by-day and giving my reaction to things that happened on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as opposed to giving a game-by-game breakdown. Saturday Getafe scored another golazo in what is becoming a curiously frequent (and awesome) wrinkle to their game. It’s been good to see them…
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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 8: Valencia do it again, Atleti-Barça, BakamBOOM
Espanyol 0-0 Levante. The visitors had to scramble quite a bit to keep their clean sheet in one of the weekend’s two goalless games. Just the way I like it. Athletic Club 1-0 Sevilla. An ugly goal secured a huge three points for the Iker Muniain-less leones (yes, I am still in mourning over my Basque son’s…
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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 7: Closed doors at Camp Nou, Valencia on fire, Villarreal recover
Happy international break!!!1! The table: Results: Celta Vigo 3-3 Girona. Celta striker Maxi Gomez has been awesome since his arrival from Uruguay’s Defensor this summer, but his side have won just one of the four games he’s scored in. Big point for Girona away, as they calmed down a game that was 2-2 inside 20 minutes.…
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LaLiga Thoughts, Matchday 6: Four-goal games galore
The table: Results: Atlético Madrid 2-0 Sevilla. Atlético have kept three clean sheets in the last four and have held an opponent to zero shots on target twice in that span. I tipped Yannick Carrasco to notch 15 league goals this season; he’s got three already. Alavés 1-2 Real Madrid. At least Alavés finally scored a…
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Atlético Madrid 1-2 Barcelona: “C’est la Vie,” Said the Champions
“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.” A team not often praised for its work when backed into a corner sure did well when it was backed into a corner Saturday. At the same time, it forced all challengers onto their heels. On Saturday, Atlético Madrid…
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The Man from LEBB
Aritz Aduriz’s long, winding road through Spanish football began at Athletic Club’s famed Lezama academy, continued through helping Mallorca get back into Europe and playing under Unai Emery’s orders in the Champions League at Valencia, and finally took a U-turn back to the Basque Country. The San Sebastián native has 223 caps and 88 goals for Athletic –…
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In the Long Run
That game was supposed to be easy. That game was supposed to be done by the 60th minute. And yet, it wasn’t. Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup yesterday on the back of a dispiriting performance, one in which seemingly two teams showed up. The first sixty odd minutes saw the Barcelona of the treble winning…
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The Real Housewives of Catalunya
FC Barcelona, fresh off winning a second treble – a feat no other club in world football has ever accomplished – are having elections this summer. Here’s why you shouldn’t pay attention to any of it. If you thought Barcelona was a soap opera last winter, what with Messi reportedly threatening to leave, Andoni Zubizaretta getting sacked…