Season 2007/2008 was not a vintage season for La Liga. In the end Real Madrid gained a record breaking 85 points, but most Madridistas would agree that their team was far from perfect. They were helped by the demise of their rivals Barcelona whose fantasticos followed the miserable path that Madrid’s Galacticos had taken a few seasons before. Sevilla were also below par as they struggled to get over the tragedy of Antonio Puerta’s death and the loss of Juande Ramos to the Premiership.

In fact, the success of the Premiership is possibly one of the reasons for the decline in La Liga as the big clubs look jealously at the money-making capacity of the Premiership. The fact that Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and the Real Federacion Española de Futbol (RFEF) are so poorly run does not help the situation. The clubs allow the TV companies to dictate to them, and not announcing kick-off times until a week before the games take place does little to help the product.

There were some positives to the season: Villarreal again showed how far a small club can go if it is well run, to finish ten points above Barcelona was a truly tremendous achievement, while Racing Santander finishing sixth was also highly praiseworthy. Compared to the Premiership it is healthy to see a less predictable league. It is also nice to see younger players being given more chances; twenty years ago it was rare for a teenager to get a debut in La Liga, this season we have seen the progression of 17-year-old Bojan Krkic as well as future stars like Nacho Camacho and Dani Aquino who are both also only seventeen.

There now follows a brief review of each team’s season:

Real Madrid: 1st 85 pts. By far the best team in the league. Got off to a tremendous start by taking 53 points in the first 21 games of the season. Suffered a slump in February and March but finished strongly taking 19 points from the last 7 games. The Spanish players formed the core of the team with Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Guti and Raul all having excellent seasons. In fact Bernd Schuster’s decision to play Raul closer to goal was a key to their success. Robinho performed well in the first half of the season and when his form dropped Robben came in and did well. The most consistent of the new signings was Sneijder, though Pepe paid back his massive transfer fee with a superb performance in the 0-1 win at Camp Nou.

Villarreal: 2nd 77 pts. Fantastic season from the yellow submarine. Even though they now don’t have Riquelme or Forlan coach Manuel Pellegrini has shown that a great team can be constructed with little money and few star players. From Diego Lopez in goal right through to top scorer Nihat the team has performed well but special mention should go to Marcos Senna and Santi Cazorla in midfield, and of course, Nihat who scored 18 goals.

Barcelona: 3rd 67 pts. Very disappointing season from the blaugrana. Ronaldinho disappeared from the map early on, while star signing Thierry Henry struggled to fit in. The failure to take advantage of Madrid’s slip-ups in February and March led to a dramatic drop in confidence and team unity fell apart by the end of the season leading to Frank Rijkaard’s departure. Injuries to Samuel Eto’o and Leo Messi didn’t help the situation but at least it gave a chance for rising stars Bojan Krkic and Giovani dos Santos. There will be a lot of transfer activity this summer.

Atletico Madrid: 4th 64 pts. A fine season for Atleti who gained a Champions League spot for the first time in ten years. An excellent front pairing of Kun Agüero and Diego Forlan helped the fans to forget the departure of Fernando Torres. The front two were supported well by Simao Sabrosa and Maxi Rodriguez and only a leaky defence prevented them from finishing higher. The Calderon was treated to some thrilling high scoring games including a 6-3 win over Almeria, two 4-3 wins over Sevilla and Valladolid, a 3-4 defeat to Villarreal and the excellent 4-2 win over Barcelona.

Sevilla: 5th 64 pts. Sevilla’s season was marked by the tragic death of Antonio Puerta at the end of August. This was followed by four successive league defeats and the departure of coach Juande Ramos. Manolo Jimenez did a great job to turn the season around and they only missed out on a top four spot on goal difference. Luis Fabiano finished the season with 24 goals.

Racing: 6th 60 pts. Excellent season from the Cantabrian team who go into Europe for the first time next season. Started slowly, only taking 5 points from the first five games but despite not beating any of the five teams above them consistantly beat the teams below them. Another small team with few stars, though the Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay has been rewarded for a good campaign with a move to Real Madrid.

Mallorca: 7th 59pts. A great run of six wins in six games at the end of the season was almost enough to get Mallorca into the Uefa Cup. Led by “Pichichi” Dani Güiza who scored an impressive 27 goals, Mallorca won at Sevilla and at Camp Nou and also knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey.

Almeria: 8th 52pts. Newly promoted Almeria surprised everyone not just because they finished so high in the table, but because they played some decent football along the way. Thirty-six-year-old coach Unai Emery will be a name to watch for in the future. His team were capable of beating Real Madrid 2-0 at the start of February, and they also won 1-4 at Sevilla.

Deportivo: 9th 52pts. Struggled for the first half of the season in and around the relegation zone. The introduction of Angel Lafita and Christian Wilhelmsson to the team in February transformed things as they went on a run taking 31 points from just 12 games, beating Sevilla, Real Madrid and Barcelona along the way.

Valencia: 10th 51 pts. Started the season fighting for a Champions League spot but president Juan Soler wasn’t satisfied so he sacked coach Quique Flores to bring in Ronald Koeman. The move was almost catastrophic as Koeman tried to instil his law with the players and the players rebelled. The result was that Valencia plummeted down the table and were flirting with relegation after winning only four games in twenty-two. Koeman managed to win the Copa del Rey but was sacked a few days later. New coach Voro came in and Valencia won four of their last five games to finish in mid-table.

Athletic Bilbao: 11th 50pts. An improvement after last season’s fight against relegation. Coach Joaquin Caparros maintained the tradition of only playing Basque players and Athletic continue to produce exciting youngsters such as midfielder Markel Susaeta. Athletic maintained a reasonably stable mid-table position throughout the season.

Espanyol: 12th 48 pts: Began the season promisingly and were third at the start of January thanks to some fine performances from the likes of Luis Garcia and Albert Reira. However, they lost striker Raul Tamudo with a fractured arm and goalkeeper Carlos Kameni to the African Cup and the season just fell apart including a run of 11 defeats in fourteen games. Even when Kameni and Tamudo returned things did not improve and the team took just three points from the last ten games.

Betis: 13th 47 pts. Spent most of the season in relegation trouble but a good run between February and April of six wins in ten games including victories over Real Madrid and Barcelona was enough to pull them out of trouble.

Getafe: 14th 47 pts. Took only two points from the first seven games as the players struggled to adapt to new coach Michael Laudrup, but once the team started to click they played some excellent football. They reached the final of the Copa del Rey and also had an excellent run in the Uefa Cup which only finished in the quarter-finals when Bayern Munich made an amazing late comeback in extra time. Good season from Ruben De La Red in midfield.

Valladolid: 15th 45pts. Failure to win a game in September and October meant the season was a hard slog for the newly promoted team. However, they were difficult to beat at home and managed five wins on their travels. Joseba Llorente played a big part in their survival with 15 goals.

Recreativo: 16th 44 pts. Slightly disappointing season having finished 8th in 2006/7 but they will be relieved to stay up. They were in the bottom three after a 7-1 defeat at Mallorca in March but they managed to recover, taking 15 points from the last eleven games to survive.

Osasuna: 17th 43 pts. Looked like finishing in mid-table: with ten games remaining they were level on points with Deportivo and Mallorca. However a poor finish with five defeats in the last six games left them hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Zaragoza: 18th 42 pts. Incredible that a team can be relegated with players of the quality of Pablo Aimar, Diego Milito, Roberto Ayala and Sergio Garcia. Zaragoza got through four coaches in the season and none of them were capable of turning it around as things went from bad to worse. After 22 games they were 10th with 29 points, but taking only 13 points from the last 16 games doomed them to the second division. Only won one away game all season.

Murcia: 19th 30 pts. Having just scraped promotion the previous season they began reasonably well taking 12 points in the first 9 games. However, they then fell apart. Will have to content themselves with memories of beating Espanyol 4-0 and a 1-4 win at Valladolid.

Levante: 20th 26 pts. Took only one point from the first ten games and never recovered. The fact that the players were not paid all season didn’t help and this led to threats of strike action at the end of the season but eventually they played all their games.

Nicholas Aldam writes on FCB News.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Racing Santander grabbed the last available Uefa Cup place thanks to an 86th minute winner against Osasuna, while at the other end of the table it is Zaragoza who join Levante and Murcia in the second division. It doesn’t seem so long ago that Nayim was scoring against Arsenal’s David Seaman to win them the European Cup Winners Cup. Real Madrid celebrated their season again by thumping Levante 5-2, while Frank Rijkaard said goodbye to Barcelona with a 3-5 win at Murcia.

For Racing Santander this will be their first appearance ever in Europe. Nerves seemed to be getting the better of them in a tense game at home to relegation-threatened Osasuna, but with less than five minutes remaining young homegrown striker Ivan Bolado who had come on as a substitute, headed home Tchite’s cross from the right to send the home crowd into ecstasy. Osasuna had to wait until the end to hear that results elsewhere meant that they would remain in the top flight for another season.

If it was a party for both teams in Santander, in Mallorca it was the complete opposite. Zaragoza needed to win to stay up while Mallorca were hoping a slip from Racing would allow them to make the Uefa Cup. Top scorer Dani Güiza gave Mallorca an early lead but Zaragoza’s hopes were raised when Oliveira equalized in the 55th minute. The dream of survival lasted only ten minutes as Webo put the islanders back in front, and Mallorca’s dream of Europe was dashed when news came through near the end of Racing’s late winner. Castro scored a third for Mallorca on 90 minutes and there was still time for a final goal from Oliveira which did nothing to stop Zaragoza’s tears.

The other teams in danger of relegation, Recreativo and Valladolid faced each other in Huelva. Joseba Llorente put Valladolid ahead when he headed home Aguirre’s cross after 39 minutes. There were tense moments for the home fans when news came through of Zaragoza’s equalizer which left Recreativo facing the drop. But Mallorca’s second goal eased their worries and at the end Javi Guerrero equalized for Recreativo to end an hour and a half of suffering.

Real Madrid were in danger of having no opponent this week as the players from Levante had threatened to strike. In the end they turned up to play and Madrid celebrated their championship again with five more goals. Van Nistlerooy and Sergio Ramos both scored twice and Wesley Sneijder got Madrid’s other, while Geijo hit back with two goals for Levante. Madrid finish the season on 85 points which is a record number of points since the league has been made up of 20 teams (1987-1995 and 1997-now)

Frank Rijkaard’s last game in charge at Barcelona turned into a festival of goals at Murcia. Murcia started well with Ivan Alonso going close and 17-year-old Dani Aquino causing problems on the left wing. Juan Cruz Ochoa headed in from a corner after a quarter of an hour to give Murcia the lead but then Barça decided to wake up and scored three goals in ten minutes. First Eto’o turned in from Henry’s cross, and then Henry latched onto Xavi’s pass to make it 1-2. Eto’o then set up Giovani dos Santos for his first ever league goal. Giovani celebrated in the second half by adding two more stylish goals to put Barça 1-5 up, and then Murcia pulled back two late goals thanks to Ivan Alonso and Abel. Click here for more on Murcia-Barça.

Valencia ended their season well with a 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid. Seitardis scored an own goal to put Valencia in the lead, and David Villa scored twice before Agüero got Atletico’s consolation goal. It didn’t matter for Atletico who still finish fourth.

Sevilla ended their season well with a 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao. Aduriz put the visitors in front with a second minute penalty but Sevilla hit back with two goals from Kanoute and one each from Keita and Navas. Sevilla finish fifth and will play the Uefa Cup next season.

Almeria inflicted another home defeat on Espanyol who have had a miserable second half of the season, Felipe Melo and Crusat put Almeria 0-2 up before Luis Garcia pulled one back from the penalty spot. A last minute goal from Paunovic gave Almeria a 1-3 win.

Villarreal sealed their sixth win on the trot with a 0-2 win at Deportivo. Matias Fernandez and Guille Franco scored the goals which leave Villarreal second in the table, an impressive ten points above Barcelona.

Finally, Getafe and Betis drew 1-1 in a mid table clash. Manu del Moral scored an early goal for Getafe and Nano headed an equalizer for Betis in the second half. Michael Laudrup announced earlier in the week that he will not continue next season as Getafe’s coach.

The teams promoted to the Primera Division for next season are Numancia, Sporting Gijon and Malaga.

Top Six: Real Madrid 85, Villarreal 77, Barcelona 67, Atletico Madrid 64, Sevilla 64, Racing 60.

Bottom Six: Valladolid 45, Recreativo 44, Osasuna 43, Zaragoza 42, Murcia 30, Levante 26.

Top Scorers: Güiza 27, Luis Fabiano 24, Agüero 19, Raul 18, Nihat 18.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With Real Madrid already crowned champions, attention turned to the battle for European places and the fight to avoid relegation. The big news this week is that Atletico Madrid guaranteed themselves a shot at the Champions League next season, though like Barcelona they will have to get through a qualifying round in August. The last time Atletico played Champions League football was in March 1997 when they lost a quarter final tie to Ajax.

Atletico’s success this season has been based on their excellent attacking duo of Kun Agüero and Diego Forlan. Agüero has scored 18 league goals while the Uruguayan grabbed his 15th of the season in yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Deportivo. It was not an easy victory as Depor defended well, but just before half time Agüero sent Maxi Rodriguez down the left and his cross was met by Forlan with a side foot volley which crept under the body of Depor’s keeper Aouate and into the net.

Sevilla will miss out on the Champions League but they assured themselves a place in the Uefa Cup with a 0-2 win over rivals Betis. Luis Fabiano got Sevilla’s first with his 24th league goal of the season and Fazio made it two in the 50th minute. The game turned ugly in the 53rd minute with a free-for-all that ended with Dani Alves sent off for headbutting Pavone and Betis midfielder Arzu also saw red for punching Alves. There was consolation for Betis as other results meant they are now mathematically safe from relegation.

The other Uefa Cup place is between Racing Santander and Mallorca. Racing missed their chance to take that place yesterday when they could only draw 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Athletic had the better of a game with few chances and Jorge Lopez missed Racing’s best chance in the 81st minute.

Mallorca kept up their hopes with a fifth consecutive win, this time over Barça at Camp Nou. With the public out to protest for Barça’s season it was difficult for the blaugrana to play a good game. There were boos for president Laporta and also for Deco and Eto’o who some fans feel deliberately got booked last week so as not to have to applaud Real Madrid onto the pitch on Wednesday. Barça, however, still managed to take a two goal lead through Henry and Eto’o, but after Leo Messi was substituted in the 62nd minute Barça fell apart. Mallorca took full advantage and goals from Valero and Webo brought them level and then in the 93rd minute Dani Güiza scored to make it 2-3 and the Camp Nou crowd had the bedsheets out in protest. Click here for more on Barça-Mallorca.

At the bottom end of the table the team looking most likely to join Levante and Murcia in the second division next season is Zaragoza. Playing at home to Real Madrid they were hoping to take advantage of a possible relaxation on the part of the champion. Oliveira put Zaragoza in front after 19 minutes but Madrid showed they would not lie down easily. Van Nistlerooy equalized soon after, and both teams had chances to increase the scoreline. With 15 minutes remaining Robinho beat Cesar in a one-on one to put Madrid in the lead but Zaragoza hit back in the 85th minute with a goal from Sergio Fernandez. The result leaves Zaragoza third from bottom but their fate is in their own hands, they need to win at Mallorca next week and they will definitely stay up.

Osasuna climbed above Zaragoza by beating relegated Murcia 2-1 at the Reyna de Navarro stadium. Dady and Juanfran put the home team two goals in front before vAbel got a last minute consolation for Murcia. Osasuna now also depend on themselves to stay up but need to get a result at Racing next week to be sure of survival.

The other two candidates for the drop Recreativo and Valladolid play each other next weekend. Yesterday, Recre did themselves a huge favour by winning the Andalucian derby at Almeria 0-2. First half goals from Jesus Vazquez and Sinama Pongolle were enough for Recre who held on for the victory despite having Bouzon sent off just before half time.

Valladolid could do no better than a 0-0 draw at home to Getafe. The point was sufficient to make Getafe safe but Valladolid also played as if they would settle for a point. The result being a cagey game of few chances for either team.

Valencia also made sure of their first division status with a 1-5 win against doomed local rivals Levante. With new coach Voro, Valencia have won three out of four games while under Ronald Koeman they only managed four wins in 22. David Villa is looking back to his best and yesterday he grabbed a hat-trick, Mata and Angulo chipped in with a goal a-piece while Serrano scored Levante’s consolation.

In the only other game yesterday there was no more than pride to play for, and Villarreal celebrated their qualification for next season’s Champions League with a 2-0 home win over Espanyol. Javi Venta and Robert Pires got the goals in the first half.

Top Six: Real Madrid 82, Villarreal 74, Barcelona 64, Atletico Madrid 64, Sevilla 61, Racing 57.

Bottom Six: Valladolid 44, Recreativo 43, Osasuna 43, Zaragoza 42, Murcia 30, Levante 26.

Top Scorers: Güiza 26, Luis Fabiano 24, Raul 18, Agüero 18, Nihat 18.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Real Madrid celebrated their 31st Liga in style by thumping rivals Barcelona 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. This will have to go down as the most one-sided clasico since Ronaldinho destroyed Madrid’s defence in November 2005. How times have changed since then. Ronaldinho is only in the news now for his off the field antics, while Madrid have formed a solid compact unit that has won La Liga at a canter.

The Barcelona players suffered the shame of having to applaud their rivals onto the pitch, but by the end of the night this humiliation was nothing compared to what they experienced over 90 minutes. from the beginning Diarra, Sneijder and Gago ruled the midfield and even Leo Messi was kept completely out of the game as Barça’s midfield players struggled to connect with the forwards.

Raul put Madrid in front in the 13th minute after Guti had exchanged passes with Sneijder, Marquez challenged Guti but the ball broke free to Raul who whipped in a low shot past Valdes. Barça appealed for a foul by Guti on Marquez but the referee Perez Burrull was having none of it. If Barça had complaints about the first goal, they were incensed by the second. The ref blew a foul after a blatant dive by Sergio Ramos in front of Abidal. Barça were so disturbed by the decision that they forgot to mark Arjen Robben who was free to head home Guti’s free kick.

Frank Rijkaard then decided to put on the young Mexican, Giovani Dos Santos, in place of Gudjohnsen and Barça switched to a 4-2-4 system which only helped Madrid to dominate more easily. Guti and Robben had efforts saved by Valdes before half time. At the break Sylvinho came on for Rafa Marquez and Eric Abidal switched to centre back, but Madrid were now threatening to run riot.Diarra forced another save from Valdes in the 53rd minute and soon after Sylvinho made a last ditch intervention to prevent Marcelo from scoring. Sylvinho was injured making the tackle and had to be replaced by Edmilson.

In the 60th minute Ramos had a shot cleared off the line by Xavi after Valdes failed to hold a corner, but shortly after Diarra made a great run down the left before setting up Higuain who had just come on for Robben, and with his first touch he beat Valdes to make it 3-0. Marcelo nearly made it four soon after but this time Valdes came to the rescue with a fine save.

Messi made his first decent run in the 71st minute but Bojan wasted the chance created. Schuster then decided to reward Raul by taking him off to a standing ovation and Van Nistlerooy came on in his place. Withion a minute Puyol was penalized for handball in the area, although it seemed a clear case of self defence, and Van Nistlerooy stepped forward to make it 4-0 from the spot.

As the Bernabeu chanted for five, Leo Messi came alive with two fantastic runs that brought fine save from Iker Casillas, then in the 87th minute Messi threaded a pass through to Henry who finally beat Casillas for a consolation goal. In injury time Xavi chose his moment to tell Perez Burrull exactly what he thought of his decision making and was duly sent off. It was a shame the ref was so bad because Madrid thoroughly deserved the win and with a little more luck could easily have won the game 6-0 or 7-0. The day after the game Barça’s president Joan Laporta confirmed that Pep Guardiola will take over from Frank Rijkaard as first team coach for next season.

Meanwhile, Villarreal guaranteed themselves second place and automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League with a 0-2 win at Recreativo, Nihat and Guille Franco scoring the goals. Atletico Madrid made a big step towards the Champions League when goals from Agüero and Forlan gave them a 0-2 victory at Espanyol. While Sevilla kept up their challenge with a 0-3 win at Racing Santander with two goals from Fazio and a third from Renato.

At the other end of the table things are looking bad for Osasuna after they lost 2-1 at Mallorca. Güiza scored again for Mallorca before Portillo gave Osasuna some hope, but Valero scored Mallorca’s winner in injury time. Osasuna are level on points with Recreativo, and one point above them is Zaragoza who went down 1-0 at Valencia through a goal from David Silva. Valladolid are still in danger after their 1-1 draw at Betis, Mark Gonzalez put the home team in front but Victor equalized for Valladolid.

Valencia and Getafe are almost safe now after their victories. Getafe came from 0-2 down to beat Almeria 4-2, Crusat and Paunovic scored first for Almeria before Albin, Del Moral, twice, and Granero turned the game around for Getafe.

In the other games this week the already relegated Murcia lost 1-2 at home to Atletic Bilbao, and bottom club Levante went down 1-0 at Deportivo. Levante’s players made a protest for having not been paid in months, and when Deportivo kicked off the Levante players all stood together at the centre circle and did not move. Depor’s forward Sergio took the ball towards the empty goal before deliberately shooting wide to loud applause from the crowd.

Top Six: Real Madrid 81, Villarreal 71, Barcelona 64, Atletico Madrid 61, Sevilla 58, Racing 56.

Bottom Six: Valladolid 43, Zaragoza 41, Recreativo 40, Osasuna 40, Murcia 30, Levante 26.

Top Scorers: Güiza 25, Luis Fabiano 23, Raul 18, Agüero 18, Nihat 18.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Congratulations to Real Madrid for winning their 31st Spanish league title. It’s been a funny old season in Spain so perhaps it was appropriate that Madrid should come from behind and score twice in the last five minutes when they were down to ten men to win 1-2 at Osasuna. Villarreal are looking good for second place after a 2-0 victory over Getafe, while Barcelona who seem to be in a serious crisis surprised everyone by walloping Valencia 6-0. Some might be more surprised by the fact that Thierry Henry played well and scored twice!

Real Madrid have received a lot of criticism this season but nobody can doubt their fighting spirit. Led by the Spanish contingent of Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Guti and aboveall Raul, Madrid have managed to overcome the injury problems suffered by so many of their foreign stars. To win the league with three matches to spare dispels any doubt about who is the best team this season. On Wednesday Barcelona will be the first team obliged to applaud Madrid onto the pitch which will be a moment for the Bernabeu faithful to cherish.

Madrid never have it easy when they visit Pamplona, and Osasuna desperately need the points in their battle against relegation. Things got more complicated for Madrid when Cannavaro was sent off at the start of the second half, but this team seems to react well to adversity. Sneijder came close to putting Madrid in front when he hit the bar after 56 minutes, then with just eight minutes remaining Osasuna were awarded a penalty for a hand ball from Heinze. When Puñal scored it looked as if Madrid would have to wait a few more days to celebrate the title, but then in the 87th minute Robben headed home Higuain’s cross to equalize, and two minutes later Higuain scored a dramatic winner to set off the fireworks in Madrid. Osasuna slip uncomfortably into the bottom three.

Villarreal have played some excellent football this season and deserve to be in second place, four points above Barcelona, after a 2-0 win at home to Getafe. Santi Cazorla has had a great season and once again he was the main creative influence behind the win. Will any of the big teams sign him up this summer? Villarreal play as a team but their other outstanding player this season has been Turkish striker Nihat. In the 37th minute a great pass from Cazorla found Rossi who set up Nihat for the first goal. Six minutes later Cazorla and Pires combined well before Nihat finished with his 17th goal of the season. The second half was then a fine display by Villarreal of how to hold on to a lead without any problems. They will surprise a few teams when the return to the Champions League next season.

Barcelona went into their game with Valencia with all sorts of questions being asked about president Laporta, coach Rijkaard and many of the star players. The crowd were ready for a big protest but three goals in the first fifteen minutes from Messi, Xavi and Henry helped to change the mood. Valencia were supposed to be over their problems having sacked Ronald Koeman two weeks ago, but their performance did not seem like that of a team that is still in serious danger of relegation. Barça hadn’t scored a goal since the 12th of April and made up for lost time with three more in the second half. Henry showed he can still do it by scoring a typical curler into the far post, and then substitute Bojan Krkic needed only 25 minutes to score twice taking his tally to ten league goals this season. Not bad for a seventeen year old. There was bad news for Barça on Monday morning when it was confirmed that Gabi Milito will need a knee operation and will be out of action for six months.

Atletico Madrid increased their chances of playing in next season’s Champions League with an easy 3-0 victory over Recreativo. Seventeen-year-old Nacho Camacho scored the first and third goals of the win while inbetween Kun Agüero scored his 17th of the season. Recreativo move down a place and are now only just above the relegation zone on goal difference.

Argentinian central defender Roberto Fabiano Ayala doesn’t score many goals, but on Saturday night he scored what may be the easiest and also the most important goal of his career. Zaragoza are in desperate need of points to avoid the drop and in their game with Deportivo neither side could break the deadlock until in the last minute of injury time Matuzalem sent a free kick into the area that Deportivo goalkeeper Aouate came for but missed, Sergio Garcia kept the ball in and passed to Ayala who had the simple task of poking the ball into the empty net. The 1-0 victory takes Zaragoza out of the bottom three, while Deportivo suffered a setback in their push for a Uefa Cup place.

Murcia needed a miracle to avoid the drop but when Aquino and Ivan Alonso scored to put them 0-2 up at Racing Santander it looked like it might be possible. However, an own goal from De Coz put Racing back in the game and then goals from Jorge Lopez and Munitis gave Racing a 3-2 victory which keeps them challenging for fourth place. Murcia are now officially relegated and the late sendings off of Mejia and Pignol only added to their misery.

Sevilla are still on course for a place in Europe next season after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Valladolid. Renato got both the goals in the first half which leaves Valladolid still in danger of going down.

Mallorca won 1-2 at Athletic Bilbao to give them an outside chance of nicking a Uefa Cup place. The excellent Dani Güiza scored both Mallorca’s goals which takes him above Luis Fabiano in the top scorers battle. Llorente got Athletic’s only goal.

Levante and Espanyol fought out an ill tempered 1-1 draw at Levante. Levante went down to ten men after 45 minutes when Berson saw his second yellow cards but things evened up on the hour when Espanyol’s Torrejon was sent off. Juanma gave Levante the lead with thirteen minutes remaining, but then in the 89th minutre Alvaro gave away a penalty and was sent off, and Luis Garcia equalized for Espanyol from the spot.

Finally, Almeria drew 1-1 at home to Betis. Odonkor put Betis ahead just before the break but at the start of the second half Pulido equalized for Almeria. The point is more valuable for Betis who are now more or less safe in 12th place in the table.

Top Six: Real Madrid 78, Villarreal 68, Barcelona 64, Atletico Madrid 58, Racing Santander 56, Sevilla 55.

Bottom Eight: Getafe 42, Valladolid 42, Valencia 42, Zaragoza 41, Recreativo 40, Osasuna 40, Murcia 30, Levante 26.

Top Scorers: Güiza (Mallorca) 24, Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) 23, Raul (Real Madrid)17, Agüero (Atletico Madrid) 17, Nihat (Villarreal) 17.

Nicholas Aldam writes at the FC Barcelona blog.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Real Madrid need just two points from their remaining four matches to seal their 31st La Liga title after comfortably beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the Bernabeu on Sunday evening. Barcelona are in big danger of losing out on second place to Villarreal. The Catalans obviously had their minds on Tuesday’s return match with Manchester United and were easily beaten by Deportivo, while Villarreal won at Betis to move four points above Barça. At the bottom of the table Levante became the first team to be mathematically relegated after losing to Recreativo.

Guti returned to Madrid’s midfield and there was a rare start up front for Javier Saviola who had only started three league games before this weekend. Saviola responded with his third goal of the season after just 13 minutes, nipping in to score when Athletic keeper Armando failed to hold Robinho’s shot. Athletic had a great chance to equalize in the 37th minute whewn Gabriel Heinze was judged to have fouled Llorente in the area. However, Iker Casillas once again saved the day by stopping Garmendi’s penalty.

Madrid controlled the game better in the second half and two goals in three minutes from Robben and Higuain put the result beyond doubt. Madrid will be crowned Champions if they win next week at Osasuna or if Villarreal fail to win at home to Getafe. Madrid’s following home game will then be a big party and their opponents that day are none other than arch enemy Barcelona.

Barça rested Messi, Eto’o, Xavi, Abidal and Valdes for the Champions League and they were also without Iniesta and Milito who were suspended for their match at Deportivo. The contrast with their performance against Manchester United was enormous as Depor dominated from start to finish. Juan Manuel Pinto made a nervous debut in goal for Barça while players such as Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry gave very poor displays. Whatever the opposite of a fan club is, Henry has a growing one among Barça fans. Marquez was at fault with both Depor goals which came in the second half from Rodriguez and Pablo Amo. Click here for a full report on Deportivo-Barcelona.

A goal from Marcos Senna after 15 minutes was enough to earn Villarreal a 0-1 win at Betis which meant that Real Madrid were not proclaimed Champions this week. The win also puts Villarreal in with a tremendous chance of snatching second place from Barça which would mean automatic classification for next season’s Champions League.

Atletico Madrid stayed in fourth place after grabbing a 1-1 draw at Getafe. Albin put the locals in front after 13 minutes before Kun Agüero equalized befoe half time with his 16th goal of the season. Getafe nearly won it near the end but Leo Franco saved De La Red’s 84th minute penalty and both sides had to settle for a point. Getafe could still face relegation if they do not pick up points in the remaining games.

Racing Santander’s dreams of the Champions League next season suffered a blow when they lost 3-1 at Mallorca. Nunes put Mallorca in front at the start of the second half and Trejo made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute. Duscher pulled one back for Racing from the penalty spot to give Racing hope but Güiza put the result beyond doubt a minute from the end with his 22nd goal of the season. The three points mean that Mallorca are now almost certainly safe from relegation.

Definitely relegated, however, are Levante whose fate was sealed with a 2-0 defeat at Recreativo in the Nuevo Colombino. Martin and Camuñas scored first half goals to give the Andalucian team a much needed victory which takes them out of the bottom three.

Zaragoza slip into the relegation zone despite gaining a 1-1 draw at Espanyol. The result means Espanyol are now unlikely to make a Uefa Cup place next season. Riera scored Espanyol’s first goal in five matches to put the locals in front but Oliveira equalized with six minutes to go to earn Zaragoza a point which may not be enough to save them.

Valencia responded well to the sacking of Ronald Koeman last week and soundly beat Osasuna 3-0 at Mestalla to ease their relegation worries. The referee helped in a big way by awarding a penalty and sending off Osasuna keeper Ricardo in the 19th minute. David Villa scored from the penalty and second half goals from Mata and Joaquin sealed an important win for the home team. Meanwhile Osasuna find themselved back in great danger of going down.

Jonathon Sesma scored a vital 92nd minute goal to give Valladolid a 1-0 victory over Almeria. The win takes Valladolid a step closer to safety while Almeria’s possibilities of getting into next season’s Uefa Cup were seriously diminished. Man of the match was Valladolid’s goalkeeper Asenjo who kept his team in the game with some fine saves.

Finally Murcia and Sevilla drew 0-0 in an uninspiring game that did neither side much good. Sevilla see their European chances under threat while Murcia really needed a victory to maintain any hope of survival.

Top Six: Real Madrid 75, Villarreal 65, Barcelona 61, Atletico Madrid 55, Racing Santander 53, Sevilla 52.

Bottom Six: Valencia 42, Recreativo 40, Osasuna 40, Zaragoza 38, Murcia 30, Levante 25.

Top Scorers: Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) 23, Güiza (Mallorca) 22, Raul (Real Madrid)17, Agüero (Atletico Madrid) 16, Nihat (Villarreal) 15.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

If there was any doubt that Real Madrid are going to win their 31st La Liga title, it was dispelled after their 0-2 victory over Racing Santander. With a ten point advantage over closest rivals Villarreal, Madrid now need just five points from their remaining five games and they will now be hoping to clinch the title before the home game against arch enemies Barcelona on May 7 which will mean the Catalans will face the embarrassment of having to applaud their rivals onto the pitch.

Madrid took control early on and were rewarded with a goal from captain Raul after 13 minutes. Sneijder, dominating the midfield, sent Robinho down the left and Raul got a touch on to the Brazilian’s cross to deflect the ball past Toño in the Racing goal. Racing had a couple of chances near the end of the first half, but in general Madrid’s back four of Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro and Heinze looked solid and Casillas had less work to do than usual.

Madrid controlled the game in the second half and Robinho and Robben had chances to increase the lead. Then substitute Higuain had a goal disallowed when the referee adjudged Raul to have fouled Toño, but in injury time Higuain got Madrid’s second which sealed the points and puts the title within their grasp.

Barcelona’s poor run of results continued when they could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to city rivals Espanyol. Despite the result Barça had reason to take hope from the game as Andres Iniesta and Leo Messi both played 45 minutes in the second half without problems and both now seem certain to start against Manchester United in Wednesday’s Champions League semi final clash. Toure Yaya who has been playing with a back injury gave his best performance in a while and helped to give the defence a more solid look. If Samuel Eto’o and Bojan Krkic had shown better finishing Barça would have won this game easily.

Villarreal took advantage of Barça’s slip to move back into second place after beating Valladolid 2-0 at El Madrigal. Good finishing from Nihat after 15 minutes and Cazorla at the start of the second half were enough to see off Valladolid who had some good chances but failed to find the net. Valladolid now face a tense relegation battle in the last five games with their last game away to Recreativo which could decide who goes down.

Atletico Madrid receiveded a blow to their Champions League chances, losing 1-3 at home to Betis. Despite being without Edu, Pavone and Mark Gonzalez, Betis took an early lead when Juande latched onto a rebound. Kun Agüero who was Atletico’s only player of merit grabbed an equalizer on 25 minutes, but second half goals from Xisco with a direct free kick, and Capi who scored after a great counter attack led by Melli, sealed the three points for the visitors.

Sevilla also suffered a set-back in their challenge for Europe, getting thumped 1-4 at home to this season’s revelation Almeria. Sevilla started strongly and had five chances to open the scoring before Dani alves scored past his own goalkeeper to give Almeria the lead. Almeria then took full control of the game and before half time Negredo had a penalty saved by Palop. In the second half, however, there was no stopping the visitors and goals from Negredo and Juanma Ortiz made it 0-3. Then to make matters worse for Sevilla they lost Adriano to a red card for protesting and then Negredo got Almeria’s fourth. Kanoute then had a penalty saved by Diego Alves but a few minutes later he pulled one back for Sevilla. However, it did little to disguise an embarrassing defeat which leaves Almeria just three points behind Sevilla and with a serious possibility of gaining a Uefa Cup place.

In the big relegation match between third and fourth bottom, Zaragoza got the better of Recreativo with a comfortable 3-0 win. Sergio Garcia got Zaragoza off to the best possible start with a goal in the second minute. Oliveira added a second in the 20th minute and the game was all but over when Recre’s Ruben was sent off before half time. Oliveira made it 3-0 with fifteen minutes and the fact that Zaragoza’a Vicente and Ayala got sent off near the end made no difference to the final outcome. Zaragoza move above Recre on goal difference.

Murcia moved closer to the Segunda Division after losing 1-4 at home to Mallorca. Dani Güiza bagged a hat trick to move him in sight of Luis Fabiano for this season’s top scorer pichichi award. Arango got Mallorca’s other goal while Baiano scored a late consolation for Murcia.

Copa del Rey winners Valencia celebrated their cup victory in the worst possible way, losing 5-1 at Athletic Bilbao. Javi Martinez, Llorente twice, Iraola and Aduriz scored Athletic’s goals while David Villa got Valencia’s consolation. Athletic now look safe from relegation and still have an outside chance of a Uefa Cup place, while Valencia sit precariously just above the relegation zone.

Deportivo who spent most of the season fighting relegation, continued their excellent run with a 0-1 win at Osasuna. Sergio scored the game’s only goal in the second half from the penalty spot. Depor move into 8th place and if they continue their good form they could snatch a Uefa Cup place.

Finally, Levante put off relegation for another week by beating Getafe 3-1. Juanma and Berson scored before half time to give Levante a 2-0 lead, and then Pedro Leon added a third in the 54th minute. De La Red scored Getafe’s goal from the penalty spot.

Top Six: Real Madrid 72, Villarreal 62, Barcelona 61, Atletico Madrid 54, Racing Santander 53, Sevilla 51.

Bottom Six: Valencia 39, Valladolid 39, Zaragoza 37, Recreativo 37, Murcia 29, Levante 25.

Top Scorers: Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) 23, Güiza (Mallorca) 21, Raul (Real Madrid)17, Agüero (Atletico Madrid) 15, Nihat (Villarreal) 15.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Football Club Barcelona is not in the best state to go into the Champions League semi final with Manchester United. If you regularly read the Spanish sports press you will know that Barça is a club in crisis. It may also seem that the press always says the same, at least when Barça are not beating the pants off everyone.

However, over the last couple of weeks the situation has reached a point where it feels as though the club is going to explode with one more bad result. Before last week’s goalless draw with Getafe president Joan Laporta appealed to a group of supporters that Barça “are not as bad as all that.” He went on to tell the fans that they should not fall into the trap of listening to journalists who pretended to be on Barça’s side but in fact had other interests.

His arguments might have been valid but the anxious aggressive tone that he used to make them did little to convince the fans, and after Barça once again missed an opportunity to close the gap on Real Madrid by failing to beat Getafe, some of the crowd protested by calling for Laporta’s resignation.

Later in the week, one of Laporta’s directors, Xavier Sala-i-Martin, claimed that two or three of the injured players were not actually injured but had been separated from the team due to their endless partying. He mentioned no names but everyone interpreted his accusation to be aimed at Ronaldinho and Deco. Txiki Begiristain and Frank Rijkaard later claimed there was no truth in Sala-i-Martin’s suggestion but they were pretty slow to deny the story. Deco later stated that he was considering legal action, and Sala-i-Martin has since apologized to the players.

Then on Thursday the news broke of Ronaldinho’s imminent transfer to AC Milan, as he is injured he is unlikely ever to play again for the blaugranas. Things have got so bad with the Brazilian that few culés seem to care that much, a sign that the fans believe the stories of his excesses. It is a sad end to his time at Barça where he became the best player in the world and threatened for a while to become the greatest of all time. It is a crying shame that genius is so often wasted in this way.

Barça’s hopes against United now lie with Leo Messi who could also become one of the greatest ever if he can only avoid the persistant injuries he has suffered so far in his short career. Messi returned to the team to play 25 minutes last weekend but couldn’t save Barça from dropping more points at Recreativo. The other player who could win it for Barça is Samuel Eto’o who scored twice at Recreativo and now has 14 goals in just 14 league games this season. The other forward will probably be out-of-form Thierry Henry though fans recently voted in favour of 17-year-old Bojan Krkic staying in the team. Bojan looks set to become another great player and has already scored ten goals this season. Henry meanwhile has annoyed fans with his excuses for his poor form: either he is playing with an injury, playing out of position or missing his daughter. Rumours persist that he will also leave the club this summer.

Barça have also had injury problems in midfield. Deco hasn’t played since the second leg against Celtic at the start of March, Andres Iniesta, who has been one of the most consistent players, has a knee injury but should make it in time for the first game with United, while Toure Yaya has been playing bravely with a back injury which requires him to have cortisone injections, but his form has dropped considerably and he does not protect the defence so much. If Iniesta plays he will be partnered by Xavi Hernandez, and the two of them on their day can outpass any midfield in the world, their physical presence, however, is not so great and with Toure struggling with the injury they may have problems to control United.

In defence Barça will have to make do without captain Carles Puyol for the first leg at Camp Nou. Puyol’s recent form has been excellent and he will be missed. Rijkaard will have to choose between Lilian Thuram, who is not so quick these days, and Rafa Marquez, who has also been struggling with injuries recently, to partner Gabi Milito in the centre. Gianluca Zambrotta has improved after a poor start to the season at right back, but at left back the recent form of Eric Abidal has been abysmal and has led to fans calling for Sylvinho to start. Whoever it is will be in for a uncomfortable time against Cristiano Ronaldo. To add to Barça’s woes Victor Valdés in goal has not been at his best in recent games, perhaps affected by all the recent instability at the club.

Nevertheless, despite all their problems you would be foolish to write Barça off. This is one last chance to save a very disappointing season and in the Champions League they have generally performed better despite an awful 30 minutes against Schalke 04. Victor Valdés will be hoping to add to his impressive record of seven clean sheets in nine games in this season’s tournament, and player for player they can match United. In Messi, Eto’o and Iniesta they have three potential match winners; United fans will no doubt remember that it took just one great performance from Kaka to end their hopes last season.

Nicholas Aldam writes on the Barcelona blog.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Real Madrid moved another step closer to their 31st La Liga title with an uninspiring 1-0 victory over relegation bound Murcia. Barcelona have more or less said adios to their title hopes after only drawing at Recreativo, but the big news this week is the almost certain sale of Ronaldinho to AC Milan. The Brazilian will reportedly be on a meagre €150,000 a week for his new club. Villarreal slipped back down to third place after losing 1-0 at Almeria.

Bernd Schuster decided to bring back Robinho to the starting lineup in place of Higuain, and Torres came in at right back for the suspended Sergio Ramos. Torres, however, only lasted 20 minutes before being sent off for a tackle from behind on Aquino. With just ten men Madrid found it hard to create chances against a well ordered Murcia who only came to defend. Then in the 58th minute a throw in from Pepe was flicked on by Raul and Sneijder took advantage of the defence’s failure to clear to hit a fine right-footed strike past Carini in the Murcia goal. Murcia failed to react to the goal and Madrid held on comfortably, with a nine point advantage over nearest rivals Barcelona, it will take a monumental collapse now for Madrid not to win the title.

Barcelona once again threw away a victory through poor defending and a failure to take control of a game against weaker opponents. Samuel Eto’o twice put the Catalans in front away at Recreativo only for Marcos Ruben twice to equalize for the Andalucians. Eto’o has now bagged fourteen in fourteen games and perhaps if he hadn’t missed three months through injury he would be challenging Luis Fabiano for the Pichichi top scorer award. Unfortunately for Eto’o his team mates were not so inspired, the only good news for Barça was the return to action of Leo Messi who played the last 25 minutes and will surely be fully fit to play Manchester United in the Champions League. Click here for a full report on Recreativo-Barcelona

Villarreal paid the price of a mistake by goalkeeper Diego Lopez in the 16th minute of their game at Almeria. He failed to control a back pass from Javi Venta and was forced to bring down Crusat who had robbed the ball. Lopez was sent off but fortunately for Villarreal Negredo blasted the penalty over. Villarreal held on until the 84th minute when Acasiete finally beat substitute keeper Juan Carlos to give the home team a 1-0 victory which leaves Villarreal ten points behind Real Madrid.

Atletico Madrid stay in fourth place but missed out on victory at Valladolid due to an Ogbeche goal in the 91st minute. Maxi Rodriguez gave Atletico the lead in the 69th minute after a counter attack led by Diego Forlan. Luis Garcia and Forlan then missed chances to seal the victory and Ogbeche’s late equalizer made it 1-1 at the final whistle.

Racing Santander moved to within a point of Atletico with a 1-2 win at Valencia who find themselves falling into a relegation battle. Racing had the better of the first half but didn’t take the lead until the 60th minute when Colsa’s header was superbly saved by Hildebrand but Colsa was on hand to hit home the rebound. David Villa equalized from the penalty spot four minutes later after Morientes was brought down, and Morientes had two great chances to put Valencia ahead, hitting the crossbar and later the post. In the 84th minute Racing won it with a swift move which ended with Tchite getting on the end of a Pablo Alvarez cross to score at the far post.

Sevilla kept up their challenge for a Champions League spot with a deserved 2-3 win at Mallorca. Renato gave the visitors the lead just before half time after a mistake from Mallorca keeper Moya. Güiza equalized straight after half time but then goals from Kanoute and Alves put the result beyond doubt despite a late consolation goal from Webo.

Espanyol suffered their fourth defeat on the trot going down 0-1 at home to Osasuna, and now find themselves six points below the Uefa cup placings. Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni failed to hold a cross in the 30th minute and the ball bounced into the net off Astudillo for the game’s only goal. For Osasuna it was an important win which will relieve their relegation worries.

Deportivo now look to be safe after a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao. Depor have looked a much better team since Lafita and Wilhelmsson came into the team and have taken 19 points from their last eight games. Coloccini, Sergio and Filipe scored their goals this week.

Zaragoza are still looking the most likely to accompany Levante and Murcia in the drop after only managing a point in a 0-0 draw at Getafe. Michael Laudrup made several changes to the Getafe lineup after their agonizing Uefa Cup exit to Bayern Munich and they are now concentrating on Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final with Valencia. Zaragoza’s hopes of taking advantage of Getafe’s possible relaxation ended when Matuzalem was sent off after 70 minutes.

Finally, Levante are still just holding on to their Primera Division status after a 0-1 win at Betis. A goal after 52 minutes from Pedro Leon gave the bottom team a victory which ends any slight chance Betis might have had of making it into next season’s Uefa Cup.

Top Six: Real Madrid 69, Barcelona 60, Villarreal 59, Atletico Madrid 54, Racing Santander 53, Sevilla 51.

Bottom Six: Valencia 39, Valladolid 39, Recreativo 37, Zaragoza 34, Murcia 29, Levante 22.

Top Scorers: Luis Fabiano 23, Güiza 18, Raul 16, Diego Milito 15, Nihat 14.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The top three all failed to win this week but Real Madrid who played badly will be the happiest with their 1-1 draw at Mallorca which leaves them seven points clear with seven games to go. Barcelona played better than in recent weeks but will be most disappointed with their 0-0 draw at home to Getafe, especially after hitting the post three times. Villarreal stay in second place on head-to-head goal difference despite losing 2-0 at Sevilla.

Real Madrid can consider themselves fortunate to escape with a point from their game at Mallorca. Three important decisions all went Madrid’s way towards the end of the first half which had the Mallorca fans waving their handkerchiefs in protest. First Aggelos Basinas was given offside when he had a clear run on goal, replays showed that he started his run from inside his own half. Shortly afterwards Sergio Ramos and Juan Fernando Arango challenged for the ball which then came out to Fernando Navarro who stroked the ball past Iker Casillas; to the crowd’s dismay the referee blew for an inexistant foul by Arango. In the 43rd minute Madrid took the lead when a great run from Arjen Robben left the Mallorca defence in a mess, Robben’s cross was touched by goalkeeper Moya but the ball went straight to Wesley Sneijder who had a simple job to put the ball home. Soon after Mallorca were again furious when the ref didn’t concede a penalty after the ball hit Cannavaro on the arm, however, this time the ref made a good decision as there was clearly no intention from the Madrid defender.

Madrid controlled things a bit better in the second half until Sergio Ramos saw his third red card of the season in the 65th minute. Arango had two good efforts in a minute and this was immediately followed by Mallorca’s equalizer. Ibagaza played the ball in to Arango who flicked it into the path of Borja Valero who burst into the area and curled a right-footer past the diving Casillas. Mallorca sensed victory and it nearly came through Dani Güiza who is normally quite lethal in front of goal, with Casillas beaten, however, Güiza’s shot hit the floor and bounced up and over off the crossbar.

Barça once again failed to take advantage of Madrid’s slip, and a mixture of bad luck and too much anxiety in their play meant they were unable to break down a hard-working Getafe defence. Barça might have scored a hatful but Eto’o, Giovani dos Santos and Xavi all hit the post and Getafe keeper ‘Pato’ Abbondanzieri made fine saves to thwart Milito and Gudjohnsen. It was all too much for the Camp Nou faithful and the supporters vented their frustration at the end with a protest against president Joan Laporta. Click here for a full report on Barça-Getafe.

Villarreal were unable to continue with their recent good form, going down 2-0 at Sevilla. The sevilla coach Manolo Jiminez changed things around by bringing in youngster David Prieto into defence and playing Fazio in midfield, he also left Kanoute on the bench which meant Sevilla played an unfamiliar 4-2-3-1 formation. The experiment paid off and deserved to take an early lead when Luis Fabiano fired home his 23rd of the season. In the dying minutes Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez brought down Navas, and Kanoute sent him the wrong way from the penalty spot.

There have been some crazy games this season at the Vicente Calderon stadium but none more so than this week’s 6-3 victory for Atletico Madrid over nine-man Almeria. Antonio Lopez got the game off to a tremendous start with a belter of a free kick after just two minutes to put the hosts in front. Two minutes later Almeria were reduced to ten men when Ruben Pulido brought down Kun Agüero when he looked like scoring, Diego Forlan made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

Almeria, however, came back fighting and by the 17th minute they had drawn level through Felipe Melo and Jose Ortiz. Almeria then had chances to take the lead before Simao Sabrosa put Atletico back in the lead on 32 minutes, but Almeria equalized again four minutes later thanks to Alvaro Negredo. Then in the 40th minute Almeria lost Juanito to two yellow cards. With only nine men Almeria could not resist any longer and Simao got his second of the game to make it 4-3 just before the break. Two second half goals from Agüero sealed the points for Atletico who remain in 4th place in the table.

Racing Santander stay fifth despite being surprised 1-3 at home to Deportivo. Young striker Xisco scored a hat-trick last week against Murcia and this week added two more to his account, the first after just two minutes was followed by Coloccini’s effort in the 25th minute as Depor took a 0-2 lead. Jorge Lopez pulled one back for Racing, but Xisco made it 1-3 before half time. Depor’s order and concentration in the second half saw them hold on comfortably for three points which move them up to 13th in the table.

Espanyol’s miserable second half of the season continued with a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao. Athletic had the better of the first half and went in front through a Garmendia header after 13 minutes. Espanyol had the better of the second half but Tamudo missed their best oportunity, blasting a penalty over the bar with 15 minutes to go.

Despite being in the Copa del Rey final Valencia are having a terrible time in the league. This week they lost 1-0 at lowly Murcia and now find themselves down in 14th place with the threat of relegation if they don’t sort things out quickly. Ivan Alonso scored the only goal of the game in the 34th minute to give Murcia a glimmer of hope for survival. Ronald Koeman must be wondering if he will still be coach when Valencia face Getafe in the final on April 16th.

Even worse off are Zaragoza who are now looking odds-on for the drop after going down 0-3 at home to Betis. Two early goals from Mark Gonzalez left Zaragoza against the ropes and a second half goal from Pavone provided the killer punch. Betis are much improved after their early season problems and move up to tenth place.

Valladolid greatly improved their chances of staying up with a 0-3 win at bottom placed Levante. Joseba Llorente got his 14th of the season to give the visitors a 0-1 lead at half time, and two cracking second half goals from Victor and Borja sealed the victory. Levante now have no chance of saving themselves and could well be relegated next week if the fail to win at Betis.

Finally, Recreativo earned a vital victory at Osasuna to go three points clear of the relegation zone. Sinama Pongolle scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute to give his team a 0-1 win.

Top Six: Real Madrid 66, Villarreal 59, Barcelona 59, Atletico Madrid 53, Racing Santander 50, Sevilla 48.

Bottom Six: Valladolid 38, Osasuna 37, Recreativo 36, Zaragoza 33, Murcia 29, Levante 19.

Top Scorers: Luis Fabiano 23, Güiza 17, Raul 16, Diego Milito 15 Nihat 14.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News