La Liga Week 1: Real Madrid and Sevilla win while Barca stumble and Valencia lose
A quick roundup of the weekend games from La Liga, courtesy of FCBNews editor Nic.
A goal from new signing Wesley Sneijder meant Champions Real Madrid got off to a winning start against neighbours Atletico. Madrid started badly letting in a goal after just 58 seconds, Agüero sneaking in unmarked at the far post after Raúl Garcia flicked on Pernía’s corner. Raúl equalized for Madrid after 15 minutes superbly heading in a cross from Sergio Ramos. Madrid had to wait until the 80th minute for their winner, Guti squared a free kick to Sneijder and his shot was deflected past Leo Franco. It was a pretty good start from Madrid with good performances from Raúl, Robinho, Sergio Ramos and Guti while new signings Pepe, Drenthe, Sneijder and Metzelder all did well. Atletico should still do well this season, Simao and Agüero both looked lively.
Barcelona could do no better than a 0-0 draw against Racing Santander. Thierry Henry started on the bench along with Deco, but Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o found it impossible to break through a well organized Racing defence. Henry came on for the last 30 minutes and came closest to winning the game for Barça, in the 86th minute he took a pass from Ronaldinho and cut in from the left, in typical Henry style he tried to curl a right footer into the far corner, unfortunately for Barça the ball rebounded off the post. Despite playing against 10 men for the last twenty minutes Barça could not find the goal they needed. On the positive side for Barça was a fine debut from Touré Yaya playing in the defensive midfield position. For a full report of the Barça game go to FCBNews’s match report: Raciing 0-0 Barcelona.
Sevilla’s 4-1 victory against Michael Laudrup’s Getafe was marred by Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta collapsing after his heart stopped. Puerta was immediately treated by the Sevilla medical team and seemed to recover only to suffer another attack in the changing rooms. He was rushed to hospital in a serious condition but fortunately the latest reports say he is in a more stable condition. Sevilla also suffered to win the game, Getafe went 0-1 up through a goal from Pablo Hernandez after two minutes. Sevilla only recovered after Getafe had been reduced to nine men after Sousa and Cortés were sent off. Goals from Navas, Luis Fabiano, Kanoute and Kerzhakov gave Sevilla their win.
Newly promoted Almeria were surprise 0-3 winners against Deportivo. Negredo, Soriano and Crusat scored the goals for the Andalusian team who were perhaps unlucky not to have scored more. The two other promoted teams also won which is probably the first time all three promoted teams have won their first game. Murcia beat Zaragoza 2-1 with goals from Mejia and Baiano. Oliviera scored Zaragoza’s consolation with a fine chip. And Valladolid won 0-1 against Espanyol thanks to a Llorente goal. Espanyol were without key players Tamudo and De La Peña but would have expected to take something from the game.
Valencia started badly losing 0-3 at home to Villarreal. Both David Villa and Joaquin were sent off for the home team and Villarreal won easily through goals from Tommasson and new signings Rossi and Cazorla.
The only player to score twice this week was Mallorca’s Ibagaza as Mallorca beat Levante 3-0. His first goal was from a penalty and the second finished off a splendid counter attack. Güiza scored the other Mallorca goal.
In the remaining two games Recreativo and Betis drew 1-1 in the Nuevo Colombino. Sinama opened the score for the home team but Nano equalized for Betis. And Athletic and Osasuna drew 0-0 in what appeared to be an extremely dull game.
Nig writes on the Barcelona blog.
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- La Liga finale - preview
- La Liga Week 17 Preview: Barcelona host Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid take on Espanyol, Villareal to take advantage, Valencia and Sevilla plan comebacks
- La Liga Week 16 Preview: Barcelona to beat Valencia, Real Madrid to thrash Osasuna
- La Liga Week 15: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Villareal aim to pull away from the chasing pack
Discussion - 6 Responses
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I was up near the 2000 or so Atletico away fans for this match, which was a real treat to watch. Too bad there were some issues over TV rights which deprived many of seeing it live because it was, from a neutral’s perspective, the best match of the round I’m sure.
Real Madrid looked very bright at times and had the better of the game overall, hitting the woodwork twice, and with Robinho (twice) and Diarra leaving great chances unfinished. But Atletico also had its chances, and the game was generally open and flowing.
Raul will get a lot of credit, he scored a nice goal and worked hard, though I don’t think he should have stayed on all 90′. Saviola eventually came on, but to replace RVN, who while winning a lot of balls in the air and looking better than last week, is still a bit shy of 100%. Saviola looked sharp and quick when he was on.
Guti helped with the transition from defense to attack but aside from the free kicks, was a bit quiet throughout. Pepe will always have that 30m euro price tag attached but he looked fairly solid, cutting off some attacks nicely. The main problems for Real Madrid came from Atletico taking advantage of the forward runs our fullbacks made. Drenthe in particular was guilty of losing his position. He is fast, strong, and has a good amount of skill, but you can see he is tactically green and will have to improve this aspect.
Sneijder, what can I say. I think we have a real jewel here. Vision, movement, pinpoint long passes and creative short passes, good going forward or with his back to goal, gets into the tackle, quick and able to beat his marker, amazing deliveries on set pieces and a great shot in both feet.
Metzelder looked very solid coming on in the 2nd half for an injured Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos gave his typically great display of hard work combined with skill, although he was caught out a couple times by Simao, and Diarra put in a decent display in the center. His passing still leaves a bit to be desired. He’s no Redondo, after all.
Casillas again came up with the big saves when needed. I wish someone who do an exhaustive study to see how many points this guy has saved for us over the years.
Atletico looked good, Simao and Aguero very dangerous. I do not understand why Aguirre replaced Simao. Forlan was well controlled by Pepe and this was a big reason why Atletico were unable to score more. Aguero dived a lot, but he has a lot of skill, compared to some of the big names he is one of the more under-rated players in La Liga but he won’t be for long.
Where Atletico were really soft was in he center of defense. Pablo was so slow and poorly positioned that sometimes it seemed as if Perea was the only centerhalf. Sooner or later Madrid would score.
Very good sensations from Madrid, considering we had 3 new players in the starting 11 and another 2 who made their league debuts for us. Higuain, Robben, Heinze and Torres all missed the match and Baptista was unable to come on because we used a sub for Cannavaro’s injury. Also it should be mentioned that the squad is very young, with 16 players (Torres, Gago, Diarra, Higuain, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Casillas, Drenthe, Marcelo, Baptista, Sneijder, Robben, Robinho, Soldado, Saviola, Metzelder) 26 years old and under. The feeling is that Madrid should still be able to improve a lot more as the team gels, especially once Robben gets going, and we have a very strong bench, one of the best in Europe. If things click we could put up strong challenges both in Spain and Europe this season.
Thanks for the report avrv - I’m putting it up as a post, if you don’t mind, and you’re welcome to cover Real’s matches here in the future (email me or something if you’re interested).
it’s up here.
Well, thanks for the positive response Ahmed but had I written it knowing it would be used as a post I wouldn’t have been so blatant in the way I wrote it - i.e. use of the word “we”. Sure, at least for the more pertinent matches, I’d be happy to do some reports.
lol - it was a good report regardless mate. I’m sending you an email with more details.
whats with the TV rights issue ?? Couldn’t see Barca play too!! was up late hoping to catch them play but nuthin’
sucks!!
btw any chance of ronaldinho moving to chelski ?