Lang Hunter

So, there are 10 games to go in La Liga, and it’s all to play for at both ends of the table.

At the top, Barca failed to claw the expected 3 points back on Sunday night, only drawing away at Almeria after Madrid’s defeat in La Coruña on Saturday evening (not really that surprising, considering Real have not won at the ‘Riazor’ for 17 years now!). 10-mar Barca looked to have the points in the bag, until Almeria got the equalizer with just 4 minutes left on the clock.

The deficit is 7 points between first and second, not an insurmountable task, but Madrid really would need to throw the title away now. With this their only chance of silverware, I don’t see it happening. Saying that, by next weekend, it may also be Barca’s only chance of a domestic title too, depending on how they fare in Thursday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg, against Valencia.

Intriguingly, Villareal have sneaked, sneakily, up on Barcelona, and now sit only 2 points behind in third place. Barca could well be starting to sweat as much at this threat from the Yellow Submarines just below them. A fairly straight forward win at home against Real Zaragoza saw them gain 2 points on Barca, and drag Zaragoza further into the relegation mire.

Diego Forlan got 2 more goals as Athletico Madrid kept their season on track, and their chances of Champions League football more likely, with a resounding win at basement boys Levante. Sadly, it really is a mission impossible for Valencia’s second side now.

For the other European hopefuls, Espanyol came from behind to defeat Mallorca 2-1 at the Olympic stadium, while Seville beat Valencia 2-1 at the Mestalla, to stay level with the ‘other’ Barcelona team, on 45 points. The man on everybody’s summer wish list, Luis Fabiano, got the 2 for Seville in the first half, to make it 22 goals for the season. Meanwhile, for Valencia, it just gets worse. A rather insipid performance from the home side, at least improved slightly in the second half, but it was too little, too late, when home boy Raul Albiol tapped in the consolation on 89 minutes. More worrying for the home fans was David Villa’s obvious frustration throughout the night, where his passing, shooting and general awareness was very much off kilter. A man definitely thinking about his future – away from Los Che.

I suppose he’s looking towards Fernando Torres, and his great success so far in the red of Liverpool (although, as I discussed with friends during the close season, Torres was always going to be a success in England, he has the perfect temperament for the game there, I’m not so sure Villa has. He’s prone to petulance, ridiculous diving at times, and has been dismissed on a fair few occasions for lashing out at opponents. Still a great player, though, just not sure England is the right destination for him). At least Fernando Morientes made his long awaited comeback from injury. But wait, there’s more!! Yes, even more worrying than being worried by Mr. Villa, the Valencia wigs may be worried (that’s a lot of worry!) that Valencia are now just 4 points off relegation. Jesus. That’s bad. There is a real possibility that the mighty whites could go down, and they would really have no-one to blame but themselves. Well, Ronald Koeman, to be more precise. But we’ve discussed this before, so let’s move on.

Right, so at the bottom end of the table, we now have Levante, surely doomed, on 19 points, followed by Real Murcia on 23 points. Their saviour, or not, as the case may be, comes in the guise of Javier Clemente, ex Spain manager, who’s first 2 matches have ended in defeats, this weekends crunch encounter with Recreativo Huelva ending 4-2. Now trailing the next teams by 9 points, I can’t see them saving themselves either.

Which, really leaves 1 slot for the magical, doomed to second division, stylie football coveted prize of relegation. There are 9 teams that are currently vying for this spot;

Recreativo Huelva (just shows what a real 6 pointer the match with Murcia was), Real Valladolid, Real Zaragoza & Real Betis* are all on 32 points. Athletic Bilbao* are on 33 points.  Deportivo, Mallorca & Osasuna are all on 34 points, with Valencia a further 2 points ahead on 36, certainly not guaranteed La Liga football next season!

The coming week will be as exciting down the bottom as it will ‘up top’, here are the main games regarding the relegation sides:

Levante face Villareal at home. Not such a big one for Levante, they’re doomed anyway, but Villareal will want to win this to stay up there with Barcelona.

Murcia host Espanyol, who they must beat if they have any chance of saving themselves. But, the visitors need to win too, if they are to keep up their quest for European football next season.

Valladolid face a huge trip to the Nou Camp, where surely, Barcelona will get the points to keep up their title challenge, and keep the visitors where they are.

Recreativo face a tough trip to Santander, who are currently having their best ever season in La Liga and are just 1 point from a European spot.

Zaragoza host mid table Almeria. A good chance for Zaragoza to pull a few points clear of the bottom clubs, I think.

Betis travel to Osasuna, on the back of this week’s decision on Saturdays abandoned match. This is a tough one. If Osasuna win, they’ll be doing themselves a big favour, if Betis win, they could move above their opponents.

Athletic Bilbao are at home to Getafe. Getafe could be on a high come Saturday, depending on their Copa del Rey semi final against Santander, or they could have a few missing after the big match. This league game is not so important for them, as they sit mid table – the cup is their main priority this week, no doubt. That could help Bilbao.

Deportivo La Coruña travel to the islands to face Mallorca, a real six pointer here. Both on 34 points, Mallorca are strong at home, and much more free scoring than the team from the north.

That leaves Valencia, they play in the Copa del Rey on Thursday night. Then they face Real Madrid on Sunday. Ouch.

Will they forego the Cup match in place of the league, which is obviously much more important? No chance. Koeman knows he has to take Valencia to the final, or he will most definitely not have a job come the summer. Only then, can he worry about survival. If games go against Valencia, they could see themselves 1 point off the relegation spot come next Monday.

Unlikely, but as Greavsie says, ‘it’s a funny old game’.

As for the Cup, Wednesday sees Racing Santander at home to Getafe. Racing’s most successful season ever could become better, if they can make it to the final, but, trailing 3-1 to  Getafe after the first leg, I’d say the bookies are with the away side.

Valencia face their only chance of saving a woeful season, by beating Barcelona at the Mestalla on Thursday. At 1-1 after the first leg (Barca scoring a dubious goal in the final seconds), it’s all to play for, for both sides. Barca look like they’re only going to grab second in the league, unless Madrid go walk-abouts, so this too could be their only trophy of the season.

Add to that the fact the Catalans and the Valencianos hate each other, and you’ve got the perfect cup tie. Fights, yellow cards, red cards, rolling about the pitch. I can’t wait.

[*the Betis v Bilbao match on Saturday was abandoned after the Bilbao keeper was struck on the face by a bottle thrown from the Betis crowd. After what initially appeared to be the usual tap/shock/roll about in agony play acting by Armando, it actually transpired that, although it looked like a plastic bottle, it was actually full of liquid, and whacked him right smack in the face, resulting in a fair amount of blood. Hope he’s ok. Anyway, the footy federation of Spain will be discussing this in a meeting this week, so expect points/fines etc to be awarded for the game].