Another fascinating weekend in prospect in Spain.

Saturday December 6
6 Dec, 19:00 Villarreal v Getafe
6 Dec, 19:00 Sporting de Gijón v Atlético de Madrid
6 Dec, 21:00 Barcelona v Valencia

Sunday December 7
7 Dec, 16:00 Racing Santander v Athletic Bilbao
7 Dec, 16:00 Mallorca v Recreativo Huelva
7 Dec, 16:00 Osasuna v Valladolid
7 Dec, 16:00 Deportivo la Coruna v Málaga
7 Dec, 16:00 C.D Numancia v Almeria
7 Dec, 18:00 Real Betis Balompié v Espanyol
7 Dec, 20:00 Real Madrid v Sevilla

On saturday Getafe, full of confidence having taken 4 points from matches against Barcelona and Real Madrid, visit El Madrigal to see if they can cause Villarreal some problems. The yellow submarine are going through a bit of an odd patch of form and fairly squeezed past rock bottom Recre last weekend. Should be an interesting encounter. Atlético Madrid visit Sporting Gijon, who have the second-worst home record in the league but whose away form sees them safely ensconsed in mid-table. Barcelona, whose sensational 40 goals already this season has seen them outstrip their rivals, host Valencia who historically have a decent record at the Nou Camp. With Renan between the sticks, however, Barca have always got a chance and I predict a home win.

Real Madrid and Sevilla, both coming off the back of defeats last week, go head to head at the Bernabau. The visitors have not been at their free-scoring best so far this season, and would fancy their chances had Luis Fabiano not played to type and got himself sent off against Barcelona. A really tough one to call but I reckon El Real will scrape through.

Elsewhere there's going to be some nuggety action at the bottom as Racing face scandal-hit Athletic and Mallorca host Recreativo Huelva. Should results go their way, Barcelona could find themselves 7 points clear come Monday morning.

Are Valencia without Marchena?

I believe so. I've seen no news to indicate his red card has been rescinded.

Villarreal have a fully fit squad apart from top socrer Joseba Llorente, expect Rossi and Nihat to start up front. Mane is without Raul Tamudo and Luis Garcia for his first game in charge ay Espanyol.

That guy is a liability. Why oh why oh why do otherwise sane football managers keep signing Brazilian keepers?


Bring it on

Thats who there after

Have you got a link to that?

It looked like he got a bit of the ball, not sure how the rules work with cards in Spain, but you could argue it was similar to Habib Beye's challenge earlier this year, which got rescinded.


Espanyol look likely to struggle, where will the goals come from without those two?!

That wasn't good enough for Del Bosque. He won the CL and still got sacked. He must win the league to stay in a job......and by the way they are only 6 points off the top and it's not even Christmas yet! By saying it looks like he will win neither is like saying the same about Manchester Utd in the premier league.......



























.....In which case, I hope you're right

Real Madrid 3 Sevilla 4

Looking good for Barca next week.

Goals galore in La Liga this weekend, 44 across the 10 matches.

Real Madrid 3 - 4 Sevilla
Real Betis Balompié 1 - 1 Espanyol
Deportivo la Coruna 2 - 0 Málaga
Osasuna 3 - 3 Valladolid
Mallorca 2 - 3 Recreativo Huelva
Racing Santander 1 - 1 Athletic Bilbao
C.D Numancia 2 - 1 Almeria
Barcelona 4 - 0 Valencia
Sporting de Gijón 2 - 5 Atlético de Madrid
Villarreal 3 - 3 Getafe

A late Renato header downs Real Madrid at the Bernabau after Real Madrid had clawed it back from 3-1 down to draw level at 3-3. The result leaves El Real nine points behind Barcelona going into El Classico next week. Barcelona had no such trouble, dispatching with consumate ease another supposed 'competitor' as Henry helped himself to a hat-trick (although I thought Valencia, in mitigation, were awful). Also on Saturday Getafe's great run against the top four continues, although they will be gutted to have sacrificed a 3-goal lead at El Madrigal. Diego Forlan is on fire, and two from him and Kun Aguero demolished Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

On Sunday, Achile Emana continued his prolific form for Betis but Mane started his tenure at Espanyol with a credible point from Andalucia considering the form the two sides are in. The Penguin/John_D grudge match at the Sardinero ended in a 1-1 draw in which Pablo Orbaiz was sent off for Athletic. Recreativo moved off the bottom of the table at the expense of Osasuna, who surrendered a 3-goal lead at home to Valladolid whilst Almeria's wreteched run continues as they were beaten by Numancia.

The standings after Round 14:

1 Barcelona 35
2 Villarreal 29
3 Valencia 27
4 Real Madrid 26
5 Atlético de Madrid 24
6 Sevilla 24
7 Deportivo la Coruna 24
8 Valladolid 20
9 Real Betis Balompié 18
10 Getafe 18
11 Málaga 18
12 Sporting de Gijón 18
13 Racing Santander 16
14 Almeria 15
15 C.D Numancia 14
16 Athletic Bilbao 13
17 Mallorca 13
18 Espanyol 13
19 Recreativo Huelva 10
20 Osasuna 9

And the top scorers:

Position Player Club Goals
Samuel Eto'o Barcelona 14
David Villa Valencia 12
Diego Forlán Atlético Madrid 10
Gonzalo Higuaín Real Madrid
Lionel Messi Barcelona 9
Álvaro Negredo Almería 8
Mate Bilić Sporting de Gijón 7
Kun Agüero Atlético Madrid
Thierry Henry Barcelona
Achille Emana Betis 6
Giuseppe Rossi Villarreal
Joseba Llorente Villarreal
Juan Mata Valencia
Mohammed Tchité Racing de Santander
Raúl González Real Madrid