This has been the most stressful weekend I can remember in a long time, so I don't have much time (lucky you).
I had a serious conflict of interest in one of the La Liga games yesterday. Málaga was playing Valencia. As you know, I've been consistently rooting for Málaga this season. Hoping to be there next year (finishing the application today), I naturally want them to be in the most advanced competition they can. Champion's League is a dream, but the UEFA Cup (Europa Cup now), is a legitimate possibility. Yet two of my biggest fantasy team performers are David's Villa and Silva. Since Silva has come back from injury, he and Villa have formed a prolific partnership up top with some combination of Vicente/Mata/Joaquín/Angulo on the wings. So I was torn between what I was rooting for.
In the end, I probably got almost the worst scenario. Villa did score one, but it would have been better for me if Silva had (fewer other people have Silva), and it wound up in a draw. A draw for Málaga is a good result against one of the higher clubs. Villarreal also got only a draw today vs. Santander (Cazorla scored for my fantasy team - yay!), so Málaga are keeping pace. With the inconsistency of Atletico, and the deterioration in form of Sevilla, Valencia, and Villarreal, it looks like Málaga may have a real shot! How exciting!
The bad news. Barca dropped points for only the fourth time this season - a 2-2 draw against Betis. The odd thing is that, being down 2-1 at halftime, Guardiola decided not to bring on Messi! Excuse me? 1) He's on my fantasy team, too, so he definitely should have been brought on. No wait, that's number 2. Number 1 is - HE'S THE BEST FREAKING PLAYER IN THE WORLD WHEN YOU NEED A GOAL. WHY THE HELL ISN'T HE ON THE PITCH? As it were Eto'o (also on my fantasy team) provided the 2 goals to bring the score level again. A 2-2 draw isn't an awful result against in-form opponents, but with Madrid winning 4-0 today against Gijón, and the gap down to 10 points, some Barca fans may feeling not quite so invincible anymore. A shock to the system at this stage of the game isn't necessarily a bad thing.
And as an "I told you so" for all those people who wondered why on earth Juande Ramos was hired at Madird, they've won 8 in a row, completely distancing themselves in the battle for second (unless it's turning into a battle for first once again). He's a fantastic manager, and now that it has come about his warning of Tottenham's sale of Keane and Berbatov, hopefully he will be recognized as such. Maybe Liverpool could get him... No, I'm still on the Rafa bandwagon.
The most interesting game of the day, however, was by far the Almería - Valladolid encounter. It must have been a pretty physical affair. 11 cards were handed out in total. Valladolid stormed out to early lead, bagging 2 goals inside the first 25 minutes, but they couldn't extend the advantage any more in the first half, and halftime came and went at 2-0. Almería got back in the game shortly after the 60th minute a goal from Crusat, but 2 minutes later, Bruno was sent off for what can only have been a horrendous tackle (straight red card) on Pedro León, scorer of one of Valladolid's goals from a ridiculously far out free kick in the first half. Even being a man down, Almería managed the equalizer six minutes later through Kalu Uche, who just can't stop scoring at the moment. But it was only another 8 minutes after that when Uche himself was sent off for fighting, and Almería were down to 9 men. That wouldn't stop them either! Negredo (damn him - he's on everyone else's fantasy team) scored just one minute after fellow forward Uche's sending off. Not to be totally shown up in the card department, Valladolid left-back Victoriano Nano was sent off for a second bookable offense. Valladolid couldn't press the 10-9 man advantage, however, and the game ended 3-2. I can't wait to read the match report. 3 sendings off! How bizarre!
Until next week...
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