Week 20 took place in Spain this weekend with some incredible games taking place. The race for the title continues to be very close and the pressure is building up on the top teams in the table. With 18 weeks left, there is still a lot to learn about the title race, but let us focus on this week’s La Liga recap.
Real Madrid vs Cordoba
Real Madrid seems to have a struggle with “playing down” to the level of teams they are better than. They barely beat Cordoba on Saturday thanks to a penalty taken by Gareth Bale. Cordoba pressured Madrid a lot and were able to get in the lead very early in the game. There were two sending-offs: Cordoba’s Federico Cartabia was sent off with three minutes left in the game and the big one that got everyone talking was Cristiano Ronaldo‘s red card in the 82 minute.
Ronaldo had a disappointing game against Cordoba with no goals or assists at all, but the ultimate disappointment came when he was dismissed for hitting Edimar Fraga in the face then kicking him, then allowed his emotions get the best of him and hitting Jose Crespo in the face as well. The recently-crowned Ballon D’or winner wasn’t at his best against Cordoba and could be facing a three-game ban.
Within two minutes, Cordoba was in the lead after Sergio Ramos blocked Bebe‘s shot with his hand. The referee took his time to make the call, but the penalty was awarded. Nabil Ghilas took the penalty and went for the top right corner, out of reach of Iker Casillas.
In the 27th minute, Karim Benzema equalized for Real Madrid. Toni Kroos’ corner kick was flicked on by Bale, and after initially failing to control the ball, the Frenchman was able to slot the ball into Juan Carlos‘ goal.
In the 67th minute, Raphael Varane had a poor header and Florin Andone was able to recover it and chip it past Casillas but the ball bounced off the post and saved Real Madrid from being down 2-1. That would prove to be Cordoba’s best chance at taking an upset lead, and Real Madrid made them pay for missing their opportunities.
In the 86th minute, Bale’s freekick hit Cartabia’s arm and the ref called the penalty. Cartabia was shown his second yellow card just five minutes after Ronaldo was sent off. With both teams down a man, the penalty was the only thing that would secure all the points for Madrid. Bale took the penalty and calmly converted it up the middle.
Real Madrid ended up taking the win over Cordoba but was one of their worst performances. Bale gets the man of the match thanks to the assist to Benzema and then scoring the penalty to take the three points. Cordoba faces Celta Vigo next Saturday as Real Madrid faces Real Sociedad, whom they lost to back in September.
FC Barcelona vs Elche
Barcelona continues on a hot streak to pile the pressure on archrivals Real Madrid. They faced Elche on Saturday and the result was a slaughtering. Lionel Messi and Neymar had beautiful chemistry, and Barcelona could even afford to have the likes of Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Jeremy Mathieu, and Sergio Busquets all rested on the bench while Marc Bartra, Rafinha, Pedro, and Javier Mascherano got the starts in midfield.
The Catalans had a hard time trying to get past Elche’s defense in the first half initially, with Jordi Alba and Messi missing early chances in the first 20 minutes. It was not until the 36th minute that Gerard Pique got Barcelona on the scoreboard. Xavi Hernandez took a quick freekick and found Pique with the cross. Pique was able to take the ball down with his chest, control it with his right foot, and volleyed the ball home past two defenders and goalkeeper Przemysław Tyton.
In the 54th minute, Messi played a ball through to Neymar, who was brought down inside the box. The penalty was awarded, and Messi stepped up to sidefoot the ball past Tyton on the left side of the net with Tyton guessing wrong.
In the 57 minute, Faycal Fajr was shown a red card and sent off leaving Elche with 10 men. From this point, everything went downhill for Elche. In the 69th minute, Messi took on one defender then juked past another, before finding Neymar inside the box with the through ball, and Neymar was able to take his time to finish.
Not two minutes later, it was Neymar who scored again. Rafinha took on one defender, then found Neymar, who passed it to Messi just outside the box at the top of the arc. Messi then sublimely chipped it to Neymar in the box, and the Brazilian volleyed the ball in past Tyton for the 4-0 lead.
In the 87th minute, it was that man Messi again. Rafinha found Bartra on the left side of the field, and Bartra threaded a great pass to Messi that got past four defenders. Messi then turned and shot to make it 5-0 as two defenders tried to close him down in time.
With a minute left in the match, Bartra was able to win the ball, and passed it to Rafinha, who then found Neymar. On the counter attack, Neymar beat two defenders, and found Pedro unmarked at the far post to make it 6-0.
Barcelona scored 5 goals in the second half, with four of those coming after Faycal was sent off. Messi and Neymar had great chemistry and the rest of the team was able to contribute on the plays that led to the goals. With two assists and two goals, Messi was the Man of the Match. Elche faces Granada this Saturday while Barcelona faces Atletico Madrid for the second leg in the Spanish Copa del Rey and Villarreal next Sunday and hopes to continue the pressure on Real Madrid.
Atletico Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano
The other great Madrid team took on Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, and what a great game it was. Antoine Greizmann continues to be in great form and no one seems to be able to stop him. With two goals for his team, he continues to show what he is made off. Atletico Madrid currently sit three points behind FC Barcelona in the table and are looking for Barcelona to drop points to allow Atletico to get in the run for the title.
As the game kicked off it was Atletico that started out strong. It took 12 minutes for Griezmann to get his team in the scoreboard. As Rayo’s defense tried to play the ball out from the back, Ze Castro ended up losing possession, allowing the Frenchman to storm past him before kicking the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 for Atleti.
Ten minutes later, it was Greizmann again who was able to give his team the 2-0 lead. Mario Mandzukic jumped high and nodded the ball into Greizmann’s path, and he was able to comfortably sprint through the disjointed Rayo defense before tapping the ball under the body of Toño.
Greizmann continued to give the defense nightmares but Abdoulaye Ba was the savior a couple of times for Rayo. Just 12 minutes after Griezmann scored his second goal, Gael Kakuta pushed forward before sending the ball over to Roberto Trashorras. Trashorras was completely unmarked just outside the penalty area, allowing him to steady himself before side-footing the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the goal.
In the second half, Mandzukic had a couple of opportunities to score but both Ze Castro and Toño saved Rayo from a total collapse. In the 56th minute, Atleti was given a corner and it was Griezmann who whipped the resulting set-piece into the six-yard box. The ball then bounced off Manucho before bouncing into the back of the net. From here, we were able to see that Rayo just looked absolutely devastated.
The rest of the game stayed scoreless with Griezmann almost making it 4-1 a minute later after the own goal by Manucho, curling a great low shot from the corner of the box that only went just wide. With three minutes left in the game, Griezmann once again initiated an attack, as he went on a brilliant run through the center of the Rayo midfield before darting past Ba with ease. However, his shot ended up ricocheting off the woodwork.
In the 92nd minute, Fernando Torres also had an opportunity. Rayo were caught with too many bodies at the other end of the pitch allowing Atleti to break away on a quick counter attack. Torres ended up taking too long on the ball and Toño was able to rush out and cut out the danger.
The game ended with Atleti winning 3-1 against Vallecano. The man of the match was easily Griezmann, who was in phenomenal form and was able to get two goals under his name while getting credited with an assist on the Manucho own goal. He also had a couple more chances that came close to scoring and almost had one more if not for Torres missing the opportunity. Atletico Madrid faces Barcelona in the middle of the week for the second leg of the Copa del Rey, then faces Eibar on Saturday in the La Liga while Rayo faces Deportivo La Coruña next Monday.
Valencia CF vs Sevilla
Valencia went against Sevilla on Sunday to battle out fourth place in La Liga table. Both teams have been phenomenal since the beginning of the year with Sevilla going on a 10 undefeated streak in all competitions. But that came to an end as they fell 3-1 against Valencia.
The majority of the action came in the first half as Alvaro Negredo, Danny Parejo, and Paco Alcacer all had a great first half. Valencia was able to get in the scoreboard in the 18th minute. With a header from Nicolas Parejas, Negredo went after the ball and was kicked in the back of the leg by Diogo Figueiras inside the box and was awarded the penalty. Parejo stepped up to take the penalty and was able to get it past Beto on the right side of the net with the goalie diving to the opposite side.
In the 33 minute, it was Valencia who struck again to make it 2-0. Andre Gomes headed the ball to Rodrigo on the right side of the field. From there, Rodrigo was able to go past one defender and tried to cross it to Alcacer but bounced off Koke instead. Enzo Perez was able to recover the ball and found Parejo on the left side of the field, and he was able to set it up and score past Beto on the left side of the goal.
in the 35 minute, Gomes fouled Diogo inside the box and was lucky not to get a second yellow card. Sevilla was awarded the penalty and Carlos Bacca stepped up to take it. He was able to easily tap it past Diego Alvez, sending him the wrong way to make it 2-1.
In the 39th minute, it was Sevilla again that was awarded a penalty. Joao Cancelo fouled Vitolo inside the box and Bacca stepped up once again to take the penalty and go against goalkeeper Alvez. This time, Alvez was able to guess right, and was able to prevent Valencia from giving up the 2-goal lead.
In the 56th minute, Beto misplayed pass that was recovered by Javi Fuego in the middle of the field. Fuego then passed it to Rodrigo on the left wing, and after receiving the ball back from Rodrigo, Fuego was able to strike the ball past three defenders and Beto’s outstretched arms to make it 3-1.
Alcacer had a chance to make it 4-1 from a pass that came from Rodrigo on the left side of the field, but Beto was there with his quick hands to get the ball over the post for a corner kick. On the other end, Denis Suarez missed a chance to cut the deficit to 3-2.
At the end it was Valencia who took the three points and fourth place in La Liga table. With this win, Sevilla’s 10-game undefeated streak ended. Parejo deserved the Man of the Match for his two key goals. Valencia faces Malaga next Monday while Sevilla faces Espanyol on Sunday.
Other La Liga results this round:
Real Sociedad 1-0 Eibar
Villareal 1-0 Levante
Deportivo La Coruna 2-2 Granada
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Malaga
Getafe 2-1 Celta Vigo
Espanyol 3-0 Almeria
Photo by: La Liga BBVA