SPANISH FOOTBALL - LEAGUE ROUND 21 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL continued today with five top games in Round 21 of the SPANISH LEAGUE. Here is a brief summary of the matches, with all the scorers & with the final results.

Martins for Granada

REAL BETIS lost 1 - 2 to GRANADA with the latter having their new Coach Abel debut with victory. The fact was that it was a competitive match fought out between two Clubs from Southern Spain with certain rivalry.  Granada got ahead in the 12th min via IGHALO & maintained the rhythm with MARTINS scoring a second in the 39th min.  The second half was palyed hard & Betis was rewarded with a goal in the 81st min via PEREIRA to which Granada held firm until the end. 

R.Sociedad

REAL SOCIEDAD hosted REAL SPORTING DE GIJON & sent the latter into further "troubles" defeating the visitors 5 - 1. Real Sociedad caught Sporting asleep with two rapid goals by ZURUTUZA ( 2nd & 3rd min). The player would latter get his nose broken in an aerial battle with Gijon player Gregory.

Sporting reacted timidly & scored in the 46th min via DE LAS CUEVAS, but that would be all for Gijon. Real Sociedad finished the visitors off with goals from ELUSTANDO (76th min), ARANBURU (91st min) & GUZMAN ( 93rd min)

Guiza for Getafe

LEVANTE lost 1 - 2 to Madrid Club GETAFE. The home side was unlucky in this match, as Getafe took their chances & scored. The goals for Getafe came via GUIZA in the 32nd min & D.CASTRO in the 82nd min. Levante scored their only goal via RUBEN SUAREZ in the 91st min via a penalty that cost Getafe defender Lopo a red card.

Racing - Valencia CF

This match will be remembered as the "Battle of El Sardinero" ( Sardinero name of the Racing stadium). The final result between RACING DE SANTANDER & VALENCIA CF ended in a 2 - 2 draw. There was goals, body to body contact, posts & plenty of heated moments as the home side was playing more for its Liga future.

The home side got ahead via ADRIAN in the 2nd min & the "battle continued" thereafter. Valencia scored twice via ADURIZ to equalize (66th min) & then to get themselves ahead (79th min). But it was not over as Racing equalized in the 88th min via BERNARDO, & Racing missed a "sitter" in the last seconds that could have given them the victoty. In the end, shared points & some bruises.

Toulalan for Malaga in action

Southern Spain derby between MALAGA FC & SEVILLA FC with the home Club winning relatively comfortably 2 -1. The loss by Sevilla keeps their "bad streak" in "La Liga" in motion. The goals for Malaga came via WELINGTON in the 7th min,  & later Sevilla player  LUNA equalized in the 15th min. But Malaga reacted quickly & got back ahead in the 19th min via SEBAS. From here the game got stuck in the midfield with Malaga Frenchman & midfielder TOULALAN doing a wonderful job for his team in stopping the Sevilla creative play-makers & thus halting any progression, & the midfield "battle" gave 13 yellow cards. There were the odd occasions & chances to both sides, but Malaga looked comfortable & did all the real hard work in the first half. Malaga player Isco saw a red card in the 78th min after a hard tackle on Sevilla forward Negredo.

Monday Night Spanish Football Round 21 game:
Osasuna - Atletico de Madrid

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SPANISH SPORTS | RAFAEL NADAL LOSES AUSTRALIAN TENNIS FINAL & SPAIN LOSSES IN HANDBALL

Serbian World Nº1 Tennis player NOVAK DJOKOVIC starts the 2012 Tennis season as he finished last,  winning the 2012 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 & 7-5 Spanish player & World Nº 2 RAFAEL NADAL is a historical match that lasted nearly 6 hours.

Rafael Nadal

The Spaniard started well to take the first set, but Djokavic reacted over-powering Nadal with his serve & stroke shots to take the second & third set. The fourth was Nadal in his "pure state" playing with his heart & courage to force a fifth set after taking the tie-break. Nadal had Djokavic on the ropes in the fifth after breaking his serve but the Serb won it back & never looked back again.

Djokavic wins the Australian Open

Rafael Nadal once again falls to the power-play of the Serb in another Grand Slam final. In the end the result came down to fine details,  & in the case of Nadal , some bad decisions in crucial moments of the game. The Spaniard has "lost" his "killer instinct" as his only playing flaw is that once he has his opponent "down", Nadal fails to finish off the work with a clean "kill". This allows his adversaries - Djokavic in this case - to clean their wounds & lift to fight again having learnt the lesson. Said differently, keeps letting off the hook his main opponents, today not being any different.

Congratulations to Djokavic for his extraordinary performance & victory, well deserved. I have no doubt we will be seeing again Djokavic - Nadal in more Tennis finals this season. 

Spanish Handball Team 2012

Staying with SPANISH SPORTS, SPAIN lost to CROATIA 31 - 27 in the third place ( Bronze Medal ) match of the European HANDBALL Championships. 


One of those days I suppose were nothing goes right ...Congrats to Croatia!

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SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA ROUND 21 SATURDAY NIGHT GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL action tonigt with four matches of Round 21 played of the SPANISH LEAGUE. Here is a run down of all the main events, scorers & the final scores.

Fernando Llorente 

Madrid Club RAYO VALLECANO played a good match but lost 2 - 3 to ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO with an inspired FERNANDO LLORENTE on the field who scored a HAT-TRICK for Bilbao ( 15th , 22nd & 67th min). The goals for the home side came via MICHU in the 10th min & ARRIBAS in the 26th min. Bilbao position themselves in the Euro positions of the Spanish Liga ladder.

Weiss scores

RCD ESPANYOL made forget their elimination mid-week in the Spanish Cup by 2ºB Division Club Mirandes with a 1 - 0 victory over REAL MALLORCA. The winner came from WEISS who scored in the 18th min. Real Mallorca were very upset with the red card to their goalie AOUTE in the 46th min, that was´nt. This left Mallorca with 10 men & unable to get back into the match.

Ozil 

REAL MADRID defeated last placed REAL ZARAGOZA 3 - 1 with the latter putting in a good performance considering their precarious situation on the Liga table. In fact the visitors scored first in the 10th min via LAFITA when the Real Madrid defence feel asleep, literally, total lack of concentration.

With Altintop, Carvalho & Granero starting for Real, the locals slowly began taking back control of the situation & the equalizer came in the 31st min via KAKA. Real Madrid continued with their good play in the 2º half, especially with an inspired Ozil, & the second goal came when CRISTIANO RONALDO finished off a Carvalho pass in the back of the net in the 49th min. Then OZIL was rewarded with a goal,  ( the third ) in the 55th min, for all his good work.

From here Real Madrid relaxed, after losing Xabi Alonso to injury & Marcelo was under a cloud physical as he had to stay on the field because Mourinho had already made the 3 substitute field changes. We will need to know later how far the "injury" to Xabi & Marcelo extend to.

Villareal - FC Barcelona

VILLAREAL went in looking to put up a serious fight against FC BARCELONA & ended up getting a 0 - 0 draw, which now opens up a 7 point gap between Real Madrid & Barcelona on the  Spanish League classification table. 


Villareal was dominant in the first half & had chances to score goals ( a Gonzalo goal was disallowed) as Barça looked disorientated & without  their usually flowing style. In the second half Barça played much better & had chances to score but "smashed" into Villareal goalie Diego Lopez who managed to keep his - & the Villareal - goal clean.

The Spanish League title gets a bit more steeper for Barça after tonight's result.

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MOURINHO TO REFEREE TEIXEIRA : SPANISH FOOTBALL QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Slow day relativelty speaking for SPANISH FOOTBALL , although tomorrow things will certainly pick up as La Liga gets into action with both Barça & Real Madrid playing their respective games.

However, thought I let all the readers know what REAL MADRID Coach MOURINHO told - straight at his face - the Spanish Cup 2º leg quarter-final referee TEIXEIRA after the 2 - 2 result which knocked out Real from the Spanish Cup. The Madrid Club claimed 2 penalties, a wrongly disallowed goal, a harsh red card to Ramos, no cards to Barça Dani Alves after 4 "extreme" tackles...etc.


As the below image shows,  Mourinho went to the carpark where the referees had their cars & waited for the referee Teixeira, their along with Mourinho,  was Spanish Sports Barcelona based paper "Mundo Deportivo" to witness the following events:

Mourinho

Mourinho spoke out to the referee the following , making this the QUOTES OF THE WEEK in Spanish Football:


"¡Vaya artista! ¡Cómo te gusta joder a los profesionales!"


'Artista, jodes a los que trabajan. No respetas a los profesionales serios. Ahora te vas a fumar un puro y te reirás, sinvergüenza".

translated to English ( at times literal which may make it worst than it really is. In fact its very colloquial):


"What an Artist! You love f*cking up the professionals!"


"Artist, you f*ck around those who do their work. No respect for the serious professional. You're going to now smoke a cigar and you'll laugh, your a rascal. "


The man does not mix his words & obviously speaks his mind. 

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LEVANTE 0 - VALENCIA CF 3 | SPANISH CUP 2ND LEG QUARTER FINAL RESULT

SPANISH FOOTBALL tonight with the last scheduled 2º leg quarter-final match of the SPANISH CUP (Copa del Rey). Here is a brief rundown of the scorers & final result.

Aduriz for Valencia CF

LEVANTE hosted VALENCIA CF which visited with a 1 - 4 advantage from the 1º leg match. In fact, the tie was fairly safe for Valencia which gave some rest to some key players. Levante maintained a slim hope of attempting a miracle but that went down the drain in the 25th min when Valencia forward ADURIZ scored.

Valencia then "smelled blood" & continued looking to "kill - off" the Levante ambitions with a second goal from PIATTI in the 30th min. Levante reacted with heart & some tough tactics to tie-down the visitors but PIATTI again scored for Valencia in the 85th min to put things beyond reach & doubt. Valencia win 0 - 3 ( 1 - 7 agg) & goes into the Spanish Cup semi-finals.


The Spanish Cup semi-finals match-ups now look the following:
At.Bilbao - Mirandes
Valencia CF - FC Barcelona

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SPANISH CUP 2ND LEG QUARTER FINAL MATCH RESULTS - WEDNESDAY NIGHT

SPANISH FOOTBALL action with two 2º leg SPANISH CUP ( Copa del Rey ) quarter-finals clashes tonight with the following final results & scorers.

Mallorca-Bilbao

REAL MALLORCA hosted ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO with a 0 - 2 deficit from the 1º leg encounter. The home team was vibed up to attempt to turn around the result but failed to do so as the "Basque" Club defended well & played it cool to keep their advantage. In fact Bilbao added to the aggregate when Mallorca player RAMIS scored an own goal in the 76th min to put Bilbao ahead. The blow broke the "spirits" at bit of the home team as Bilbao got themselves in the the semi-finals. The possible negative consequence of the Bilbao victory was the injury to young Muniain & a red card to Susaeta in the 90th min Final result: 0 - 1

FC Barcelona

Finally we witnessed a "Clasico" in correct Football conditions. FC BARCELONA drew 2 - 2   ( 4-3 agg) REAL MADRID , but the latter was just a goal away from going into the semi-finals. In my opinion Real Madrid lost the quater-final, firstly by not putting the attitude seen tonight at the "Santiago Bernabeu" in the 1º leg, & secondly the 6-8 missed opportunities tonight in the first half that would have given then this q/final phase.

HIGUAIN missed in the first 10 seconds an opportunity that no one can explain, then the some player missed two more sitters & OZIL, the "Best man" for Real Madrid , then hit the bar from an outside shot. These missed opportunities also saw the saves from Barça goalie Pinto that kept Real out in the first half.

But you cannot knock around Barça & not finish the job, & they - the difference with Madrid - did take their chances & scored via PEDRO in the 43rd min ( a Messi set up) & in the 47th min from a DANI ALVES drive into the corner of the goal. Two clear chances , two goals, while Real Madrid had 10 clear goal ocassions & zero goals. 


The second half was pure Football, top World class level as Barcelona started strong but lost fizz as time went on. Mourinho took off Higuain for Benzema & Kaka for Callejon & Real found air again. In the 67th min Ozil found CRISTIANO RONALDO with a precise pass & the latter scored. Then in the 71st min Coentrao found BENZEMA who took out Puyol & fired home the second. Real Madrid "smelled blood" & went for the third that would have given them the semi - final birth & they had Barça floored as the chances came & the opportunities were again missed. Barcelona managed to hold on & took the tie pushed to the limits, very lucky to have gone off the field alive. In other words, a real scare for Barça tonight.

The end sees Barcelona into the semis, but with a feeling that Real Madrid had deserved more the victory. The controversy was served all game with a terrible performance from the referee that missed clear penalties ( both sides ) , gave an unjust red card in the 88th min to Sergio Ramos & some doubtful off-sides. In fact, the Real Madrid team feels - perhaps wrongly or rightly - that the referee influenced ( robbed them) the result again & depending from which side of the fence you watched the match, some may have been right.

The Barcelona victory had a high cost with the injury to Iniesta with a torn hamstring muscle & Alexis with a shoulder complaint. For Real Madrid , Pepe played & put in a more "concentrated" & excellent performance.

In conclusion, congratulations to Barcelona,  & to Real Madrid for lifting up to the occasion & giving us all the best Football in the World.

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SPANISH CUP RESULT | MIRANDES 2 ESPANYOL 1

SPANISH CUP ( Copa de Rey ) action tonight with the return match between 2º B Division Club MIRANDES & Liga Club RCD ESPANYOL. The latter won in the 1º st leg 3-2 & this match was totally up for grabs. After an exciting game of Football the final 2 - 1 result served to qualify Mirandes ( 4-4 agg, away goal advantage) into the Spanish Cup semi-finals & keep the SPANISH FOOTBALL "fairytale" story alive for Mirandes.

Mirandes-RCD Espanyol

MIRANDES put in a splendid & brave performance. The first half was basically Mirandes on top with more ball possession & they did not look at all as a lower Division team. There was definitely something in the air, the feeling that something special may occur tonight.

Infante for Mirandes laments missed chance

RCD ESPANYOL started the 2º half more in tune/alert as they quickly scored a valuable away goal in the 46th min via RUI FONTE. Mirandes did not buckle at all & went looking for the equalizer that came via man of the moment PABLO INFANTE in the 57th min with a brilliant outside shot.

From here, the match was a nail-bitter as Mirandes smelled the opportunity & knew that one more goal would make Club History. Mirandes attacked & missed some vital occasions to seal things, while Espanyol kept them at bay. Then, as everyone thought Espanyol was through to the semis, a cross from Infante found the head of CANEDA in the +90th min to score the winner, a semi-final birth & create Club History. 

The final whistle, a pitch invasion of fans with happiness flowing everywhere. A beautiful Spanish Football & Cup story that Mirandes hopes never ends. For now enjoy the moment.
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REAL MADRID | WHAT´S UP WITH NURIN SAHIN ?

REAL MADRID is the talk of the Spanish Football scene for all the wrong reasons. You may think being 5 points in front of their rival in the LIGA calssification table & up there in Champions would be motive for some good vibes, however it is not the case. There is an apparent dressing room split between Coach Mourinho & some "heavyweight Spanish players", a inside "rat" that filters news to media & the apparent desire of Coach Mourinho to leave at the end of this season. This & the fan-base criticism of his last "defensive" line-up against Barça in the 1º leg Spanish Cup Q/F clash.

While a positive result can rapidly change all this, there is another question or "unknown" hoovering over the heads of many Real Madrid fans & Football followers: whats up with NURIN SAHIN?

Sahin

The ex-Dortmund 22 year midfielder was signed by Real Madrid to aid Xabi Alonso in the midfield & to add some "bit" upfront. The youngman came as the best player of the "Bundesliga" & raise positive expectations locally.

But the man has had some real bad luck with injuries to both knees that has halted his progression & regular playing activity at Real Madrid. In fact his non-appearences has created much speculation to whether Coach Mourinho has permenantly side-lined the player or not.

Spanish Sports journo Feliz Diaz has put light on the "Sahin situation" today in his column on the online paper "Elconfidencial". Apparently the reason why Sahin is not appearing is that the player is "frightened" to injure himself again. Said in another way, its a psychological situation & not physical. The player feels deep pains when executing long hard passes or drives with the ball & this causes him plenty of doubts when it comes to playing.

Coach Mourinho has been attempting to lift that mans spirits & confidence including him in the squad lists & thus attempt to find some warmth from his team-mates, but its up to Sahin to overcome his situation as the Club medical team has given their 100% OK to his knee conditions.

So that's the run down, I personally hope the man can get passed this "mental" thing & show us his Football.
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