SPANISH FOOTBALL | ALMERIA 3 GIRONA 0 | ALMERIA PROMOTES TO LIGA NEXT SEASON

Almeria joins Elche & Villareal in the Spanish Football 1º st Division - Liga - next season after defeating Girona 3 - 0 in the 2º leg return match that gave the winners a final 4 - 0 aggregate result.

Almeria returns to Liga after sending two tough years in the Spanish 2º Division & have worked hard to get finally get back. Girona will be disappointed as they too put in a great season & played well, but Almeria responded in the "Important" part of the season & when it was really needed. They are deserved winner & deserved the promotion.

Aleix Vidal opened the scoring for Almeria & Charles scored the last two. Charles is the "Pichichi" - the top goal scorer of the season - of the Spanish 2º Division with 27 goals.

Congratulations to Almeria, they city will be celebrating their return to the Liga.  

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VALENCIA CF SIGNS PABLO PIATTI FROM ALMERIA | PRESENTS GOALIE ALVES

spanish soccer valencia
Football Club ALMERIA, recently relegated to the Spanish 2º Division League, has announced today that they have transferred Argentine Forward PABLO PIATTI to Liga Club VALENCIA CF. Valencia pays approximately 7.5M€ for a fine class player that they will have for the next 5 years. 

New Valencia CF player PIATTI

Another winner in this operation is Argentine Club Estudiantes de la Plata that due to a contractual clause when signed to Almeria will receive 25% of the tranfer fee (1.5M€). The player was also followed very closely by Atletico de Madrid but it was Valencia which finally managed to get the Argentine over to their Club.

The player has been part of Spanish Football for the last 3 seasons & has played 101 games with Almeria & scored 20 goals. Piatti goes to Valencia to fill the gap left by Joaquin who has been transferred to Malaga. 

Diego Alves

Staying with ALMERIA & VALENCIA CF, the latter has officially presented Brazilian goalkeeper DIEGO ALVES , ex Almeria player. Although the transfer was shut between both Clubs before the end of the last Spanish League season, today Valencia took advantage to formalize everything publicly along with new signing & still team-mate Piatti.

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GOALKEEPER ARANZUBIA DEPOR SCORES GOAL AGAINST ALMERIA | SPANISH FOOTBALL ROUND 24

Here is the video of Goalkeeper DANI ARANZUBIA scoring the equalizer for DEPORTIVO in the 95th min against ALMERIA. It was a Round 24 match of the Spanish Football League - La Liga & Almeria was about to take the victory with a 1 - 0 lead. The Deportivo goalkeeper kicks out of this area & flies the ball into the Almeria goal area were it gets an Almeria deflection & onto to a last corner for Deportivo.


Dani Aranzubia decides to try his luck & races to the Almeria goal area &...

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SPANISH CUP SEMI FINAL 2010 - 2011 1st LEG RESULTS | SEVILLA FC 0 REAL MADRID 1 | FC BARCELONA 5 ALMERIA 0

SPANISH CUP 1º leg semi - final games played tonight with goals & plenty of controversy that will fill tomorrows Spanish Sports papers. Here is a summary of events with scorers & the results. 

Benzema celebrates with Mourinho his goal

SEVILLA FC lost 0 - 1 to REAL MADRID tonight in their 1st leg Spanish Cup clash in controversial fashion for the Sevilla fans & not so controversial for the Real Madrid fans - but more on this later. Real Madrid started with a conservative line-up  with three defensive midfielders ( Lass, Khedira & Xabi) to halt the expected initial onslaught from Sevilla who had been heating up the match days before & were charged. The atmosphere was full of tension as Sevilla FC had encouraged their fans to back them with some aggressive marketing the included videos & pre-match statements that lead authorities to call this a "maximum tension level" Football match. That encouraged supporter with over enthusiasm which spilt onto the ground with strong , near unlawful tackles & a end of match incident that may cost Sevilla FC dearly in coming days - but more on this later.

As expected Sevilla started the match attacking fiercely while Real Madrid defended & did all it could to halt the waves of Sevilla players with Jesus Navas very dangerous. However, in a surprise counter-attack KARIM BENZEMA finally showed everyone that he does have some class & ran 25 mts taking out of action two Sevilla defenders to score the Real Madrid goal in the 16th min. This goal took out all the fright & steam from Sevilla & Real Madrid slowly took control.

Then in the 46th min of the 1st half Sevilla forward LUIS FABIANO shot at goal & Real defender RAUL ALBIOL "stopped" the ball on the goal-line to avoid the equalizer. Sevilla claimed ( & still claimed post-match) that it was a goal, while Real Madrid claims that the WHOLE Ball did not go over the line. 

Albiol stops a certain goal? Image:Canal +

Here are some images from Canal + TV ( thanks guys) that seem to give the reason to Real Madrid, but from another angle (below) it rises doubts, thus this "Phantom Goal" is now the talk of the town & will be in tomorrows papers. The referee considered that the ball did not go fully over & thus there was no goal. Leave you to decide for yourself.

Albiol stops goal in 46th min? Image Canal +

The 2nd half saw Real Madrid take further control while Sevilla felt the tiredness of their 1st half efforts & plenty of their players had gained yellow cards which stopped them from over exerting. Real Coach Mourinho saw this as an opportunity to change from a "conservative" field set up to a more "attacking" system ( Di Maria, Granero, Marcelo) which nearly paid off had Cristiano Ronaldo & Ozil put in an almost goal that for some unexplainable reason they both missed. They had the semi - final right there but failed which allowed Sevilla of the hook. Real Madrid tried up till the end while Sevilla did everything to keep them out with some chances also included. The end result 0 - 1.

Iker Casillas hit on the head with a plastic bottle at the
end of the match 

But the game was destined to finish on a terrible note as Real Madrid goalkeeper IKER CASILLAS received a plastic bottle to his head straight after the final whistle take brought him down on the turf. The match was too over heated thanks to Sevilla FC aggressive pre-match messages & were warned that something terrible may occur. The above incident will certainly cost the Club a sanction when the "Spanish Football Anti-Violence Comission" looks at it for study & will almost certainly give a punishment.

Thus, the stage is definitely set for the 2º leg semi-final clash at Madrid were Real takes a handy away goal. A match not to be missed!

Messi scores against Almeria : Spanish Cup 2011

FC BARCELONA won 5 - 0 ALMERIA comfortably with the their 1º leg Spanish Cup semi final with fabulous Football & plenty of goals. No pre-match aggressive marketing or comments from both teams that concentrated on Football & nothing but Football.

The damage on Almeria was all done in the 1st half thanks to brilliant play from Iniesta & company plus some woeful Almeria defending. MESSI scored first in the 10th min followed by DAVID VILLA in the 11th min, MESSI again in the 15th min & PEDRO in the 30th min.

The second half Barça relaxed & gave players a rest (eg Xavi) & basically controlled the match with Barça defender & 2º half sub Maxwell hitting the post. It was smooth "riding" for Barça right till the end with another sub KEITH scoring the fifth in the 89th min.

This victory virtually gives Barça a Spanish Cup Final ticket. A miracle will have to occur in the 2º leg semi-final not to think that FC Barcelona will be a finalist.  Tweet

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REAL MADRID FC BARCELONA THINKING ABOUT DIEGO ALVES

Source: Sp Football Sports Blog /
Brazilian goalkeeper DIEGO ALVES is a class act, no one doubt it, he has proven this on numerous occasions with his team ALMERIA. It was a matter of time that the BIG Clubs take note & begin their moves on the player (again) & attempt to lure him over to their team.

The list of hopeful candidates is long & they include Villareal, Sevilla FC, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Fiorentina & Arsenal, but there are two that will most likely be fighting with each other to get Alves to their side. REAL MADRID & FC BARCELONA are both heading onto a crash course situation with this player. Real Madrid needs a substitute for second goalkeeper Dudek who ends contract & Barça wish a class substitute for Valdes in case of suspension &/or injury. Diego Alves will not be cheap, his Club desires to sell & gain some much needed cash, but they refer to his contract release clause which is 15M€.

The other unknown is what Diego Alves thinks concerning his future. It is clear that if he decides to fly into the bright lights of Real Madrid or FC Barcelona he would be THE second goalkeeper. Does Alves wish this for his future? A tough decision that may sway the player to go to a Club were he is the main protagonist defending his team goal.

Stay tuned for developments. Tweet

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REAL MADRID: DIEGO ALVES TO REPLACE DUDEK?

Spanish daily Marca informs today that REAL MADRID is on the move
& thinking already about a substitute goalkeeper for the current 2º
onboard 36 year old Jerzy Dudek who ends contract on the 30th
of June.
(photo: Diego Alves_marca.com)

According to the paper DIEGO ALVES, current goalie of ALMERIA, is the
man as he fits in well having all the correct qualities that Real are
looking for to be the perfect substitute to Iker Casillas. However, the
Almeria player has contract until 2012 & thus a contract release clause
of 15M€, a figure that is higher than what Real wishes for a
goalkeeper. Lastly, Alves will need to contemplate closely if it is
worth a career move to Real if his future prospects of playing
constantly will be “blocked” by the still young & current World
Nº1 Goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Tweet

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SPANISH CUP 2009: HERCULES C.F KNOCK OUT ALMERIA

The last game of the 1/16 of the SPANISH CUP was played tonight
with another 2ºDivision team knocking out a "Liga" Club. ALMERIA
lsot a home 0-1 to HERCULES (Alicante) & 1-3 in the total aggregate.
(Hercules C.F logo)



















The winning goal for Hercules came in the 77th min when
TIAGO GOMES scored. Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL: VIDEO OF THE GOAL OF ROUND 15/2007: NEGREDO FOR ALMERIA

SFS has hung the VIDEO of the goal voted by most media critics
as the Best Goal of Round 15 of "La Liga". Important goal for
ALMERIA as it was the winner against VALLADOLID & the
"creator" was NEGREDO. Enjoy!

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