La Liga Lowdown

Matchday 14 was full of emotion and goals, topped on both counts at Mestalla.

Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) unpick all the action from Matchday 14.

Paco was at Mestalla for Valencia's first game since the devastating floods, and there was poignancy in large supply. The game was superb, too, with Los Che earning a much-needed win in a six-goal thriller.

The headline partidazo of the weekend ended in favour of Athletic Club, as the Basque Derby points stayed with the hosts yet again.

Barça stumbled in a chaotic last ten minutes at Balaídos, dropping two important points in the title race. Real Madrid took full advantage on Sunday to cut the gap to just four points – and Los Blancos have that game in hand.

In Part Two, we salute Diego Simeone on reaching 700 games at the helm of Atleti, who celebrated in pure style with a healthy dollop of suffering.

Elsewhere, there was a bizarre end to a five-goal show in Gran Canaria, five goals at Montilivi to leave Manolo González on the precipice, and four shared at El Sadar.

Last but by no means least, there were also crucial home wins for Getafe and Sevilla. Paco might just be a fan of Allan Nyom's performance on Friday night.

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Ben Sully (@SullyBen) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) recap Spain's triumphal international break with two more wins to seal the top spot in their Nations League group.

As well as analysing the matches and those players that have stood out, they also look into some of Spain's future talents such as Marc Casadó and Samu A., who finally made their official debuts and have promising international careers ahead of them.

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Matchday 13 proved to be an unlucky one for Hansi Flick as his Barça side lost for just the second time in LaLiga this season. 

Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Román De Arquer (@Aeroslavee) as they reflect on Real Sociedad's surprise but well-deserved victory, preventing the Catalans from having a single shot on target.

Elsewhere, Vini scored three goals, Real Madrid won three points, but also lost three players to injury, on a freak Saturday that saw players suffer ACL injuries in all three matches.

Villarreal are looking good for a top four challenge, as their rivals Betis and Athletic both stumbled but rallied to get late draws.

Atleti got another suffering single-goal victory in Mallorca, while Leganés put more pressure on Sevilla. 

Diego Martínez is enjoying life in the Canaries, successfully turning around Las Palmas with three wins in four.

There is concern for Getafe, Alavés and Real Valladolid ahead of the final international break of 2024.

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Join Ben Sully (@SullyBen) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) to review a matchday that should have never happened.

First and foremost, our thoughts are with everyone affected by the recent flash floods that have devastated the Valencian community. At the time of recording, the confirmed death toll sadly stands at over 200 while many more are missing. People have also seen homes, properties and land destroyed by the horrific natural disaster.

If you want to help those affected, you can donate to the Red Cross via: https://cercadeti.cruzroja.es/ayudaafectadosinundacionesdana

Paco begins the podcast by describing the extent of the devastation. We also discuss the response of the authorities and the recent visit of the King, Queen and Prime Minister to the region. Our focus then turns to LaLiga and the decision to push ahead with the majority of the scheduled fixtures on matchday 12.

In part two, we review the action that took place over the weekend. Barcelona claimed derby bragging rights to extend their lead at the top of the table. The Simeone family enjoyed a successful outing against Las Palmas, while Girona and Leganés put on a seven-goal thriller at Montilivi. Betis fought hard for a point at San Mamés, as Real Sociedad took maximum points from their trip to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Meanwhile, Osasuna and Alavés both collected narrow wins in their respective fixtures.

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Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) to review 'El Clásico' and all the games that took place during Matchday 11.

This weekend, LaLiga delivered some serious twists, with unexpected upsets, including a shocking 0-4 result at the Bernabéu. For any doubters, now we can confirm that Barça and their youngsters are the real deal, with a promising season ahead. In contrast, Carlo Ancelotti has a lot of work ahead of him to get Real Madrid to react and find a better way to integrate Kylian Mbappé.

Down in the relegation zone, Las Palmas managed their second win in a row since Diego Martínez landed in the island, while Valencia held on to keep a point at Getafe and Real Valladolid suffered a late defeat at the hands of Ayoze Pérez and Villarreal. Leganés were the biggest winners of the weekend, handing a surprise 3-0 defeat to Celta and clambering out of the drop zone.

All of this and other hard fought battles in our recap pod!

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LaLiga returned from the international break with another pulsating round of fixtures.

Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) are here to reflect on it all as the top three all won in different ways, and a couple of surprises were found in unexpected places.

Barça continue where they left off before the break: scoring lots of goals and winning matches comfortably. They swatted Sevilla aside with another brace from Robert Lewandowski, but surely the best part was Gavi's return after almost a year out injured. With Bayern and El Clásico next up for Hansi Flick, this was the perfect start to a testing week.

Real Madrid also won, but struggled to take all three points from Balaídos. In the end, experience and individual quality came through, but Carlo Ancelotti may be concerned with the lack of rhythm in their playing style.

Atleti also resemble something which has lots of shiny parts but no clear instructions on how to piece them together. Leganés gave them a scare in the partially-closed Metropolitano, but Alexander Sørloth's brace turned the game around.

Athletic found home comforts easier to come by as they dispatched Espanyol, but Villarreal were made to pay the penalty against Getafe. Marcelino was raging post-game, and Paco sympathises, but only so far...

There were also significant away wins for the Reals Valladolid, Betis and Sociedad, all of which leaves the middle of the table looking intriguing and tightly compacted. Perhaps the under-rated story of the season, however, is Mallorca, who are just one point off a Champions League spot as we approach November. Bravo Jagoba Arrasate.

Subscribe to get all the reaction to the matches this week, which includes a battle at the bottom in LaLiga (Paco's beloved Valencia), plus a full round of European action. Join the fun at lllonline.substack.com.

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Spain got the better of Denmark on Saturday night, courtesy of Martín Zubimendi's first international goal.

Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) are back to review this game and look ahead to the clash with Serbia, in which Spain can qualify for the final stages of this edition of the Nations League. Which players caught the eye in the absence of so many starters from the Euros? Who will replace Lamine Yamal in the Serbia match? All of these questions are answered.

There is also a quick round-up of Segunda's action, which as always featured plenty of goals and drama.

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Matchday nine produced several talking points ahead of the international window, including an express hat-trick and a stubborn nine-man resistance. Join Ben Sully (@SullyBen) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) as they look back at all the action that took place over the weekend.

Robert Lewandowski continued his red-hot form with a rapid hat-trick in Barcelona’s commanding victory over Alavés. Real Madrid also claimed maximum points, but their win over Villarreal was overshadowed by Dani Carvajal’s serious knee injury. As for Atleti, they lost ground to the top two after Luka Sučić produced a sensational strike to rescue a point for Real Sociedad. At the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, García Pimienta claimed the spoils in his first experience of El Gran Derbi.

In the second part, we focus on the penalty chaos at Montilivi and Espanyol’s successful home outing. We then discuss Las Palmas’ failure to break the resistance of nine-man Celta in what might have been Luis Carrión’s final game in charge. Elsewhere, De Frutos starred for Rayo, Getafe played out another draw and Valencia fans expressed their frustration after Friday’s forgettable clash with Leganés.

Remember, you can subscribe to our Substack (lllonline.substack.com) to keep up with all our content over the international break.

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Give our latest pod a listen, and join the conversation between Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) as they look into all the LaLiga encounters from Matchday 8.

El Derbi Madrileño left plenty of talking points, with a game packed with tension, controversy, a temporary suspension, and even a late goal from the home side. Neither of the two sides managed to shine, and are only a single point closer to league leaders, Barça. 

Osasuna ended Hansi Flick's winning streak with a brave and outstanding performance, proving to be a very tough cookie when playing at home.

They also review Getafe's first win, Real Sociedad's slow, yet steady improvement and pose the following question: is Gio Lo Celso be the best signing of the season? So far, he might be... scoring week in, week out for Betis and helping the team grab some essential points. All this and much more in our recap pod!

Remember you can subscribe to our Substack for plenty more daily LaLiga content: https://lllonline.substack.com/.

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Join Ben Sully (@SullyBen) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) as they round up all the action from matchday six of the 2024/25 LaLiga season. Five-star Barcelona continued their perfect start to the league campaign with a sizeable victory over Villarreal. The entertaining affair delivered braces, disallowed goals and a missed penalty as Barça bounced back from the defeat to Monaco.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid fought back from a goal down to dispatch Espanyol, while their city rivals Atlético Madrid dropped a couple of points against a determined Rayo Vallecano side. Meanwhile, Athletic Club warmed up for a trip to the Italian capital with a home victory over Aspas & company.

Valencia ended their long wait for a win, while Alaves piled the pressure on Sevilla boss García Pimienta. There was also a derby draw, another Las Palmas defeat and a frustrating outing for Real Sociedad.

Remember, you can subscribe to our Substack (lllonline.substack.com) to access all our content, including this week’s bonus podcast which will cover the midweek action in LaLiga.

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