La Liga Lowdown

Another weekend of significant results, but the most significant is that Barcelona can win LaLiga again in this next week after their 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad. 2 defenders scored for them, while it was Karim Benzema whose hat-trick gave Real Madrid their most convincing performance of late, beating Athletic Club 3-0. Standby for some stunning stats about the Frenchman...

It was 4th v 5th but Sevilla lost 3-0 at Getafe, and both sides finished with 10 men as referee Mateu Lahoz made himself the centre of attention - as per. Valencia took advantage by beating Real Betis away, with 2 rapier strikes from Gonzalo Guedes, but Rodrigo replaced the injured Denis Cheryshev and then got sent off. It's a compelling battle between those 3 teams for that 4th place...

In the relegation battle, the bottom 2 drew which helped neither side as it finished Rayo 0 Huesca 0, but there were vital wins for Celta Vigo and Villarreal, both at home, both 2-1, while Levante and Valladolid both came from behind but could only draw their games 2-2 against Espanyol and Alavés respectively.

Don't forget to check out our Twitter feed - @LaLigaLowdown - and feel free to leave us a lovely review and a 5-star rating, we really appreciate your support.

Enjoy!

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With the title race pretty much done in LaLiga, we had to major on the 4 derbies this week, especially the ones in Seville and Valencia, and in particular the 5-goal thriller at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán where Sevilla beat Real Betis 3-2. These 2 go at it hammer and tongs right from the first whistle, and even before then, the Sevilla anthem sends shivers down your spine. Just check out our Twitter feed -- @LaLigaLowdown -- if you don't believe us...

Along with that game, Valencia took the local bragging rights against a Levante side whose defence is horrendously bad, and Getafe just about got a point at Real Valladolid to keep their hopes alive of finishing in the Champions League places. It was a result that wounded Valladolid more than it really helped Geta.

Villarreal were the big winners this week in the relegation scrap, beating Girona 1-nil at Montilivi - Girona are so bad at home, it's just getting silly now. Rayo Vallecano lost by a single goal in 5 at Athletic Club, and while Huesca managed to pick up a point against Barcelona, survival still looks a long way off for them. We got a glimpse of the Barça of tomorrow in this game, especially Riqui Puig.

The other big story was Real Madrid being held 1-1 at Leganés in the Monday night game - a lacklustre display from Los Blancos, and they may now have to settle for 3rd place as Atlético beat Celta 2-0 to go 4 points clear of their rivals.

Don't forget to check out our Twitter feed - we'll keep you up-to-date on Barcelona's Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg against Manchester United and also Valencia v Villarreal part 2 in the Europa League with Los Che 3-1 up.

Enjoy!

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Oi, Diego Costa - the LaLiga title race is officially over, thanks to you. After you got sent off, Atlético Madrid held out at the Camp Nou until 85 minutes...and then lost. Just imagine what they might have done if you hadn't lost your rag...

So yes, Barcelona are now 11 points clear after that 2-0 win over Atleti in the biggest fixture of Matchday 31, and that should really be that. Real Madrid might still finish 2nd - they needed to give their heads a wobble at home to Eibar and eventually turned that game around to win, but the Bernabéu still basically hates Gareth Bale. Elsewhere, Getafe and Sevilla both won in the race for 4th.

As for the relegation battle, bottom side Huesca got a point at Levante who are sailing worryingly close to the bottom 3, while Villarreal missed a last-minute penalty and lost 2-1 at Real Betis, Santi Cazorla was seen crying after full-time. But it's not all tears and fears - the best result belongs to Rayo Vallecano after their 2-0 victory over Valencia, their first win under new boss Paco Jémez, while Celta Vigo came from behind again, this time 3-1 at home to Real Sociedad.

Don't forget to check out our Twitter feed, @LaLigaLowdown, and we'll happily keep you across Barcelona's Champions League quarter-final 1st leg at Manchester United, as well as Villarreal v Valencia in the Europa League last 8.

Enjoy!

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At half-time of Celta Vigo's home game with Villarreal, it looked like the hosts were totally dead and buried...but for the irresistible force which is Iago Aspas, especially at Balaídos. 45 minutes later, Celta had fought back from 0-2 to win 3-2 and give their LaLiga survival hopes a real shot in the arm. The image of the night was Iago Aspas weeping on the bench, overcome by the emotion of it all - no doubt then about the hero of the weekend on Matchday 29 in LaLiga.

In terms of the other relegation-threatened teams, all of Huesca, Rayo Vallecano and Real Valladolid held leads, but none of them could see take 3 points - even though plucky Huesca almost got a single point away to Real Madrid, before losing 3-2. Levante also dropped 2 points at home to Eibar.

As for the title race, it really is Barcelona's to lose. They remain 10 points clear with now 9 games to go, after eventually getting past a stubborn Espanyol 2-0 - Lionel Messi with both goals, the first of which was a Panenka-style free-kick.

But Atleti are trying as best they can to give chase - their 4-0 victory at Alavés was a complete performance, featuring stunning strikes from Diego Costa and Thomas Partey, but you feel it's too little too late from Diego Simeone's side. Alavés though are still in with a shout of Champions League after Getafe's 2-0 defeat at home to Leganés in the southern Madrid derby, and Lega look safe.

The other key game was Valencia's 1-0 win at Sevilla, so Los Che could still clinch 4th, as well as still being in both the Europa League and Copa del Rey.

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The Euro 2020 qualifiers are underway, and Spain are 2 from 2...so how are they shaping up after the excitement of the Nations League? In this special international podcast, Euan McTear hosts with Paco Polit and Román de Arquer as his guests, as we recap the 2-1 win over Norway and the 2-0 victory in Malta. If those scorelines sound underwhelming...it's because they were. So why did La Roja find it hard to smash their way through supposedly inferior opposition? We'll look at the situation with the strikers, who should lead the line, and what did we make of the rotations literally everywhere from Luis Enrique?

One team who did impress were the Spain under-21s so we discuss the future stars of the national side and we also talk about Catalunya after they played Venezuela. Don't forget LaLiga returns this weekend with Matchday 29 and some intriguing encounters such as the Barcelona derby (Barça v Espanyol), Sevilla against Valencia, and the battle of the southern Madrid suburbs (Getafe v Leganés) - one of those is our Partidazo Predictions choice for this week...

Feel free to check out our Twitter account (@LaLigaLowdown), and you can also follow all the guys at @emctear, @pacopolitENG and @Aeroslavee.

Thanks for listening and enjoy!

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You might as well just give Barcelona the title now. With 10 games to go they're 10 points clear, after another Lionel Messi-inspired display at Real Betis. That 4-1 win, coupled with Atlético Madrid's 2-0 defeat at Athletic Club means that the title race is effectively over, barring a total implosion from the champions.

Real Madrid have got Zinedine Zidane back in the dugout, so we chat about the impact he's had already, how it might affect Gareth Bale and Marcelo's futures at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, as well as youth development - at least Zizou kicked off with a win second time around, as Madrid beat Celta 2-0 at home.

Sevilla and Alavés both won to put pressure on 4th-placed Getafe, who drew at Valencia in a relatively dull game...and just up the road, Villarreal came from behind to defeat fellow relegation strugglers Rayo Vallecano 3-1. Elsewhere, Real Valladolid scored twice in stoppage-time to win at Eibar - a huge result.

LaLiga now takes a break as we turn our attention to the Spain national team. Don't forget to listen to our bonus podcasts here at La Liga Lowdown, as well as checking out our Twitter feed - you can find us at @LaLigaLowdown on Twitter.

Enjoy!

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It's a momentous time for Valencia - it's their 100th birthday this month, and the momentum is building in their season as well. Los Che are through to the Copa del Rey final, they've qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League and they're on an unbeaten run in LaLiga which is edging them up towards that 4th place which they covet to return to the Champions League next season.

In this bonus podcast, La Liga Lowdown's Paco Polit discusses all the big talking points with Che Scandinavia, a fan group from the most northern part of Europe. Hans and Oscar are representing this "peña", and they give their thoughts on how Valencia have turned their season around after a difficult start, who the main players have been, who has disappointed, who has delighted, with particular focus on a couple of the youth products, Ferrán and Kang-in Lee.

They also tell us about their first memories of Mestalla, and discuss what is so good about the mad festival of "Fallas", which is this time of year in Valencia, as well as the upcoming Spain v Norway friendly and legends' game at Mestalla.

Thanks so much to Hans and Oscar for being part of this bonus podcast, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter - our handle is @LaLigaLowdown.

Enjoy!

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The more things change, the more things stay the same...in some ways, it was a weird weekend. Madrid won, for one - that hadn't happened for 2 weeks. And Atleti played musical chairs with left-backs. And Barcelona went behind to the 2nd-bottom side...but guess what? Yes, they won. Again. LaLiga is theirs...

The big results came just below that top 3. Getafe were trailing Huesca but Jaime Mata got them all 3 points to keep them 4th, and Sevilla, Valencia and Real Betis all got victories too...that battle for Champions League and Europa League is on, but you heard it here first...GETA ARE GOING TO FINISH 4TH.

As for the relegation battle, Villarreal are out of the bottom 3 for the first time in a couple of months...was it a plucky battle and a hard-fought win? No, it wasn't. It was a game where neither they nor Levante wanted to win, but somehow the Yellow Submarine did. Oh, and Celta lost their first match under Fran Escribá.

Hope you enjoy our little meander through the action on Matchday 27 in Spain's top division - if so, feel free to rate us 5 stars and say nice things about us in a review...and check out our Twitter feed as well - we are @LaLigaLowdown.

Enjoy!

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In this bonus podcast, Euan McTear speaks to 2 colleagues in the Spanish capital about Real Madrid after Los Blancos suffered 7 days of their worst nightmares: being knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Barcelona, then losing in LaLiga to Barcelona and finally (and perhaps most shockingly) throwing away a 2-1 away first-leg advantage to crash out of the Champions League to Ajax.

In part 1, Euan and Robbie Dunne pick apart the week of woe, why it's gone so badly wrong, they discuss how much head coach Santi Solari is to blame or how much he has been let down by his players, and how much pressure is now on the Madrid president Florentino Pérez to take the right steps going forward.

In part 2, Euan speaks to Kiyan Sobhani about the Real Madrid loanees who are at other clubs, including Mateo Kovacic and Theo Hernández, but also the likes of Oscar Rodríguez at Leganés, Borja Mayoral at Levante and Raúl de Tomás at Rayo Vallecano. So how bright could the future look for Real Madrid, and who is likely to return to the Bernabeu and force their way back into the first team? Plus, who is the better player - Martin Ødegaard or Frenkie de Jong?!

You can find Robbie on Twitter at @robbiejdunne, and Kiyan is also @KiyanSo - thanks again to both for their contributions to this bonus podcast. Our Twitter handle is @ LaLigaLowdown so feel free to check that out too, and please do leave your lovely reviews and 5-star ratings for the pod if you've enjoyed it.

Enjoy!

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Real Madrid fans, we apologise. This won't be an easy listen. But it will be a comprehensive one, as we pick apart all the big talking points of El Clásico - the 4th clash between Madrid & Barcelona this season, and a 3rd win for Barça coming swiftly after their victory at the Bernabéu in the Copa del Rey. Gerard Piqué was majestic, but a few other players also stood out in an intense match. David Garrido speaks to Euan McTear in Madrid and Román de Arquer in Barcelona to dissect the big game of the weekend, but that wasn't the only action on another potentially pivotal Matchday 26 in Spain's top division...

David chats with Alex Jonson about Atlético who are just about keeping the LaLiga title race alive thanks to Alvaro Morata, and also the breaking story at Celta Vigo after they changed coach...and Paco Polit was at Mestalla as Valencia won and moved up to 7th in the table, but Villarreal lost yet again.

We also wrap up the rest of the games well inside half an hour, including Huesca's late heroics against Sevilla, Alavés keeping their miracle season going at Betis and history being made at Espanyol by one of their latest signings.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@LaLigaLowdown) as well, and feel free to leave us a lovely review of this podcast and a 5-star rating if you'd be so kind!

Enjoy!

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