Tight at the top, tough at the bottom
You leave things alone for a couple of Matchdays and what happens? Signing off last week, things looked pretty settled with Barcelona in good form and Real Madrid probably the only other club likely to offer anything like a sustained challenge. Then two games in just over a week come along and, to quote Elvis Presley, things are ‘all shook up!”
The first Matchday saw both Barça and Los Blancos frank their credentials with decent wins, notching five goals apiece. A 3-1 defeat to Getafe for table-topping Granada might be a bit like unpleasant reality knocking on the door of the Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes, but it was probably coming anyway. The following week though, the Blaugrana tumbled to an unexpected 3-1 defeat to Levante to open the door for Real Madrid to take over at the top. Messi had put the Catalans ahead with a first-half penalty, but the wheels then came off ‘big style’ in a crazy seven-minute passage when the home side hit three rapid goals to stun Valverde’s team.
Any win against Real Betis in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu would have seen Zidane top of the table, but in a highly unimpressive and unconvincing display, the game petered out to a 0-0 draw. Granada lost at home to Real Sociedad to apparently confirm their new location on La Liga’s slippery slope, meaning that the top three clubs going into Matchday 11, had garnered an accumulative total of zero points from their combined Matchday 12 games.
A little bit of self-congratulatory back-slapping to be inserted here though. As predicted last week, Betis did indeed secure only their second win of the season, overcoming Celta Vigo, thanks to Nabil Fekir’s late winner. Los Verdiblancos then went on to secure that draw against Los Blancos. If the vultures circling around Rubi were discouraged and looking for another target, they’d have found it in Galicia as Celta’s defeat to Betis, followed by a home reverse to improving Getafe, spelt the end of the road for Fran Escribá.
All of these shenanigans mean that the table now looks as tight as the triplelocking padlock on Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas gift hamper. Three clubs share 22 points. Two points cover the top five, four points the top nine and, incredibly, five points the top 13. If anyone ever tells you that La Liga is a simple duopoly benefit contest for Barcelona and Real Madrid, just point them to the league table on this page!
As well, as the top three stumbling, the pack squeezed up as other clubs jumped on the unexpected opportunities presented.
La Real are up to third. Despite losing at home to Levante ion Matchday 11, their away win at Granada, a few days later, was a six-point turnaround against the Andalusian club.
Had they not lost to Levante at the Anoeta, they’d top the shop now.
On the subject of Levante, a victory up in San Sebastian, followed by a win at home against Barcelona is a real shout for the tip of the hat award across the last seven days of activity, with perhaps only Getafe, who had successive wins against Granada and then Celta Vigo with any reason to dispute the accolade.
On the subject of other unexpected happenings, Atlético Madrid failed to turn either of Alvaro Morata’s two goals into their ‘de rigueur’ single goal wins, with both Alavés and Sevilla denying Simeone victory. That draw, and a similar result in Valencia saw Lopetegui’s team consolidate in fifth place, a point astray from the league leaders. At the other end of the table, both Leganés and Espanyol suffered doubletrouble defeats and Celta tumbled into the bottom three as well.
The new man at the Balaídos should have enough talent in the Celta squad to get them clear of trouble, but when you’re down that end of the table, it’s like there’s a cloying mud grasping at you as you try to pull clear.
There’s one more Matchday to go before the next international break deposits another hiatus onto the domestic programme, but there’s a few tasty encounters to look forward to that will either clear things a little – or perhaps muddy the waters even more. Getafe and Osasuna face off in the battle of the clubs seeking to usurp a place in the top halfdozen, with both in more than decent form. It could be the best game of the weekend
The Sevilla ‘derby’ game will be a bit tasty – when isn’t it. I know Sevilla are at home and they’re in decent form, but hold on to your hats, here’s another prediction coming, I think Betis, striking a bit of form now, will get a point at least from the trundle across the city to the Ramon SanchezPizjuan.
Barcelona should be looking for a comfortable moraleboosting home win over Celta, whilst Real Madrid face that awkward trip up north to play the upstarts of Eibar. Los Blancos can’t really afford not to win, after the hugely disappointing draw at home to Betis, and with a Barça home
win looking the ‘banker’ bet of the weekend, but nobody gets any gifts from Eibar, and they’ll need to graft for anything they get. Granada may find that the results trend continues to point downwards with a visit to Valencia. Although a draw wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world, and may put a bit of a brake on the recent slump.
Real Sociedad could elbow their way into the top three with what looks like a comfortable home fixture against Leganés whose fans will need to treasure the memory of that win over Mallorca, a few weeks ago.
It may be all they have to keep them warm for a few weeks. Atlético have a somewhat similar appointment at home to Espanyol and, if Los Rojiblancos concede a goal, against a team who have only netted six times in a dozen games, you’ll probably here the Simeone explosion out here on the Costa Blanca! Hasta luego!