Rayo’s problems, a Bernabéu rout, and Almería off the mark
Posted: November 2, 2013 Filed under: Cillian, La Liga | Tags: Amería, Gareth Bale, Getafe, Osasuna, Rayo, real madrid, Sevilla, valencia, Villarreal Leave a commentRayo Vallecano are in trouble. Following their home defeat to Valladolid, they travelled to Osasuna and suffered another defeat against a team that will be expected to finish in their vicinity come the end of the season. For Osasuna, it was a great evening in which they led from the first minute to the last, although not entirely comfortably collecting the three points as Rayo, as they are want to do, dominated possession in the final 25 minutes after the home side were reduced to ten men.
Osasuna celebrate an important victory over Rayo
What was most telling about this defeat for me is that Rayo don’t have a defence that can keep them in the top tier of Spanish football. For all their bravery in maintaining possession – even better than Barcelona might I add – once they lose it, they can succumb to the offence of whoever they’re facing quite quickly. Gaps are easy to find in the central defensive partnership of Gálvez and whoever is by his side, normally Saúl or Arbilla, and opposition wingers normally get past the fullbacks with relative ease.
No Messi? No problem – La Liga week 8 round-up
Posted: October 6, 2013 Filed under: Cillian, La Liga | Tags: Ancelotti, Barca, Getafe, Jonathan Viera, La Liga round-up, Madrid, Morata, Neymar, Pedro Leon, Rayo, Ronaldo, Sanchez, Tello 1 CommentBarcelona faced a physical but struggling Real Valladolid side without the spearhead of their attack, Lionel Messi. At first it looked as though they may have missed the spirit of the nippy Argentine, with the visitors taking a surprise lead from a set piece, something that manager Tata Martino expressed disappointment about. However, the current leaders and champions were able to find their stride and stroll to a 4-1 victory with goals from Sanchez, Xavi, and Neymar.
Neymar and Sanchez doing the business for Barca
Cristian Tello was handed a surprise start, with the likes of Iniesta and Pedro left on the bench. The youngster justified his selection in the first team with two assists, importantly for the first two goals, bringing his side from 1-0 down to 2-1 up. Elsewhere, Chilean star Alexis Sanchez was also able to step up to the plate and fill in the gaps that come with an injury to a player of such importance as Lionel Messi. The former Udinese winger scored the first and third goals in a game which, like Tello, he was given a rare starting position.
Atleti scintillating, Rayo struggling – La Liga week 6
Posted: September 25, 2013 Filed under: Cillian, La Liga | Tags: Atleti, atletico, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Diego Costa, Elche, Messi, Neymar, Rayo, Rayo Vallecano, real madrid, Ronaldo, Sevilla 2 CommentsDiego Simeone has began this season’s work at Atletico Madrid in great fashion, continuing with the improvements he’s done to the team since first joining the Rojiblancos midway through the 2011/12 season. They’re the in-form team in La Liga so far along with Barcelona, both teams sitting in the top two positions with 6 wins out of 6. Great rivals of both sides, Real Madrid, sit behind them by 2 points, only faltering on one hurdle, a difficult away trip to Villarreal in which Gareth Bale debuted for the Madrid side.
The man on top of La Liga right now, Diego Costa
One reason for Atleti’s strong start to this season is their good performance in the summer transfer window. The low-cost (relatively speaking) acquisitions of Leo Baptistao and David Villa have added immensely to the squad with both players slipping neatly into the first team leaving the Vicente Calderón faithful wondering; Radamel who? Villa has started the season well for his new side, including contributing a goal and an assist in an important 2-1 victory away to last season’s fourth placed team Real Sociedad. Leo Baptistao broke into the Rayo Vallecano first team last year at the tender age of 20, and was widely touted as one of the best young players in La Liga. His goals and assists in the first half of the season last year were surely one of the reasons why Rayo not only stayed up, but finished in a club record 8th place in the league.
The spirit of football is not for sale
Posted: February 1, 2013 Filed under: Ashley, World Football | Tags: AFCON, FA Cup, Football, League Cup, money, pride, Rayo, Rayo Vallecano, underdog Leave a commentTraditionally, football has always been viewed as the mistress of the average male, and today that is still the case, only now, she’s been seen hanging around with blokes named Chauncey or Rupert – the kind of lads who claim they are the Queen’s 45th cousin, or almost definitely vote for David Cameron and chums.
Professional football is now a multi-billion pound business run by power and money mad egotists and it is ever so easy to miss the special spark that made you love this sport. From clubs extorting fans for a single match ticket to the very top of football’s hierarchy doing the bare minimum to eradicate long term problems such as racism because it is obviously lower down in their list of priorities than their continually increasing commercial interests at the minute.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BENDTNER’S WEARING PADDY POWER UNDIES?!”
Recently however, there have been some sobering reminders that football is not all about the cash, and people actually play for pride, and to give something for their fans and nations to cheer about when there doesn’t seem to be much else.
Politics and passion in Madrid
Posted: October 25, 2012 Filed under: Cillian, Culture, La Liga | Tags: atletico, culture, La Liga, Madrid, politics, Rayo, real madrid, Vallecano, Vicente Calderon 8 CommentsForeword
I’ve recently moved to Madrid from my hometown of Dublin. I came here to study communications and learn Spanish, but I’m also going to grab with great fervour the chance to experience a year of Spain’s La Liga football, which in my opinion is the best league in the world. The best league on the pitch, that is. There is a saying over here that La Liga is ‘played by geniuses, run by idiots.’ In my first three weeks of living here, I already saw first hand the extent of the truth behind the saying.
In this article, I’m going to write about my first experiences of La Liga football this season, and the culture behind it in the city of Madrid, in the setting of a week where two derbies were played involving Rayo Vallecano, Atlético de Madrid, and los Campeones, Real Madrid.
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Rayo fans making their way to the Vicente Calderón
I settled into life in Madrid relatively quickly. It wasn’t that hard to do (for me anyway), as a student living with four friends, when we arrived we enjoyed the occasional alcoholic beverage and venture into the city centre to experience the nightlife (every night…) I live in the west of the city, a two minute walk away from the river, to the Manzanares’ west. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of Madrid, El Estadio Vicente Calderón is located south-west of the city centre too, and as I discovered on a walk I went on one day, I lived only a stone’s throw away from Atlético Madrid’s ground. The Calderón is actually located just on the banks of the river, on the east side, so there’ll always be some physical separation between my house and Atleti’s stadium.
Balls Out In Public 