Matchday 14 - Round-up

Real Madrid responded immediately to their Clasico disappointment with a 2-0 win over Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night. Two late goals by Cristiano Ronaldo handed Jose Mourinho’s team victory in controversial circumstances after David Albelda was the subject of a very harsh dismissal by Perez Lasa for a phantom handball. Unai Emery’s men did not make it easy but Real are a superior side and they deserved the win here after creating more chances than their opponent.

Barcelona refused to use the uncertainty surrounding this tie amidst the travel chaos on Saturday as an excuse in Pamplona, as they put in a thoroughly professional performance to beat Osasuna 0-3 at the Reyno de Navarra. The game was decided by a goal from Pedro Rodriguez and a double strike from Balon D’Or candidate Lionel Messi.

Levante not only humbled Atletico Madrid 2-0 at the Ciutat de Valencia this weekend, but they did it in style as they nullified Quique Sanchez Flores’ team’s attacking threat and played some excellent football on their way to an important home victory. Victoriano Nano’s very early goal was a crucial juncture and, when Felipe Caicedo hit a second just over ten minutes into the second half, it was clear the game was over.

Espanyol made it seven wins out of seven at the Cornella El Prat stadium this season with a 1-0 win over Sporting de Gijon on Sunday. Mauricio Pochettino’s went ahead through Luis Garcia in the second half despite playing with ten men following the dismissal of Raul Baena. It took a physical, unattractive finale for Los Pericos to close out the game but the reward was a four point cushion in 4th place.

Neither Almeria nor Real Zaragoza was interested in a draw in this bottom of the table clash but the points were eventually shared at the Juegos Mediterraneos as Pablo Piatti cancelled out Gabi’s second half penalty to earn Jose Luis Oltra’s team a 1-1 tie. Fragile in defence and wasteful in attack: it is little wonder these two teams occupy the last two slots at the foot of the La Liga classification.

Pedro Rios put in a scintillating display to lead Getafe to a 3-0 win over Real Mallorca at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Michael Laudrup’s team looked weary after their tiresome trip, which was complicated by the air traffic control strike. But even a fresh team would have had trouble coping with Pedro Rios in this form. He scored two first half goals to guarantee victory long before Dani Parejo finished the visitors off late in the second period.

Racing Santander’s miserable stretch away from home continued on matchday fourteen as Malaga thrashed the Cantabrians 4-1 at the Rosaleda. Eliseu and Jose Rondon were the main protagonists for the home side, who looked the most impressive we have seen them under new boss Manuel Pellegrini. Eliseu opened the scoring and Recio doubled the lead before Markus Rosenberg cut the deficit on the stroke of half time. However, two fine assists by Brazilian winger Eliseu allowed Jose Rondon to increase his tally to five goals in 2010-11 while simultaneously condemning Miguel Angel Portugal’s side to a heavy defeat.

A solitary first half goal from Nilmar was enough to hand Villarreal a 1-0 win over Sevilla at the Madrigal on Sunday, extending Gregorio Manzano’s team’s losing streak to four games. Juan Carlos Garrido’s men were superior in the first half and, even when Sevilla reacted in the second period, they could not find a breakthrough with the exception of an Alvaro Negredo goal which was wrongly disallowed for offside. 

Real Sociedad won bragging rights in the Basque Country on Sunday night as they beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at Anoeta. Xabi Prieto was the star for the hosts, scoring a penalty and forcing an own-goal, while former Liverpool cadet Mikel San Jose was the villain of the piece, conceding the penalty and scoring the own-goal which consigned his team to defeat. 

A set-piece move converted by Lassad Nouioui was the only difference between Deportivo La Coruna and Hercules in an overly tactical and, frankly, boring game at the Riazor. Both teams looked more interested in maintaining clean sheets than scoring but Miguel Angel Lotina’s decision to stick with the five man defence was finally justified by his team’s 1-0 victory.