All hail the champions!! Barcelona have now won their 4th league title in five years. It’s absolutely incredible! This season may have been a bit weird for them, what with Tito Vilanova spending most of the season in New York for cancer treatment and the team suffering countless injuries. Nevertheless, Barça started the season strong and out paced the rest of the league by miles. Real Madrid, the defending title holders, barely put up a fight. On Saturday, Madrid’s feeble 1-1 draw with Espanyol sealed the deal for Barcelona and left a 10 point gap between 1st and 2nd place.

Tito Vilanova celebrates Barcelona’s 22nd League title in the city parade

It was pretty evident in the first half of the season that they would win the league when Barça reached the point where they were 16 points ahead of 2nd place (Atlético Madrid at the time). However, the Catalans had to wait until this weekend to celebrate. They deserved to win. There is no doubt about that. But something feels off. 

Yes, they made it to the semifinals of the Champions League for a record 6th year in a row. Yes, Lionel Messi produced more magic to score against every team in consecutive games. Yes, Barcelona will equal the 100 point record mark set by Real Madrid last season.

But the champions have a lot of questions to answer in the offseason. They were absolutely steamrolled by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semis on an aggregate 7-0. Throughout the whole season their defense never seemed as solid as it should’ve been. Last season the question was “can Real Madrid feel satisfied in their League title if they never beat Barcelona?” (They eventually did.) This season Barça managed to draw 2-2 and lose 3-1 to Madrid in the Camp Nou in the League and the Copa del Rey, respectively. At the Santiago Bernabéu, Barça drew 1-1 in the Copa del Rey and lost 2-1 in the League.

Anyways, a huge congratulations to Barcelona on their 22nd League title!

In other news around the league, Real Sociedad and Valencia are tied for the last Champions League place, both with 59 points. Right now la Real just edges Valencia out of the spot on goal differential. With three games left, both teams are going to have to fight tooth and nail for that last golden spot. At the far end of the table, Mallorca, Celta Vigo, and Deportivo La Coruña are still stuck in the relegation zone (and Celta has already played an extra game). Real Zaragoza sits barely in safety just two points clear of danger. Here are the full results from the weekend:

Barça’s prize

Wednesday:
Celta Vigo 1-3 Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid 6-2 Málaga

Friday:
Levante 0-0 Real Zaragoza

Saturday:
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Mallorca
Valladolid 1-0 Deportivo La Coruña
Osasuna 1-0 Getafe
Espanyol 1-1 Real Madrid

Sunday:
Rayo Vallecano 0-4 Valencia
Real Betis 1-0 Celta Vigo
Atlético Madrid 1-2 Barcelona
Málaga 0-0 Sevilla

Monday:
Real Sociedad 2-2 Granada

The Copa del Rey final is scheduled for this weekend at the Santiago Bernabéu between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. The Madrid teams played Málaga and Celta Vigo, respectively, on Wednesday to clear their schedules this weekend for the Madrid derby with silverware on the line. This is the only chance for either team to win a trophy this season, so the match promises to be very enticing! Be sure to catch it on Friday at 3:30 pm ET!

Photos courtesy of www.fcbarcelona.com. Check in with @AerysSoccer everyday for news on the world of soccer!

Real Sociedad solidify their Champions League spot with a comprehensive win over Málaga

Round 30 of La Liga this weekend was a whirlwind of activity after last week’s snooze-fest. Deportivo La Coruña have just about climbed out of the relegation hole that Zaragoza is now in danger of falling into. Real Sociedad put Málaga to shame with an incredible scoreline. Barcelona and Real Madrid romped past their opponents, both netting 5 goals against Mallorca and Levante, respectively. And I’m still trying to figure out what Granada were doing in the first half of their game as Real Betis ran wild.

I regret not watching the clash between Real Sociedad and Málaga. I figured it be a relatively quiet game as Málaga prepared for their trip to Germany in the midweek. Was I wrong or what?! Well, not entirely. Málaga may have played on Saturday with their minds on Tuesday, because they seemed incapable of stopping a rampant la Real from scoring 3 times in 9 minutes in the first half.

After that rude awakening, Málaga managed to pull one back before the break. However Sociedad were loathe to see their lead slip even the slightest and they effectively finished the game in the 51st minute. This is about the time I checked into the game and was rather bewildered by the 4-1 scoreline to the home side. Santa Cruz softened the blow for Málaga in the 70th minute. Sociedad earned their result and they’re starting to look even more certain of returning to the Champions League next year for the first time in 10 years.

Depor edge out Zaragoza to draw closer to safety

In the relegation zone, Deportivo La Coruña have now won 3 matches in a row. To put the significance into context, they won a total of 3 matches in the first half of the season. Last week, they narrowly beat Mallorca 3-2. This week same result: Depor edged out Real Zaragoza in a 3-2 thriller at home in Riazor. The crazy game went back and forth as Depor conceded a penalty early in the first half only to be rewarded by a Zaragoza own goal in the second half. This win brings Depor 1 point from being clear of the relegation zone. The club they’d send into trouble if they managed to clear danger: Real Zaragoza. Poor Zaragoza have yet to win a game in 2013. With 8 weeks left in the season, the battle to clear the relegation zone is going to get nasty.

Friday night, Real Betis visited Granada and thrashed them 5-1. Now Betis are level with Málaga on points thanks to the flurry of goals in the first half that Granada seemed to missing out on. Falcao also seems to have gone missing. Atlético drew 0-0 with Getafe and it’s been a while since the Colombian put on a performance quite like the ones from the first half of the season. Before I close out, make sure you watch the absolutely astounding golazo by Gonzalo Higuaín to open the scoring for Real Madrid against Levante. Here are the full results from the weekend.

Higuaín’s scissor was too pretty to not share

Friday:
Granada 1-5 Real Betis

Saturday:
Real Sociedad 4-2 Málaga
Real Madrid 5-1 Levante
Barcelona 5-0 Mallorca
Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 Real Zaragoza

Sunday:
Celta Vigo 0-2 Rayo Vallecano
Osasuna 0-2 Espanyol
Getafe 0-0 Atlético Madrid
Valencia 2-1 Valladolid

Monday:
Sevilla 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

The second leg of the Champions League is this week! Real Madrid shouldn’t have that much work to do in Turkey whereas Málaga will have to fight tooth and nail to get a positive results in Germany. Barcelona welcome PSG to the Camp Nou for what promises to be an fascinating game.

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com, realsociedad.com, and realmadrid.com. Check back with @AerysSoccer on Thursday for a round up the Champions League quarterfinals.

This was probably one of the most boring weekends in La Liga I’ve ever attempted to watch. Not much happened worth talking about but that’s hardly the league’s fault for a series of reason:

1. It was Easter weekend. Just an awkward time to have 4 matches scheduled for a Sunday usually reserved for church and family.
2. A round of World Cup 2014 qualifications happened last week. One of the highlight? The clash between France and Spain.
3. This week is Champions League!!! Enough said.

I mean, really, how can the usual round of league matches possibly live up to those standards of excitement when everyone’s minds were on last week and this week!

Rodri’s goal celebration against Real Madrid was the most exciting part of the weekend

The top 4 teams all drew in their respective matches. So no movement up top. The bottom 4 teams didn’t move positions either. Both Celta Vigo and Real Zaragoza drew in their matches. The bottom two, Mallorca and Deportivo La Coruña, played each other, but Depor’s win keeps them at the very bottom but only a point from Mallorca. There was a little shuffling in mid table but nothing drastic enough to be like WOW!

In all honestly, it was actually kind of nice to have the dull weekend to recuperate from the FIFA excitement and to prepare for some epic battles in the Champions League. Here are the results from the weekend:

Saturday:
Rayo Vallecano 1-3 Málaga
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona
Real Zaragoza 1-1 Real Madrid
Levante 1-0 Sevilla

Sunday:
Valladolid 1-3 Osasuna
Mallorca 2-3 Deportivo La Coruña
Espanyol 2-2 Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid 1-1 Valencia

Monday:
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Granada
Real Betis 0-0 Getafe

On Tuesday, Barcelona travels to Paris to take on the French giants PSG. I’m expecting this round to be fairly routine for Barça to get through, but it’s always fun to have an upset. Both Real Madrid and Málaga play on Wednesday. Real Madrid welcomes Galatasaray to the Bernabeú in hopes of getting everything done right from the start. Málaga has the monumental challenge of trying to overturn Borussia Dortmund. I’m super excited to see how this one turns out. It’ll be extremely difficult, but I think Málaga just might be able to pull it off!

Photo courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Tune in to @AerysSoccer for all your updates on the world of soccer!

This was probably one of the most boring weekends in La Liga I’ve ever attempted to watch. Not much happened worth talking about but that’s hardly the league’s fault for a series of reason:

1. It was Easter weekend. Just an awkward time to have 4 matches scheduled for a Sunday usually reserved for church and family.
2. A round of World Cup 2014 qualifications happened last week. One of the highlight? The clash between France and Spain.
3. This week is Champions League!!! Enough said.

I mean, really, how can the usual round of league matches possibly live up to those standards of excitement when everyone’s minds were on last week and this week!

Rodri’s goal celebration against Real Madrid was the most exciting part of the weekend

The top 4 teams all drew in their respective matches. So no movement up top. The bottom 4 teams didn’t move positions either. Both Celta Vigo and Real Zaragoza drew in their matches. The bottom two, Mallorca and Deportivo La Coruña, played each other, but Depor’s win keeps them at the very bottom but only a point from Mallorca. There was a little shuffling in mid table but nothing drastic enough to be like WOW!

In all honestly, it was actually kind of nice to have the dull weekend to recuperate from the FIFA excitement and to prepare for some epic battles in the Champions League. Here are the results from the weekend:

Saturday:
Rayo Vallecano 1-3 Málaga
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona
Real Zaragoza 1-1 Real Madrid
Levante 1-0 Sevilla

Sunday:
Valladolid 1-3 Osasuna
Mallorca 2-3 Deportivo La Coruña
Espanyol 2-2 Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid 1-1 Valencia

Monday:
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Granada
Real Betis 0-0 Getafe

On Tuesday, Barcelona travels to Paris to take on the French giants PSG. I’m expecting this round to be fairly routine for Barça to get through, but it’s always fun to have an upset. Both Real Madrid and Málaga play on Wednesday. Real Madrid welcomes Galatasaray to the Bernabeú in hopes of getting everything done right from the start. Málaga has the monumental challenge of trying to overturn Borussia Dortmund. I’m super excited to see how this one turns out. It’ll be extremely difficult, but I think Málaga just might be able to pull it off!

Photo courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Tune in to @AerysSoccer for all your updates on the world of soccer!

Waaay too much happened this weekend in La Liga for me to possibly given too much detail. So fasten your seat belts, because you’re in for one helluva ride!

Two Clásico wins in a row for Real Madrid

Starting off in chronological order, el Clásico stole the headlines again as Real Madrid beat Barcelona for the second time in five days. As usual, the match ended in huge controversy as Barça had a relatively clear penalty kick denied by the ref. While players swarmed the ref in anger, little significance could really be placed on the final minutes of the match as Barcelona only managed two shots on goal. Two. One of the most prolific scoring teams in the world only managed two shots on goal.

For Real Madrid, their second win against their rivals provided an extra mental/emotional boost as the team heads to England for the knockout game against Manchester United in the Champions League. With most of their starters rested, los blancos look primed and ready for the heavyweight match that the world will be watching.

Saturday ended with an exciting draw between Valencia and Levante. Valencia, now only one point off a Champions League spot, held the lead until the last minute when Barkero capitalized on a chance for Levante in the dying moments of the game. Several minutes of injury time were added on to the first half due to the ref needing several moments to recover after suffering an accidental challenge from Perreira. It was in these added minutes that Soldado produce an incredible physical feat for his goal:

But really…is a body supposed to move like that?!

Sunday’s matches saw Mallorca wins for the first time in ages. The most surprising part was the man in charge: Gregorio Manzano, the manager they fired last season! What?! Well congratulation to Mallorca who desperately needed this win to start their climb out of the relegation zone.

Crazy wild draw between teams fighting for European spot

Another thrilling draw ended in a 3-3 tie between 6th placed Real Sociedad and 7th placed Real Betis. These two teams attempted to duke it out for that last European spot, but la Real just managed to hold on. Betis were leading their rivals 2-0 after five minutes into the second half, but within 10 minutes Sociedad scored 3 goals in quick succession to grab the lead. However they couldn’t hold on to the advantage as one of Betis’s substitutes proved to be a difference maker. This match saw 5 goals in 20 minutes! Talk about a wild, wild match. Too bad they both couldn’t have walked away with 3 points.

Not everything was so entertaining in Spain this weekend. A series of incredibly boring draws balanced out all the excitement nicely. It was a bit puzzling to see a potentially electric clash between Málaga and Atlético Madrid fizzle out into a 0-0 draw. Sevilla made up for it a bit as they crushed Celta Vigo 4-1 on Monday night.

In case you lost track of all the goals, here are the full results from the weekend:

Friday:
Getafe 2-0 Real Zaragoza

Saturday:
Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
Deportivo La Coruña 0-0 Rayo Vallecano
Osasuna 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Valencia 2-2 Levante

Sunday:
Granada 1-2 Mallorca
Espanyol 0-0 Valladolid
Málaga 0-0 Atlético Madrid
Real Sociedad 3-3 Real Betis

Monday:
Sevilla 4-1 Celta Vigo

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Follow @AerysSoccer for updates on La Liga, MLS, EPL and the wonderful world of soccer!

Two epic showdowns, two remaining teams. After the two brilliant midweek matches, the final for the Copa del Rey is set: Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid. Now…where to begin?

Celebrations all around as los blancos win in the Camp Nou

Let’s start with el Clásico. If you’re a culé (Barça fan), then this game was pretty darn painful to watch. If you’re a madridista (like me), this game left you charged and ready to take on the world! The first leg of the semifinals ended in a 1-1 draw with goals from Cesc Fabregas and Rafael Varane. The last Clásico in the Camp Nou resulted in a 2-2 draw. Given the fact that their last two meetings ended in draws, it required a pretty special performance to win and progress to the final.

In the 13th minute, Real Madrid broke on yet another one of their lethal counterattacks only for Ronaldo to be tackled in the box by Pique. If the defender hadn’t taken down CR7, chances are the Portuguese striker would’ve still scored. Nevertheless, the ref awarded los blancos the penalty, Ronaldo sent Pinto flying the wrong direction, and Madrid were 1-0 up. Barça controlled play for a majority of the game, but had nothing to show for it. The best instance to describe how the game went for them was when the ref managed to get in the way and body block Messi from his run in the box. (For a more technical look at the game tactics, I highly suggest you check out Zonal Marking’s break down here.)

Real Madrid continued to compound their superiority as Khedira pinged a pass across the length of the field to Di Maria whose attempt on goal gifted Ronaldo the chance for his second goal. Then the newfound nightmare for Barça appeared for a soaring header to bring the score to 3-0. I’m referring to 19-year old Varane. The best part of the night happened a few minutes after his goal as he touched the part of his head the ball hit and slowly let a wide grin cover his face. Precious. Barça now have some serious questions to answer about their current run of form. After losing huge games to AC Milan and Madrid, critics are scrutinizing the inconsistency in coaching, February exhaustion, and poor tactical choices.

Man of the Match Diego Costa carries Atleti to the final

The other semifinal clash ended in a 2-2 draw between Sevilla and Atlético Madrid. The first leg ended in a 2-1 win for the home team Atleti. Yesterday in Andalusia, the loss came down mostly to Sevilla’s mistakes. Brilliant work from Diego Costa and Falcao put Atleti 2-0 up inside 30 minutes. By halftime, Jesús Navas had given the home side a ray of hope by bringing the score to 2-1. Unfortunately for Sevilla, everything collapsed for them in the second half.

I have never ever seen a ref take back a card once given, so if the ref shows you a yellow, it’s usually the smarter choice to say thank you and walk away while thinking mean thoughts in your head where no one else can hear you. Voicing your displeasure leads to situations like the one Medel found himself in as he collected his second yellow and consequent red card for arguing the first yellow. Then quite unbelievably Sevilla scored again in the first minute of injury time bringing the aggregate score to 4-3 in favor of Atleti. Not bad for a team playing a man down. If Sevilla could somehow manage to get the luckiest goal ever, the game would proceed to extra time. But no. Kondogbia decided to be a genius and stomped on Diego Costa and was rightly shown a straight red and effectively ending the match.

So congratulations to Atlético to holding on to their lead over the two legs and proceeding to the final. Congratulations to Real Madrid for their magnificent performance in Barcelona.

Now all we have to do it wait to find out where the final will actually be held.

Photos courtesy of realmadrid.com and LigaBBVA.com. Keep checkin’ in on @AerysSoccer for frequent updates on the always exciting, ever changing world of soccer.

Friday night marked the emotional end of an era. Athletic Bilbao hosted Basque rival Real Sociedad for the final derby in the San Mamés, aka la Catedral.

Emotional atmosphere at the final Basque derby in La Catedral.

In a highly charged clash, scoring opened on a brilliant goal by Athletic players Aurtenetxe and Gomez, but was level by the halftime break. Then everything went down hill for the home fans. The rivals Real Sociedad, or la Real, had not won in the storied stadium since 2001. If there was ever a game where everything for both teams was on the line, this was it. Athletic keep teetering ever closer to the relegation zone. Only one player on the Real Sociedad 25-man squad had ever won in the San Mamés. For Athletic Bilbao, a win in the last Basque derby would’ve given them a moral boost and a show of pride on their grounds. For la Real, this was their last chance to defeat their rivals and continue their rise up the table, which they were able to pull off.

Now Athletic are in 16th, only 3 points of the drop zone. Real Sociedad have reached a European spot. La Catedral is full of history but will leave the Athletic fans with a bad taste in their mouths following their defeat in the derby. The San Mamés is more than just a football stadium. The new stadium is located in a rather surprising area: right next door. Hopefully for Athletic the dawn of their new stadium will also mark a turn around for one of the three teams to never be relegated from the Primera Division (the other two being Barcelona and Real Madrid).

Valencia draws with Zaragoza after being 2-0 down.

Another team floating near the relegation zone let a chance to distance themselves from the bottom few slip away in the dying minutes of their match from the weekend. Real Zaragoza managed to grab a 2-0 lead over Valencia in almost 30 minutes. By the time the game was drawing to an end, Valencia had tied it up. Then in the last couple seconds, chaos happened. Zaragoza somehow scrambled the ball over the line and into the back of the net, but alas(!) a fouled was called on Diego Alves, the Valencia goalkeeper, and the winning goal recalled. Such a disappointing end for Zaragoza who should have held on to the glorious lead they started with. What a crazy, crazy game.

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona scrapped 2-1 wins over the weekend in preparation for their mighty clash in the Copa del Rey. And just in case you didn’t know, Real Madrid decided it was a great idea to collect yet another red card, courtesy of Di María. (Oh, and he managed to get two yellows in around 20 seconds. Try and beat that Sergio Ramos!) Congrats to Real Betis who steamrolled Málaga 3-0. Not entirely sure what happened to the team that beat Real Madrid and fought beautifully against Barcelona in several thrillers, but maybe Málaga’s grueling schedule is starting to catch up with them. Here are the full results from the weekend:

Friday:
Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Real Sociedad

Saturday:
Mallorca 1-3 Getafe
Real Zaragoza 2-2 Valencia
Deportivo La Coruña 1-2 Real Madrid
Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla

Sunday:
Rayo Vallecano 1-2 Valladolid
Celta Vigo 2-1 Granada
Atlético Madrid 1-0 Espanyol
Real Betis 3-0 Málaga

Monday:
Levante 0-2 Osasuna

Coming up soon: a close look at what’s happened over the past couple day in the Copa del Rey!

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Check in with @AerysSoccer for daily updates on the wonderful world of soccer.

Sorry for missing my post last week folks! Life decided to get a bit too crazy to handle. But I’m back and bringing you the news from La Liga!

Yet another miserable weekend for Deportivo leaves the club in crisis

Some of the biggest happenings from Spain this weekend involved Deportivo La Coruña, who suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss at home to Granada. As a result, their manager has resigned. He’d been with the club for only a month and a half. His tenure did not bring new hope to a worrying first half of the season; since the start of the new year, Depor have lost all of their games home and away. It’s quite demoralizing to see a team which won the league title in 2000 to fall so far. If their first season back in the Primera Division, Depor have only won 3 games.

The outing this weekend went from bad to worse with little room for hope. An own goal by defender Carlos Marchena gave Granada the lead just before half time. After the break, the home team looked unsettled and nervous as sloppy play led to numerous missed opportunities and Granada’s second goal. The final straw came during injury time as a harsh tackle in the box produced a penalty. If that wasn’t hard enough, offender Manuel Pablo was sent off with a straight red for dissent, insulting and, in general, taking out his anger on the ref. Barring a complete collapse of any of the other teams above them, Depor look sure to return to the Segunda at the end of the season.

Athletic Bilbao also had a weekend they’d rather forget as they were pummeled at home by Espanyol who continue to grow stronger with each game. With once-prized striker Llorente in a bit of limbo until the summer when he moves to Juventus, Athletic are yet again looking for answers to the uncertainty that has plagued them all season.

Rayo Vallecano beat Atlético Madrid decisively in Vallecas in front of a crowd that only filled a third of their stadium. A third of the stadium. This was a Madrid derby and yet Rayo’s fans couldn’t be bothered to come out to see one of the most entertaining teams in the league take down 2nd place Atleti (who by the way are starting to show signs of weakness in their away form). Barcelona and Real Madrid both had easy wins over their opposition as both look to the return of the Champions League. Here are the full results from the weekend:

Barça’s first noon fixture in years to celebrate the Chinese New Year

Saturday:
Mallorca 1-1 Osasuna
Celta Vigo 0-1 Valencia
Levante 1-2 Málaga
Deportivo La Coruña 0-3 Granada
Real Madrid 4-1 Sevilla

Sunday:
Barcelona 6-1 Getafe
Real Zaragoza 1-2 Real Sociedad
Athletic Bilbao 0-4 Espanyol
Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Atlético Madrid

Monday:
Real Betis 0-0 Valladolid

Champions League play is back!! We’ve got some heavyweight matches this week and next as Real Madrid face Manchester United and Barcelona take on Italian rivals AC Milan. Málaga meet reigning Portuguese champs Porto and Valencia clash with PSG and the beloved David Beckham.

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Tune into @AerysSoccer for daily updates on the world of soccer!

A glorious team effort pulled Barça clear of Málaga in closing minutes of the match

The game looked inevitably headed to extra time with just under 15 minutes left and scoreline tied at 2-2. Both teams were going for the win, neither wanting to be eliminated. The third meeting between Barcelona and Málaga was always going to be epic given the nature of the first two clashes, Barça’s unstoppable attacking force, and Málaga’s immovable defense. But which way was the tie going to go?

It took sheer brilliance from Fabregas and Iniesta to give Barça the winning edge in the 77th minute. Fresh off their loss from the weekend, the blaugranas clearly were looking to turn things around. The first half of the match was a flurry of activity with a goal each within 4 minutes of each other, 5 yellow cards, and fouls raining down. The game looked dead even going into the halftime break.

At the start of the second half, both teams looked exhausted. However it picked up quickly again as Pique headed up the go ahead goal which took Málaga 20 minutes to respond to. In the end, Barcelona’s passing genius overran the solid defense and gave them a win on the 6-4 aggregate. Such a brilliant match and it’s a shame to see Málaga eliminated, but only one could survive.

The other quarterfinals were not quite as epic. Sevilla steamrolled Real Zaragoza after leaving the first leg as a dull 0-0 draw. Real Betis had only one goal over the two legs which came as a 90′ penalty kick. Atleti’s strong performance in the first leg was well enough to carry them past the 1-1 draw from this week onto the semifinals where they will face Sevilla. Valencia and Real Madrid met for their third clash with a bucket of drama to accompany them.

Though the game ended a 1-1 draw, the game saw Iker Casillas subbed off due to injury while los blancos ended the game with only 9 men thanks to red cards for Di María and Coentrão. Valencia, who collected 5 yellow cards themselves, played without captain Roberto Soldado and several members of their defense. All in all, it wasn’t that pretty of a game. Here are the full results from the quarterfinals:

Tuesday:
Valencia 1-1 Real Madrid
Sevilla 4-0 Real Zaragoza

Thursday:
Málaga 2-4 Barcelona
Real Betis 1-1 Atlético Madrid

The semifinals pitch Atlético Madrid against Sevilla and provide a semifinal El Clásico for the second year in a row. This creates a bit of a nervy situation for the Madridistas out there as they see their team juggle 3 games against Barcelona and 2 against Manchester United in the Champions League without Casillas who will be out for 3 months due to a broken thumb. Ouch! Across the city however, excitement thrums for the Atleti fans who hope to see their team in yet another final with the possibility of yet another trophy.

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Look for more stories from the world of soccer on @AerysSoccer.

Oh where to start?! So many good stories from the weekend, but my favorite is definitely Real Madrid’s 5-0 thrashing of Valencia (if you’re a Valencia fan, I am so sorry).

Real Madrid are flying high again

The Madrid team that showed up Sunday were unstoppable. They were the lethal counter-attacking team that ran riot in the league last year. The first goal was classic Real Madrid: it started as a Valencia corner headed away to Ozïl who spun away and ran downfield, delivered a stunning pass to Di María who then slotted it over to Gonzalo Higuaín who tapped the ball into the net. One second it was Valencia’s potential to score and, in the blink of an eye, Diego Alves is picking the ball out of his net.

The next four goals were all scored in the last 10 minutes of the first half. The speed with which Madrid moved was dizzying. With a brace of goals from both Ronaldo and Di María, my favorite was the fourth, aka the team goal. Higuaín, Di Ma, Ozïl and Ronaldo (scorer) all had one touch leading up to the goal. It looked more like table tennis *ping* *ping* *ping* all over Valencia’s box.

If Madrid have found their old form, they could win the Champions League, I think. Sid Lowe (La Liga correspondent for the Guardian) said on twitter if Real Madrid win the CL, the turning point in the season would’ve been Mourinho benching Casillas……..but it’s just a theory.

Bad luck for Barça who made it to Week 20 without a loss

The big news from Saturday: Barcelona’s first loss! *gasp* So much for my prediction that they’d go all season unbeaten. And it was Real Sociedad who beat them! For some reason, history shows that Barça always has problems playing at the Anoeta. Gerard Pique was sent off for two yellows (silly cards, but deserved), and left his team down a man to the team that almost managed to beat a 10-man Real Madrid in the Bernabéu. Mascherano also didn’t help the situation with an own goal. After the game, Messi was quoted saying “well it had to happen eventually” (that’s the gist at least).

Two other quick stories from the weekend: Falcao will be out for about three weeks with an injured hamstring. Usually, one would expect this to shake Atléti, but not this year. They will carry on with strength and await his return. At the other end of the table, Espanyol struggled to clear the relegation zone for most of the first half of the season. Then they fired Pochettino (who now manages Southampton in the Premier League) and brought in Javier Aguirre. Since his hiring in early December, they’ve started winning games and are now four points clear of the drop zone! Here are the results:

Friday:
Espanyol 3-2 Mallorca

Saturday:
Granada 2-0 Rayo Vallecano
Getafe 1-1 Sevilla
Real Sociedad 3-2 Barcelona
Málaga 1-1 Celta Vigo

Sunday:
Osasuna 2-1 Deportivo La Coruña
Valladolid 2-0 Real Zaragoza
Valencia 0-5 Real Madrid
Atlético Madrid 2-0 Levante

Monday:
Real Betis 1-1 Athletic Bilbao

The Copa del Rey is back in the midweek with the third of three clashes between Real Madrid-Valencia and Barça-Málaga. Who will win the deadlock between Sevilla and Real Zaragoza? Will Real Betis be able to overcome their deficit and beat Atlético Madrid?

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com and Real Madrid. Tune in to @AerysSoccer for continuous updates on the world of soccer!