It feel good to win in someone else’s house.

It only took about 10 minutes for Atlético Madrid to jumpstart their domination of Valladolid in the Nuevo Jose Zorilla Stadium. After suffering a shameful defeat at home in the midweek Europa League fixture, Atleti looked to turn their current trend around with a sound 3-0 win.

Valladolid managed absolutely zero shots on goal. Zilch! Atleti, strengthened by the return of Diego Costa from his two game suspension, put on an impressive display netting 3 goals by Falcao, Costa and Cristian Rodriguez. This win will certainly provide a spark to boost Atleti in their upcoming matches as they had not won an away game since November and had only managed to win 2 of their last 6 games. If they want to hang on to their placed behind the league leaders Barça, they’ll need to carry this strong form on to their next games.

The other game that caught my eye this weekend was the Real Madrid – Rayo Vallecano match in the Santiago Bernabeu and what a strange game it was! Youth team product Álvaro Morata opened the scoring for Real Madrid within two and a half minutes. This was also his first start for the first team. The second goal for los blancos came from Sergio Ramos, who managed to head the ball into the back of the net even though a he had a defender clinging to his back as if asking for a piggy back ride.

Ramos: is he worth the trouble?

Then the game got really strange. I don’t remember the last time I watched a game with such a card-happy referee. It all started with Ramos who managed to receive two yellows within one (maybe two) minutes. There were 8 cards handed out by the hour mark. It was a bit surprising by the end of the game that only one player was sent off the field.

The other hilarious aspect of the game was Rayo’s coach. Paco Jémez was suspended (for some reason unbeknownst to me) and therefore had to sit in the box behind a wall of glass. By the end of the game, I’m not sure he could see out of it anymore since he had covered it with hand prints from consistent hits. Then it appeared Paco was on the phone with his assistant coach (who was down on the field) and yelling at the poor man for his decisions. Thankfully for the glass, Paco didn’t manage to break free of his containment, haha!

Other stories from the weekend include Granada holding their own against Barcelona. The league leaders barely managed to get away with a 2-1 win. Real Sociedad also has had a good run of form, and now they’re sitting happily in a European spot once held by Rayo. Mallorca on the other hand are still falling hard including their most recent defeat at the hands of Valencia. Here are the full results from the weekend:

Friday:
Sevilla 3-1 Deportivo La Coruña

Saturday:
Getafe 3-1 Celta Vigo
Málaga 1-0 Athletic Bilbao
Granada 1-2 Barcelona
Osasuna 1-0 Real Zaragoza

Sunday:
Real Sociedad 1-1 Levante
Valencia 2-0 Mallorca
Valladolid 0-3 Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid 2-0 Rayo Vallecano
Espanyol 1-0 Real Betis

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. Tune into @AerysSoccer for 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!

Barça are on track for a record breaking season as they finish the first half unbeaten.

I knew it! I told you so! The Málaga-Barcelona game was incredible. Both teams brought their A-game and what a spectacle it was!

It was always a far off chance that Málaga would be able to beat Barcelona. Nevertheless, Málaga came out strong and matched Barça attack for attack, each side looking equally likely to score first. Demichelis, Isco, Buonanotte, Eliseu and Willy Caballero all had a fantastic game for Málaga, but their heroics were no match for the brilliance produced by Iniesta, Busquets, Messi, and Xavi. The speed at which they pinged the ball around the field was jaw-dropping. Willy Caballero made sure the scoreline stayed even. That was until Messi snuck up on the defense and stole a pass to Caballero and, with a quick feint sending Willy in the wrong direction, scored into the gaping net.

Considering Barça’s smothering dominance, the game went into the halftime break with a 1-0 scoreline. Unfortunately for Málaga, further brilliance from Fabregas and Thiago Alcântara put the game beyond their reach. Buonanotte put a stunning free kick into Victor Valdes’s to give his team a bit of pride. What a performance.

Down at the other end of the table, last-placed Osasuna managed to hold Real Madrid to a disappointing, ugly 0-0 draw that saw Kaká make an appearance after several months on the bench only to be sent off with two yellows after 17 minutes. Mallorca, also strugglingly heavily, fell away 3-1 to Valladolid. After a wonderful start to their season, Mallorca hit a long-lasting period of bad luck and poor form to drop them into the relegation zone.

Valencia received a boost after defeating Sevilla 2-0 at home. However, this season’s Valencia-Sevilla city rivalry hasn’t focused on Valencia and Sevilla; instead it’s Real Betis in Sevilla and Levante in Valencia who have produced the better results so far this season. Sevilla now sit in 12th place with only 19 points. The club’s directors have had enough with the poor showing, fired the manager, and brought in Unai Emery (formally of Valencia) to turn their season around.

To wrap it up, Rayo Vallecano pulled off another incredible win beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in San Mames. The tiny team from Madrid now sits in a European spot, even on points with Málaga. Truly inspiring. Here are the rest of the results from the weekend:

Once flying high with success, now struggling to escape the relegation zone.

Friday:
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Rayo Vallecano

Saturday:
Osasuna 0-0 Real Madrid
Valladolid 3-1 Mallorca
Espanyol 1-0 Celta Vigo
Valencia 2-0 Sevilla

Sunday:
Málaga 1-3 Barcelona
Real Betis 2-0 Levante
Real Sociedad 1-1 Deportivo La Coruña
Atlético Madrid 2-0 Real Zaragoza

Monday:
Getafe 2-2 Granada

The quarterfinals for the Copa del Rey kick off this midweek. Málaga travels to the Camp Nou to take on Barcelona again as Madrid and Valencia start their 3-match duel. These two games could quite possibly lead to an El Clásico for the semifinals yet again. On the other side, Sevilla travels to Zaragoza as Real Betis attempts to win in the Vincente Calderon where Atlético Madrid has been so lethal this season.

Wow what a week in Spain! My head is still reeling from all the happenings.

And another record bites the dust

Starting off last weekend, Lionel Messi finally broke Gerd Müller’s 40-year record of most goals scored in a calendar year against Real Betis: 85 goals. Then he surpassed it. On Wednesday in the Copa del Rey, he added on to his total. He said he wanted to make it harder for the next person to break. He may very well succeed in that goal since he still has a few games left until the end of the year. But Messi wasn’t the only profligate scorer in Spain.

Radamel Falcao. I cannot stress enough how important this player has become this season. Last season, we knew he was good. This season, he’s showing us how good he is and can be. On Sunday, Falcao had a total of five shots against Deportivo La Coruña. All five shots went in. That’s 100% efficiency from the Colombian. Wow! After the game, he said it was one of the greatest days of his life. Diego Costa also scored for Atlético Madrid, but no one could see anything other than Falcao’s fantastic five.

The fantastic five

On the other hand, Real Madrid aren’t doing so hot. First they lost away to Real Betis 1-0 then came back the next week in the Madrid Derby to beat Atlético 2-0. Last week, Los Blancos had to fight tooth and nail, throwing on all their attacking power, with only Pepe and Xabi Alonso defending, to beat Valladolid 3-2. On Tuesday, Celta Vigo beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the Copa del Rey midweek fixture.

What happened to the record-setting, invincible Real Madrid from last year?! The 2011-12 Real Madrid team would obliterate teams away from home and in the Santiago Bernabéu. Now they’re losing 2-0 to a team ranked 15th in the league. It’s probably just a tad hysterical to be saying #RealMadridinCrisis, but it’s kind of how I’m feeling. Kaká’s still sitting on the bench…maybe bring him on to solve some problems? Maybe Higuaín just needs to heal faster to provide some extra attacking spark? Or possibly keeping the team so similar to last year has dulled the ambition of the team overall?

Barcelona, on the other hand, are continuing their incredible unbeaten record in league play. This weekend they take on Atlético Madrid. While the Madrid Derby was a bit of a let down in terms of exciting play, maybe this fixture will make up for it. Real Betis put up on hell of a fight last weekend, and Barça only just got away with a 2-1 win. Can Atlético pull off the impossible with goal-addicted Falcao at the helm?

The most surprising thing I saw over the weekend fixtures came from Rayo Vallecano where the fans protested rising ticket prices, Monday night matches, and the handling of their club in general:

Rayo’s fans show strong protest through empty stands

In other news, Valencia fired Pellegrino after a disappointing start to the season and registered their first win against Osasuna under their new manager Valverde. I wonder if the owners are rethinking their decision to fire Unai Emery who kept Valencia in 3rd for so long. Mallorca went from a great start to their season to a horrible string of losses. They need to figure out what the problem is soon in order to turn their season around. Here are the full results from league fixtures and the Copa del Rey:

Friday:
Espanyol 2-2 Sevilla

Saturday:
Real Sociedad 1-1 Getafe
Málaga 4-0 Granada
Real Valladolid 2-3 Real Madrid
Osasuna 0-1 Valencia

Sunday:
Levante 4-0 Mallorca
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Celta Vigo
Atlético Madrid 6-0 Deportivo La Coruña
Real Betis 1-2 Barcelona

Monday:
Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Real Zaragoza

Tuesday:
Osasuna 0-2 Valencia

Wednesday:
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Eibar
Cordoba 0-2 Barcelona
Mallorca 0-5 Sevilla
Atlético Madrid 3-0 Getafe
Celta Vigo 2-0 Real Madrid

Photos courtesy of LigaBBVA.com. 

El Guaje demonstrates the frustrations of his team

 Midweek UEFA fixtures saw some pretty tough battles for both Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In the Champions League, Madrid managed to come away with a narrow 3-2 victory after about 68 minutes of dullness against Manchester City. The match ended in a whirlwind of goals. Málaga, on the other hand, easily dispatched Zenit 3-0 in La Rosaleda. The convincing win was particularly satisfying given their crazy offseason with debt problems and players leaving.

Barcelona managed to scrape a win 3-2 at home against Spartak Moskva after losing Piqué early on to injury and an atrocious own-goal by Dani Alves. (Please watch it if you haven’t already. Painful if you’re a Barça fan, but kinda entertaining if you’re not.) Valencia went down early away against Bayern Munich, but managed to come away with one goal against the home team in the 2-1 loss.

In the Europa League, Athlético Madrid easily won 3-0 over Hapoel Tel Aviv, Athletic Bilbao fought to a 1-1 draw with H. Kiryat Shmona, and Levante beat Helsingborg 1-0. I’m not surprised Athlético won 3-0 away; they’ve been on fire lately. Athletic disappointed me though. They played at home in the San Memes against the little known Israeli side (meaning I’ve never heard of them before), and could only manage a draw. Even bringing on Fernando Llorente early in the second half didn’t give them enough of a spark to win.

Champions League Results:
Málaga 3-0 Zenit
Real
Madrid 3-2 Manchester City
Bayern Munich 2-1 Valencia
Barcelona 3-2 Spartak Moskva

Europa League Results:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0-3 Atlético Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 H. Kiryat Shmona
Levante 1-0 Helsingborg

Week 5 of La Liga was rather quiet in terms of results, without any huge upsets. Mallorca is still winning and ranked 2nd while Valencia sits deep in the table at 15th followed closely by Athletic in 16th. Newcomers to the top flight Deportivo and Celta aren’t doing too badly at 10th and 11th. The most talked about games of the weekend, of course, come from Barça and Real Madrid.

On Saturday, it took a moment of brilliance from Xavi in the 86th minute for the Catalans to finally score against Granada, who had looked the most likely to score for a better part of the game. Toño (Granada’s goalkeeper) had one hell of a game, making one incredible save after another. Even though Barcelona keep winning, they’re not winning well or convincingly, showing signs of frustration on the pitch. Nevertheless, a win is a win.

Which is probably also what Real Madrid thought Monday night at Vallecas after their win against Rayo Vallecano. The match was originally scheduled for Sunday night, but the cables to the floodlights in the stadium were cut and the game was pushed to Monday. Why or by whom is unclear, but sources speculate it was done in protest to the raise in prices at the Vallecas stadium. Weird stuff, I know. The game wasn’t as comfortable a win as Madrid would’ve liked as Rayo continued to attack even when they were two goals down. Casillas, and even Xabi at one point, had to come up with some pretty awesome saves to keep Rayo off the scoreboard.

Point of interest: right now at this early stage in the season, the race for the Pichichi award looks like a battle between Messi and Falcao, with 6 and 5 goals, respectively. (Ronaldo only has 3 goals so far.)

Saturday’s Results:
Real Zaragoza 3-1 Osasuna
Celta Vigo 2-1 Getafe
Real Betis 1-0 Espanyol
Barcelona 2-0 Granada

Sunday’s Results:
Mallorca 2-0 Valencia
Levante 2-1 Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Valladolid
Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Málaga

Monday’s Results:
Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Real Madrid
Deportivo La Coruña 0-2 Sevilla

*Photo credit: LigaBBVA

There’s about as much craziness in this picture as there was in the goal-packed game between Athletico Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano.

Two games  Sunday enjoyed an insane amount of goals: Espanyol tied 3-3 with Athletic Bilbao and Athletico Madrid managed to hang on to a 4-3 win against Rayo Vallecano.

Fernando Llorente marked his return to Athletic with a goal two minutes after he entered off the bench. The game in Cornella-El Prat, Barcelona, went back and forth between Espanyol scoring and Athletic answering every time, though neither team could come up with a game-winning goal. Later in the day at the Vincente Calderón, Athletico poured on the goals against Rayo, scoring three within seven minutes after coming back on after halftime.Athletico’s four goal seemed to go unanswered by Rayo until the last ten minutes when Rayo in desperation managed to put three goals in the net in a flurry.

On Saturday, Barcelona defeated Getafe 4-1 with Messi starting the game in an unusual position: on the bench. Tito Villanova allowed the star to rest after the international break. Nevertheless, Messi came on and scored twice, once from a penalty kick. David Villa also scored his third since returning from his injury last December.

On the opposite end of the scoring spectrum, Real Madrid continue their worst start to a season with a 1-0 loss to Sevilla. For more about the frustration in Madrid, read Aerys Soccer’s Tamara Reinhart’s review here.

In other news, Málaga kept their unbeaten streak alive with a win over Levante, Valencia get their first win of the season over newly promoted Celta Vigo, and Real Zaragoza put up little fight in their defeat to Real Sociedad. Barça leads the table with 8 points, followed by Málaga, Mallorca, and Sevilla. Granada, Espanyol, and Osasuna go into the Champions League break still looking for their first wins of the season.

As this week starts the Champions League group play, we’ll see Real Madrid try to find a winning performance against Manchester City while Málaga take on FC Zenit St. Petersburg. Barcelona face Spartak Moskva while Valencia are tested against Bayern Munich.

¡Hasta luego!

Results for Week 4:

Málaga 3-1 Levante

Valencia 2-1 Celta Vigo

Getafe 1-4 Barcelona

Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid

Espanyol 3-3 Athletic Bilbao

Granada 1-1 Deportivo La Coruña

Osasuna 1-1 Mallorca

Real Sociedad 2-0 Real Zaragoza

Athletico Madrid 4-3 Rayo Vallecano

Photo courtsey of LigaBBVA.com

Did you know that more Americans are watching top international soccer matches than ever before?  Yes, it WAS rhetorical and also not surprising to football fanatics like us, but it’s good for those less passionate or informed Americans to know – so spread the word!   Besides that remarkable data, today’s Daily Kick Around is chock-full of soccer news for your mid-week fix.  Headlines include Fabrice Muamba’s return to Reebok Stadium, a new head coach named for England and so much more.  Get over your Wednesday hump and read on for the exciting soccer news of the day.

English Premier League

A warm welcome back to Fabrice Muamba, who will attend his first Premier League event since his cardiac arrest occurred March 17.  The Bolton midfielder has made a remarkably quick recovery but is uncertain about his football career at this time.  We’ve missed you!

EPL Results

Liverpool 0 – 1 Fulham

Stoke City 1 – 1 Everton

Everton fans were hoping for a win last night, but a single point is still satisfying considering Liverpool lost to Fulham on the same night.  Everton is currently in seventh place, only three points above their Merseyside rivals with only two weeks left in the season.  Everton may well finish above the 18-time champions for the first time.  Dig it out to the end Toffees!

Today’s EPL Fixtures

Chelsea v New Castle United

Bolton v Tottenham

The Football Association made a surprising announcement today.  They named West Brom manager Gary Hodgeson as the new manager for England on a four-year contract.  Most people predicted Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp would get the job, but the FA insisted Hodgeson was their first choice.

This year, more US television viewers tuned in to the highest level of football than last year.  Both Champions League semi-final matches and Monday’s Manchester Derby averaged over a million viewers, up 29% from 2011.  American’s have been a bit slow to embrace the sport with the same passion as the rest of the world, but this is a good sign in the right direction.

Serie A

Last night’s win over Palermo puts Napoli firmly into the third place position in the Italian league and gives them the final Champions League berth.  Their 2-0 victory broke a four-way tie and gives them the opportunity to return to Europe’s top competition next season after a stellar performance this year.

La Liga Results

Getafe 1 – 1 Santander

Granada 2 – 1 Espanyol

Gijon 2 – 3 Villareal

Tonight’s La Liga Fixtures

Atletico v Sociedad

Barcelona v Malaga

Mallorca v Vallecana

Zaragoza v Levante

Sevilla v Betis

A Bilbao v Real Madrid

Valencia v Osasuna

It’s that time again folks! Late Night Liga is upon you! Okay, so it’s not really ‘late’ but I couldn’t help myself, so many things to discuss!

First off, not much of a change in league standings since our last post late Friday, however, Real Madrid and Barcelona are still racing for the title. Who would’ve thunk it? Both clubs played their most important matches Saturday with positive outcomes.

Sporting Gijon visited Real Madrid at the Bernabéu and left disappointed. I can honestly say, as a Madrid supporter, I was insanely nervous to see how we performed. Real’s defense was shaky with no help from Álvaro Arbeloa, who spent most of the match with a confused look on his face. Luckily, Sergio Ramos assisted in Real’s first goal as Gonzalo Higuaín knocked the ball past Gijon’s keeper in the 37th minute. For Gijon, Cuevas scored off a penalty in the 30th giving them their only goal.

The holy trinity of Real Madrid scored one goal each. Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo in the 74th and the Frenchie Karim Benzema in the 84th minute. Both Ronaldo and Benzema were voted as Men of the Match for their fantastic (and title saving) performance on the pitch. We’re leaders for another week!

Now for Barcelona; they faced a tough Levante club at the Cuidad de Valencia. Scoring opened when Levante’s Jose Barkero scored off a penalty in the 23rd. After that, it was a long road to recovery for the Catalans, who could feel their four-point gap from Real Madrid widen. But in true Barcelona fashion, King Messi saved his club with a comeback goal in 64th minute and scoring his fifth penalty in 5 matches in the 72nd, giving Barcelona a 2-1 victory.

While on the topic of both Real Madrid and Barcelona, they enter the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals this week. Real Madrid face Bayern Munich Tuesday, April 17th. Bayern, who have been one of the top clubs in the Champions League, are looking to break down Real Madrid. This match-up is definitely one to watch next week.

Barcelona faces Chelsea FC Wednesday, April 18th. Most people would likely pull Barcelona as the victors in this match-up but if you caught today’s FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea-Tottenham, you might have to re-think your assumption. When put on the spot, Chelsea can perform.

Moving on, today’s La Liga matches were pretty bland.

Espanyol beat Valencia 4-nil and recorded their first win in 6 matches. Cristian Gómez broke open the scoring from a cut-back from Sergio Garcia in the 26th. Four minutes later, Verdú added a second goal with a shot right outside the box. Beautiful.

Álvaro Vásquez was subbed into the match just after the half to score a goal in the 58th. Espanyol’s fourth and final goal came from Kalu Uche in the 80th which gave Mauricio Pochettino’s side a total of 45 points, just behind Osasuna. Valencia failed in their two-point advantage over Málaga in the battle for Champions League football next season.

Málaga 1-1 Real Sociedad

Real Betis 1-0 Osasuna

Real Zaragoza 1-0 Granada

Villarreal 1-1 Racing Santander

Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Mallorca

Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Atlético Madrid

On Monday, Getafe will host Sevilla FC.

This week is what I like to call as:

Stay tuned later in the week, either Thursday or Friday, for a very special edition of Road to El Clasico. All Clasicos are important, but this week’s Clasico April 21st is very pivotal for both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, as it could be the deciding factor on which club will raise the cup May 13th.

FUN FACT: Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi set a record-breaking tally with 41 goals each this season. I think it’s safe to say, these two are the best in the world? Probably.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest!

Welcome back fútbol fans! This past week of La Liga has been a crazy one with matches Monday-Thursday!

Current standings for the 2-12-2013 campaign are as follows:

On Monday, Málaga beat Racing Santander 3-nil with goals from Santi Cazorla, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Isco. Málaga, who were almost relegated last season, has improved tremendous amounts and will begin the weekend sitting at 4th.

Barca faced Getafe, a club who they lost to earlier in the season, came up on top as they scored 4-nil at the Nou camp with Alexis Sánchez rounding out with two goals. Barcelona are still within a 4-point reach of current leaders Real Madrid, with only 6 matches left of the season and a huge El Clasico coming up next Saturday.

Espanyol lost 2-nil to Osasuna while Real Sociedad and Real Betis drew at 1-1.

Wednesday was a whole different ballgame as all four matches were very entertaining to watch. First on the list was Atlético Madrid – Real Madrid in El Derbi Madrileño. It was a do or die match for Real, who could have seen their title hopes fall out of place. Falcao scored the lone goal for Atléti off a header from Adrian Lopez in the 55′, but it was Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo who made headlines with his 7th hattrick of the season. José Callejón scored their 4th goal minutes after Ronnie’s penalty kick.

Valencia proved why they’re sitting in 3rd after a 4-1 victory against Rayo Vallecano at the Mestalla. After a couple rough weeks, plagued with bad form, Valencia opened up the scoring in the 41′ by Jonas. Jordi Alba, Pablo and another goal by Jonas gave Valencia their win. Diego Costa fired low into the corner giving Rayo their only goal.

Granada drew with Athletic Bilbao 2-2 and Sporting Gijon beat Levante 3-2.

Thursday was another high-scoring day of fútbol as Sevilla sank Zaragoza at home with 3 goals, two from Álvaro Negredo and one from Federico Fazio. Santander lost to Mallorca 3-nil while Villarreal beat Málaga 2-1.

This weekend is another busy one for the players. Real Madrid face Sporting Gijon at the Bernabéu, hoping to pull off a victory. The whites can’t afford to be down ANY points. If Madrid grasp a victory but lose during El Clasico, they’ll still be Liga leaders, even if it’s by one point.

Levante play Barcelona Saturday as well and that match will be broadcasted on ESPN3.com at 4 p.m. ET. Levante have had a fantastic season so they’ll give Barca a little difficulty at the Ciudad de Valencia.

On Sunday, all the other clubs face off with the televised matches being Espanyol – Valencia on ESPN Deportes at 6 a.m. ET and Rayo Vallecano playing Athletic Bilbao on ESPN Deportes at 3:30 p.m. ET.

On Monday Getafe will play Sevilla at the Coliseum Afonso Perez which is a must-watch match as Getafe’s defense are a perfect match for Sevilla’s fast offense.

Ever wondered how Messi & Ronaldo match up? Just check out this video for some interesting statistics!

http://youtu.be/2SiOoiPc03Y

In other news around Liga, Villarreal took a huge blow today as Giuseppe Rossi tore his ACL in training. Rossi, who was on his way back to a good form after suffering an injury in October, will miss Euro 2012 for Italy who were to face Spain in the tournament opener.

We have an update on Barca defender Eric Abidal, who underwent a liver transplant Tuesday. Barca manager, Pep Guardiola (King of the Skinny Ties) stated that the French international was recovering well and that everything is going as planned. It’s unlikely he will return this season, let alone represent France in Euro, but we all wish his a fast recovery!

Twitter is a pretty interesting place to find weird news. Today I noticed a hashtag called #footballermovies. Some of my favorite La Liga inspired ones are ‘Guti & The Beast,’ ‘Lionel King,’ ‘Cesc & The City,’ ‘One Flew Over the Kaka’s Nest,’ ‘Xavitar,’ and ‘Don’t Messi With The Zlatan.’

Bienvenidos! Welcome futbol fans! We ladies at Aerys Soccer love to mix things up when it comes to our soccer coverage so we’re introducing a weekly segment: Late Night Liga. Having a busy weekend where it’s impossible to catch a match or results from the Spanish Primera Division? Lucky for you, Late Night Liga is one way to catch up on all the Liga news, rumors & recaps! Let’s get this first week going, shall we?

First off, there are only eight matches left in the season. EIGHT MATCHES. The current leaders, Real Madrid, have a four point advantage over their Spanish rivals, FC Barcelona. Valencia is currently in third place at 49 points, leaving them with an unreachable 29 point gap from Barcelona. Ouch!

This weekend of course, was nothing but interesting for the Spanish League when Barcelona faced Real Zaragoza on Saturday. The final proved the Catalans more superior as they scored 4-1 at La Romareda. Carlos Aranda scored Z’s only goal of the match after missing a penalty kick in the 25 minute. Captain Carles Puyol opened up the scoring for the defending champs in the 36 minute only to be followed by a beautiful goal from Lionel Messi three minutes later.

Messi scored another goal off a penalty in the 89 minute making the match 3-1. But it wasn’t over folks! Pedro used his lucky right foot off an assist from Messi, to give the Catalans their fourth and final goal.

Rayo Vallecano dominated Osasuna with a 6-0 victory, giving them ‘the highest-scoring match of the week’ award.

Espanyol 2-2 Real Sociedad

Getafe 2-0 Sporting Gijon

Real Betis 3-1 Villarreal

Fernando Llorente scoring Bilbao's only goal.

Today’s matches were pretty low-scoring and quite frankly, a little boring. Levante scored 2 goals over Atlético Madrid while the Mallorca/Granada & Real Madrid/Valencia matches were draws at 0. Athletic Bilbao barely sealed their 1-nil victory over Sevilla after El Rey de Léon AKA Fernando Llorente headed the ball in the top right corner.

For Real Madrid, this week was difficult. Captain Iker Casillas admitted that his club could lose the Liga title this year after dropping two points. It was only a month or so that the Madridistas were sitting comfortably with a 10-point cushion over their rivals, but with injuries & lack of focus, they’ve barely managed to ‘get by’ in matches when they took two draws last month against Málaga & Villarreal. If anything, this is a testament of how quickly things can change in competition. Never underestimate your opponent. However, Barça’s Cesc Fabregas likes to think that Madrid are the likely favorites to win the title and he sure is right about it unless of course, Madrid can’t beat Barça on April 21st.

Now this next week, things are switching up for La Liga. Like I said earlier, there’s only 8 matches left and Liga ends May 13th! Down below are the match schedules for April 9-12th.

Monday, April 9th

Málaga – Racing Santander

Tuesday, April 10th

Osasuna – Espanyol

Real Sociedad – Real Betis

FC Barcelona – Getafe (ESPN 3 or ESPN Deportes)

Wednesday, April 11th

Granada – Athletic Bilbao (ESPN 3 or ESPN Deportes)

Sporting Gijon – Levante

Valencia – Rayo Vallecano

Atlético Madrid – Real Madrid (El Derbi de Madrileño)

Thursday, April 12

Villarreal – Málaga

Racing Santander – Mallorca (ESPN 3 or ESPN Deportes)

Sevilla FC – Real Zaragoza

With that being said, stay tuned for Friday’s edition of Late Night Liga where I’ll be talking about the matches and what we can look forward to in the upcoming weekend!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter either at @AerysSoccer where you can read about news and recaps from other leagues around the world!

Photo courtesy of Athletic Bilbao