It’s okay Ronnie, we still love you, even when you don’t score.

What did you expect? Losing 1-nil to Seville, a club that is currently unbeaten at home in this early stage of the 2012-2013 campaign. Filled with rojiblanco colors, Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was completely sold out for the match between the Sevillistas and Madridistas.

After a week off during the international break, news poured out of Madrid concerning Cristiano Ronaldo’s feelings. The man had feelings, who knew! Critics and supporters alike were wondering if the recent controversy stemming from Ronnie’s sadness at & with the club would affect his game on the pitch.

The answer is simple; I’m not sure. Ronnie didn’t get on the board today, nor did anyone from Real Madrid but it certainly wasn’t his fault. Within the first 2 minutes, Sevilla’s Trochowski landed in the center of the box off a beautiful right-footed kick. A goal that early on can be damaging to a club yet the boys in white never gave up. The starting lineup wasn’t out strongest having Sami Khedira in the midfield when he usually plays a better wing position.

Madrid’s defense fought hard to keep it a one-goal difference however it seemed passion was lacking from our attackers. With 11 shots on goal between Ronaldo and Higuain, the ball just wouldn’t go in (hold the ‘thats what she said’ jokes!)

I however, being the superstitious freak I am, like to bring the blame on the hideous third kits Real Madrid wore today. Though it seems un-rational to be bringing blame upon a piece of clothing but I don’t care. If I had to wear a kit that looked oddly familiar to Liverpool’s  08-09 away kit, I probably wouldn’t play too well either.

At the end of the match it all comes to performance. The tension and desperation from Madrid wasn’t enough to get them on the board; Sevilla had the better match, hands down. This is the part where the headlines from football’s top newspapers will start accusing of Ronaldo’s faith to the club and the butthurt supporters begin blaming the ref.

You have to remember, the season is in it’s early stages. We still have 8 months left of La Liga so there’s no use in getting in the mindset of ’we suck’ or ‘seriously, why is this happening??’

Relax and take a chill pill and breathe. Things will work out and Madrid will find their groove.

Catch the boys play against on Tuesday against Manchester City in the first stages of Champions League!!

NOTE: Though it doesn’t help that Jose Mourinho ended his press conference with the words, “Right now I don’t have a team.” Ugh.

Photo courtesy of Real Madrid C.F.

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!

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

Entertaining news in the footy world as a new Tuesday is upon us! We cover everything from Harry Redknapp’s tax evasion scandal, Ibra’s 3 match-ban, Fergie’s stance on racism and more John Terry drama! Enjoy today’s DKA!

La Liga

Not even a year with Sevilla FC and manager Marcelino Garcia Toral has been fired. The reason for this departure was the lack of results for the Sevillistas, who land in #11 on the Liga table. The Andalusian side gained only two points in their last 7 matches. However, Sevilla FC were quick on their feet to find another manager to take the reigns. Former Getafe manager, Michel will lead the club until the end of the season, unless he can get them into the Champions League. Michel won 6 La Liga titles and 2 UEFA Cups during a his 14-year playing career with Real Madrid while also making 66 appearances for Spain.

English Premier League

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp’s tax evasion trial will take place tomorrow after his jurors were sent home early. Ummm, what?! For a background on the case, you can read more about it here.

Too bad for Robert Huth, who is forced to serve his 3-match ban after Stoke’s appeal was rejected. Huth was sent off during Stoke’s match against Sunderland after a bad challenge on David Meyler. His suspension means he’ll miss 2 Premier League matches plus Stoke’s FA Cup match against Crawley on Feb. 19th.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claims that he’s still interested in signing Eden Hazard but the need to generate profit for the club could prevent the signing. “You should know that each season, it is imperative to show a profit of between fifteen and twenty million pounds. I would add that the purpose of a coach is to always buy at a price he sees fit.”

Fergie takes a hard stance against racism in football. The Manchester United manager is surprised at the revival of racism in the sport, especially when it’s his players at the receiving end. You’re not the only one, Fergie.

Cats are overtaking Europe! Saturday, a black cat scampered across the pitch at the Barca-Real Sociedad match at the Camp Nou, while Monday another whiskered feline crashed the Liverpool-Spurs match, halting play. Just one question, who let the cats out?

Serie A

There’s a lot of 3-match bans going around the foot world, Serie A included. AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic was hit with one after violent conduct against Napoli on Sunday. Ibra slapped Salvatore Aronica in an off-the-ball incident. Milan plan on appealing the ban.

International

John Terry now has England manager Fabio Capello on his side. Capello is to hold talks with the FA after he objected the stripping of the John Terry’s captain’s armband. Will the drama ever end?

Literally the headline says it all. There’s still a 7-point gap between leaders Real Madrid and rivals FC Barcelona.

Saturday showcased the two top clubs as Real Madrid went to Getafe only to win 1-nil, a fairly small-scoring match considering their previous history against the Azulones.

The hero was defender Sergio Ramos, who came back to the club after an injury, scoring the only goal at the 18′. The goal came from a corner kick taken by Kaka which found the top of Ramos’ head, knocking it into the top corner of the net. Ramos, whose goals are generally headers, became the league’s leading goal scorer by an active defender with a staggering 30 goals.

Getafe was unbeaten in six league games before facing their city rivals. They offered a weak attacking force and had one opportunity to equalize when Diego Castro side-footed what was to be their best chance for a goal.

Real Madrid continued to dominate without finding a second goal after half-time with Benzema failing to convert a couple of clear-cut chances. Midfielder Esteban Granero received a standing ovation as manager Jose Mourinho subbed him on in the 88′. Granero played for Getafe for two season before being signed to Madrid’s first team.

Los Galacticos will face Levante at the Bernabéu next Sunday while Getafe take on Ray Vallecano.

For Barcelona, they refused to let the gap between them and Madrid widen after they beat Real Sociedad 2-1.

The starting 11 was different for Barça as Pep Guardiola called up some of his B club as some of his veteran players like Piqué, Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets sat on the bench.

Lionel Messi started the match off well as he made a fine pass to the young Cristian Tello opening the scoring early in the 9′. The Argentinean doubled his side’s lead in the 72′ with his 23rd league goal of the 2011-2012 campaign.

But it wasn’t over yet for Sociedad, who had caused Barcelona several problems defensively, pulled a goal back immediately through substitute Carlos Vela in the 74′, leaving the Catalans nervous.

However, Barcelona held onto the win as Sociedad refused to finish any late-match opportunities.

 Match Scores

 Levante 1-1 Santander

Mallorca 1-0 Real Betis

Sporting Gijon 1-0 Osasuna

Sevilla 1-2 Villarreal

Real Zaragoza 1-2 Rayo Vallecano

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Valencia

Malaga plays Granada on Monday so don’t forget to tune in!

Lastly, today is the 27th birthday of La Liga’s top goalscorer with 24 goals in just 21 matches. A man who already has 42 goals for the entire 2011-2012 season which includes all competitions played by his club. A player who has quick feet, crazy footwork and powerful free-kicks. A self-proclaimed perfectionist, rich, handsome and great player. I’m talking about the one and only, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Feliz Aniversário para o Cristiano Ronaldo poderoso!

Stay tuned to Aerys for all your La Liga updates!!!!

GIF courtesy of hifla4ronaldo of Tumblr.

It’s that time again, where we give you ‘what’s hot’ in the soccer world! Today’s headlines include an update on David Villa, Copa Del Rey matches and a bold statement by former Chelsea boss!!

International 

Ever heard of a scorpion kick before? You thought a Chilena (bicycle kick) was hard to score with, but a scorpion kick…even harder. Basically you fall forward kicking both your legs behind you, hoping the ball hits your calves or heels and lands in the net. Well, defender Festus Baise of the Japan league managed to score a own goal for his side Sun Hei, backwards. Oh snap!

La Liga

Barcelona striker David Villa underwent surgery for his broken leg yesterday afternoon. El Guaje is expected to be sidelined for 4-5 months, pushing his recovery time quickly. It’s a race against the clock for Villa, who hopes he can compete this June with the Spanish National Team.

No bueno for Sevilla FC president Jose Maria Del Nido, who was sentenced 7.5 years in prison for his role in embezzlement of public funds in Marbella. Del Nido is expected to pay the city back in an amount of €2.7 million. Ay dios mio!

Copa Del Rey

Matches for today!

Real Madrid – Ponferradina

Espanyol – Celta

Sporting de Gijon – Mallorca

Sevilla – San Roque

English Premier League

Nothing better than Boxing Day football! Well, not in this case. Arsenal might have to cancel their clash with the Wolves on December 26th due to the possibility of an London Underground drivers strike.

Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti apparently believes that English football is not very well. Basically he’s saying that clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea are going to have troubles against their Italian counterparts in the next stage of Champions League. Well in that case….perhaps the Italian league isn’t ‘well’ either. Watch out for those Spanish clubs.

Stay tuned to Aerys for all your footy headlines and match recaps!

As the weekend comes to a close, the football world still manages to create headlines. Today’s headlines feature FC Barcelona, once again, lifting up another Championship trophy, the secret success to Van Persie’s goal-scoring streak and racism in the French league.

La Liga

Real Madrid faced Sevilla FC yesterday, beating them 6-2. Cristiano Ronaldo showed up his critics after he scored a hat-trick for his side, giving them the top spot in the league. Seems like the ONLY club Madrid can’t beat is Barcelona. For a more in-depth recap, click here!

Speaking of Barcelona, the Catalan side won the FIFA Club World Cup against the very young Brazilian side Santos, which is the home of Neymar. However, thanks to Lionel Messi, who scored both the first and last goal, and brought the trophy home back to Barcelona with a 4-nil victory. I guess a congratulations is in order.

Barcelona striker David Villa will undergo surgery for his broken tibia on Monday. Villa broke his tibia, AKA shinbone, during the semi-final Club World Cup match against Al-Sadd in Japan last week. ‘El Guaje’ is expected to miss 5-6 months of action and could miss Euro 2012. No bueno for his national team, Spain, where he is the all-time record scorer. No, no, no bueno!

English Premier League

Manchester United regain the #1 spot, albeit temporarily, one point ahead of crosstown rivals Manchester City, after a 2-nil victory over QPR. Our own Kayla Knapp has the full recap!

Arsenal captain Robin van Persie revealed his ‘secret’ to his amazing scoring streak. RVP states it’s his ‘willpower’ and that he doesn’t ‘give a damn’ on how he gets the ball in the net. As long as he keeps scoring goals, I don’t give a damn either! Arsenal faced Manchester City today, and lost 1-0, giving City back the top spot in the league.

Bundesliga

Yesterday Schalke 04 demolished Werder Bremen 5-0 thanks to a hat-trick by former Real Madrid captain, Raul. Raul, my personal hero, scored a hat-trick earlier this season against Bremen in November, making him the only player to score 2 hat-tricks in one season. The Real Madrid supporter inside me still wonders why we ever let him leave….

Ligue 1

AJ Auxerre wants the French league to investigate an alleged racial slur made by an assistant referee to midfielder Kamel Chafni in yesterday’s match against Brest. Perhaps they should just shake each other’s hands, I mean after all, that’s what Sepp Blatter would do.

Champions League

A few results from Tuesday:

Chelsea 3 – 0 Valencia

Barcelona 4 – 0 BATES

Olympiacos 3 – 1 Arsenal

Viktoria Plzen 2 – 2 AC Milan

Additional results from yesterday as well as today’s fixtures can be found here.

English Premier League

Carlos Tevez, under contract with Manchester City, is reportedly considering a move to AC Milan.  City manager Mancini doesn’t have a place for the Argentinian and would like to unload the troublesome player in January.  Read more about City’s thoughts here.

Chelsea castaway Nicolas Anelka may finalize a move to China by early next week.

It looks as though the FA will look into an alleged “offensive gesture” made by Luis Suarez to Fulham fans at the end of their clash on Monday night.  The fans were chanting “cheat” to the striker due to his frequent and questionable dives.

Gary Cahill filed an appeal for wrongful dismissal and won.  While facing Tottenham, he was unjustly sent off with a red card 17 minutes into the match, leaving his squad with 10 men and losing 3 – nil.

La Liga

After losing five matches in a row, Sevilla has won their last two, most recently on Monday against Getafe, climbing the ladder to fifth place in the league.

Major League Soccer

At the ripe old age of 27,  DC United midfielder Santino Quaranta has announced his retirement today.  The midfielder finishes his 11 season MLS career with 27 goals and 29 assists.  He earned 15 caps with the US national team, won the MLS Cup in 2004, the 2008 US Open Cup with United and earned an All-Star nod in 2001. He will be sorely missed.

Champions League Results

Barcelona advance to the knockout stage with a 4-0 defeat over Viktoria Plzen last night with a little help from a Messi hat-trick.

AC Milan’s 1-1 tie at BATE Borisovallows helped the Serie A team to advance to the knock-out stage of the tournament.

Arsenal remain on top in Group F after a scoreless draw with visiting Marseille.

Chelsea decided to bench John Terry in Belgium last night as the London team ended up with a 1-1 draw against Genk.

Valencia had a convincing 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen yesterday afternoon.

Major League Soccer

Tonight’s Playoff Schedule:

Sporting KC v Colorado Rapids at 8pm ET on Fox Soccer

Seattle Sounders v Real Salt Lake at 10pm ET on ESPN2

Although Real Salt Lake have a 3-0 cushion going into tonight’s match, their coach Jason Kreis, has yet to confirm if either of his two central defenders will be available. Both Jameson Olave and Nat Borchero have been sidelined with injuries and Kreis has confirmed their availability would have to be a “game-time decision”.

Tomorrow Night’s Schedule:

Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union at 8:30pm ET on ESPN2

LA Galaxy v NY Red Bulls at 11pm ET on ESPN2

La Liga

In last night’s CL match, Messi had his second hat-trick in a row, giving him a total of 14 career hat-tricks and his second in the Champions League.  While wearing the Barcelona jersey, the 24-year-old has scored an unbelievable 202 goals.  This season he has 22 goals in 17 games and is once again a candidate for the Ballon d’Or competition. What an amazing accomplishment and it is only early November.

As predicted, Barcelona dominate the 23-man shortlist for FIFA Ballon d’Or with 8 players on the list while Real Madrid have 5 nominees.

Fifth place Sevilla FC lost to dead last Granada 1-2 Monday night, making it Sevilla’s first Primera Division defeat.

English Premier League

Hot off the presses, Harry Rednapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur, will undergo  minor heart surgery today and miss his team’s Europa League fixture against Rubin Kazan.  A full report is expected at today’s pre-match press conference in Russia.

In the wake of the most recent Balotelli scandal, it is no surprise to hear Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, insist his talented striker is not “mad”, but rather “different, unpredictable” and can break open any match.

Steven Gerrard of Liverpool will be out for two weeks for treatment on an infected right ankle.

During last night’s CL match at Racing Genk, Chelsea fans chanted about QPR defender Anton Ferdinand and the alleged racial abuse from John Terry, which took place in an earlier match.  A Chelsea spokesman has condemned the chants calling them “wholly inappropriate”.

Italian Serie A

Fiorentina confirm Stevan Jovetic signed a new contract with the club despite being sidelined all last season with a knee injury. The Montenegro international’s impressive form this season has helped to extend his stay through 2016.

Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring his second goal at the Bernabéu

Real Madrid defeated Getafe 4-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu Saturday.  Real Madrid knew that rivals FC Barcelona dropped two points and looked inspired to take the leader board.

Striker Karim Benzema bagged two goals in the 14’ & 69’ as Los Galacticos continue their impressive start to the Primera Division.

Last season’s Pichichi winner, Cristiano Ronaldo  also scored on a penalty (6o’) after a run-in with Cata Diaz of Getafe. Subsitute Gonzalo Higuaín scored the fourth goal  (88’) after coming in for Mesut Özil, which was fired at the edge of the box past Moya, sealing their victory.

Getafe’s Miku scored both of his side’s goal in the 39’ and 73’.  Real Madrid is currently in 1^st of the La Liga board with 6 pts.

Cesc Fabregas reacts to scoring the second goal for Barcelona

FC Barcelona dropped to second place with 4 points after a surprising draw of 2-2 against Real Sociedad.

Barça started off strong with two goals in the 10’ & 11’ by Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. Alexis Sanchez, who was signed from Udinese to Barcelona, was forced off the pitch due to an injury.

Real Sociedad made a comeback in the second half when Imanol Agirretxe scored in the 59’ only to be doubled after a goal in the 60’ by Antoine Griezmann.

This is the first time in 10 months that Barcelona was kicked off the first place position by rivals Real Madrid.

Weekend Match Outcomes:

Villarreal 2-2 Sevilla FC

Valencia 1-0 Atlético Madrid

Real Betis 1-0 Mallorca

Racing Santander 0-0 Levante

Osasuna 2-1 Sporting Gijon

Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Zaragoza

Espanyol 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

Málaga 4-0 Granada

Stay tuned to Aerys Soccer for all your Spanish Primera Division coverage!

Photos courtesy by Real Madrid & FC Barcelona