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This current year isn’t even a week old and there are already tons of things to talk about the Liga BBVA. What a way to start this year than watching some of the top contenders playing each other; just like the last 2 rounds of 2008; and boy, did they deliver or what? All talk about that in a moment.
4 out of 6 title contenders meet. Valencia, Atletico de Madrid, Villareal, and Real Madrid met and all of them had one thing in mind: they needed to win in order to catch Barcelona. Valencia showed that they still have it and beat clearly Atletico by a 3-1 score. Aguirre’s men have shown very little against the big teams this season losing to Real Madrid and getting defeated 6-1 by Barcelona. Now against Valencia they got another lost. I expect them to make the 4th place of the championship and thus get qualified for the Champions League but they showed that they are miles away from being a title contender. Real Madrid did their thing and beat Villareal. Counting out the current champions is a mistake and I do expect them to be a thread to Guardiola’s men in the near future. However, Robben better stay healthy until next June or that’s it for Real. This past weekend it was just too much Casillas and too much Robben for Villareal.
Barcelona: the only winner. Yes it sounds arrogant but thanks to Sevilla Barcelona is now not ten but eleven point away from the second place. The game against Mallorca was what they call a trap-game. Normally the first game of the year tends to be really bad and despite the final result I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw. Yes, they won and that’s important but their game was extremely slow paced until Manzano’s men scored. I can’t complain about the spirit because thanks to that Barcelona kept trying until they scored but they need to get back to that fast paced/mesmerizing game they were playing last year. If they keep winning they don’t have to worry about the rest but as soon as they tie one game in la liga and all the media (as.com, marca.com, radio station cadena ser and many more) will start talking about the Real Comeback by Madrid. It can only happen IF Barcelona allows it and Guardiola knows it.
The Puzzle takes form. With only two more weeks until the end of the first round La liga BBVA seems to be well defined. Barcelona is already winter champion and is only 4 points away from breaking the record for the best first round team ever (currently hold by Madrid with 47pts on the first round) so they are the team to beat and the team that has, at the moment, the best chance to win the league this year. Real Madrid and Valencia seem to be the only threat and the only one capable of making the distance to the first place shorter. Valencia just got Silva back and Real seems to have done what they should have done in summer which is plan a team. Sevilla and Villareal could become a threat too but they have shown very little in this past week lets see how they do during the second half of the season. Deportivo is right now the default gatekeeper of the league along with Atletico. These two teams can be a threat to the top contenders but I don’t see them fighting for nothing more than the 4th place.
Barcelona: the only winner. Yes it sounds arrogant but thanks to Sevilla Barcelona is now not ten but eleven point away from the second place. The game against Mallorca was what they call a trap-game. Normally the first game of the year tends to be really bad and despite the final result I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw. Yes, they won and that’s important but their game was extremely slow paced until Manzano’s men scored. I can’t complain about the spirit because thanks to that Barcelona kept trying until they scored but they need to get back to that fast paced/mesmerizing game they were playing last year. If they keep winning they don’t have to worry about the rest but as soon as they tie one game in la liga and all the media (as.com, marca.com, radio station cadena ser and many more) will start talking about the Real Comeback by Madrid. It can only happen IF Barcelona allows it and Guardiola knows it.
The Puzzle takes form. With only two more weeks until the end of the first round La liga BBVA seems to be well defined. Barcelona is already winter champion and is only 4 points away from breaking the record for the best first round team ever (currently hold by Madrid with 47pts on the first round) so they are the team to beat and the team that has, at the moment, the best chance to win the league this year. Real Madrid and Valencia seem to be the only threat and the only one capable of making the distance to the first place shorter. Valencia just got Silva back and Real seems to have done what they should have done in summer which is plan a team. Sevilla and Villareal could become a threat too but they have shown very little in this past week lets see how they do during the second half of the season. Deportivo is right now the default gatekeeper of the league along with Atletico. These two teams can be a threat to the top contenders but I don’t see them fighting for nothing more than the 4th place.
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