La Liga - 2014/15

FromTheBench said:
Who'll get more assists plus goals out of Neymar and Bale ? And Ronaldo and Messi this season ?

Hannibal lector is the X factor for Barca.
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Bale will get more assists than Neymar, Neymar just looks like he's on a mission to score whenever he gets the ball. They'll both come close goal wise.

Ronaldo will probably outscore Messi too, though the latter will get more assists.

That said, could all change when Suarez is available. If he's half as selfless as he was last season then both Neymar and Messi will profit, and he'll take away defenders who constantly mark the other two.
 
Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo all are different players. Radar proves it!

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That stupid idea of Messi being less 'complete' needs to die, infact he is more 'complete' allround players compared to others.
 
#07 said:
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The headline there is too definitive. From my understanding, it's a threat from the LFP president that would be very hard to follow through with.

Realistically I can't see it happening, La Liga need Barcelona.
 
Which is a big "if" to begin with. If I got this right there needs to be a constitutional amendment with a 2/3 majority in the Spanish parliament, the dissolution of the parliament, new elections, new parliament to ratify the new constitution with another 2/3 majority and after that a national referendum. Everything else is non-binding opinion-polling. Someone who has more knowledge correct me if I'm wrong please but to me it seems pretty much impossible for Catalunya to become independant.
 
CLARiiON said:
Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo all are different players. Radar proves it!

ByNtl8PIEAAKI4a.png


BzSCNQeCEAA8nXk.png


BzSE43PCcAEbOu7.png


That stupid idea of Messi being less 'complete' needs to die, infact he is more 'complete' allround players compared to others.
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Who said messi was less complete? He's clearly by a comfortable distance the most complete attacker around and definitely the most complete I've seen.
 
Suarez was recently handed the Golden boot award as he is the joint winner with Ronaldo from last season. He said that he is ready for the Classico and Kenny Daglish was there to hand him the award. Gerrard sent a video message that was played at the ceremony also.


Liverpool's anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' played at the Golden Shoe award ceremony at Barcelona on Wednesday night as Luis Suarez dedicated the prize to his former team-mates.
'My three-and-a-half years there were spectacular and I would not have won this without them,' he said. 'I would also like to thank the man who who brought me to the club,' he added, looking across at Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, who was in Barcelona to present him with the award.
'From the first moment I met him with Sofia [Suarez's wife] I took to him,' said Dalglish. 'He achieved so much last season and it's an honour to be here - I even cancelled a game of golf to make it.'
Dalglish was asked if he thought Suarez would succeed and he said: 'I don't think there is anyone who can stop him. He was brilliant at Ajax and Liverpool and I'm sure he will be success. And if it doesn't work out he can always come back to Liverpool on loan.'
In a video message Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said: 'Good luck for the future mate we wish you well. Thanks for everything you did last season for us. Barcelona are very lucky to have you.'
It was the Barcelona forward's wish that Gerrard be at the presentation but he was unable to travel.
Suarez scored 31 goals last season and he said after the presentation that he was ready to start in the Clasico clash against Real Madrid on October 25 if picked.
'Every player has to be prepared to play every game - I feel good. Maybe if you had asked me two weeks ago the answer would not have been the same, but after the two friendlies with Uruguay I am very happy with the condition I am in. I feel a lot better than - thought I would.'
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Suarez, who played in friendlies for Uruguay in the current international break, stressed his lack of match action has not affected his fitness and that he is ready to make a difference for Barca.
"To make my Barcelona debut at the Santiago Bernabeu would be very special," the 27-year-old told reporters at the presentation of the 2013-14 Golden Shoe award he shares with Cristiano Ronaldo for scoring more goals (31) in league football than any other top level player in European football.
"Before these games with Uruguay I was not able to play, but now I feel really good physically - better than I had expected. I'm 100 per cent ready.
"Adapting to Barca is not a problem, I just want to get out on the pitch and have fun. I'm at a club I always wanted to be at, I'll try to do the same in front of goal that I did for Liverpool, to do what the coach asks and score important goals."

Suarez added that it feels great to be honoured with the Golden Shoe alongside the likes of Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo, whom is now a major rival since he left Anfield for Camp Nou.
"On a personal level it is always welcome to get awards like this but you do not get anywhere without all of one's team's effort every day," the striker added.
"I am proud to share prizes with important players [like Ronaldo] on a global scale."
 
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I thought they were giving him some meaningless Liverpool award. No big deal really that they send Dalglish and a short message from Gerrard when giving him the Golden Boot. That's pretty much just standard procedure.
 
Sean_RedDevil said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-real-madrid-not-shown-uk-15-minute-mark.html
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No surprise, was expected as soon as the kick off time was announced.

Such a moronic, out-of-date rule. What real reason is there to stop Spanish games being televised over here? It's bad enough that you get more access to 3pm English games outside of the UK but Spanish too takes the piss. As if lower league fans are going to skip their matches to stay in and watch televised foreign football.

Rant over.
 
Matchday 8 - 18 Oct
La Liga this weekend:

Fri 17 Oct 2014 - Spanish La Liga
Granada CF v Rayo Vallecano 20:00

Sat 18 Oct 2014 - Spanish La Liga
Levante v Real Madrid 15:00
Ath Bilbao v Celta de Vigo 17:00
Barcelona v Eibar 19:00
Córdoba v Málaga 21:00

Sun 19 Oct 2014 - Spanish La Liga
Atl Madrid v Espanyol 11:00
Deportivo de La Coruña v Valencia 16:00
Elche v Sevilla 18:00
Villarreal v Almería 20:00

Mon 20 Oct 2014 - Spanish La Liga
Real Sociedad v Getafe 19:45

No obvious stand-out games this weekend.
Levante away is usually a hard game for Madrid (in every sense) but this season's Levante are not in any kind of form. Madrid will be missing Benzema and Varane ("fever") and Ramos is injured, and they'll have one eye on Liverpool (Wednesday) and Barcelona (Saturday).

Barcelona play (9th place!) Eibar, which should be a walkover, but Eibar got a draw at Athletic and made Atletico work hard for the points so are unlikely to roll over. It would be amazing if Eibar got anything but Barca of course had key players on international duty, they play Ajax on Tuesday and go to Madrid on Saturday.

Atletico play (8th place) Espanyol and home advantage should deal with any issues they've got as a result of internationals coming back tired. They play Malmo on Wednesday at home so I don't see them being that worried about resting people (with apologies to Malmo)

In other Liga gossip, the clasico build-up so far has centred on Suarez, Catalan independence and a Catalan public TV station that ran a documentary repeating every complaint (more or less!) that Barcelona have with Real Madrid (Franco, Di Stefano, refs, funding etc etc). Inflammatory and one-sided? Definitely, but also run at a very sensitive time in Spanish politics with the referendum (or "opinion poll") on independence coming up.

Another potentially uncomfortable element is that Messi is homing in fast on the Liga top-scorer record - he's on 249, Zarra's record is 251. La Liga would like to celebrate the event as soon as it happens - seemingly even meaning when it happens, not at the end of the match. Tebas described it "pausing to reflect", though specifics are lacking. Of course, the speculation is that it could happen in mid-clasico, in the Bernabeu. Of course, he may score 3 against Eibar this weekend and spare everyone (except Eibar) the panic.
 
Madrid's path to the Copa del Rey final is not looking so good.


Real Madrid will likely have to defeat both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in the next two rounds if they are to retain the Copa del Rey.

Carlo Ancelotti's men overcame both teams en route to victory in 2013-14, dispatching city neighbours Atletico 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals before Gareth Bale's incredible solo effort sealed a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Barca in the Mestalla final in April.

The 19-time winners are in line to meet Atletico and Barca at an earlier stage in this season's competition, after the full draw was made on Friday.

Real will take on third-tier Cornella in the last 32, with the first leg brought forward from December 3 to October 29 due to the capital club's involvement in the Club World Cup.

Atletico have been paired with L'Hospitalet, also of Segunda B, and should both Madrid clubs progress then they will collide in the last 16.

Barca, meanwhile, will take on Huesca for the right to face either Real Valladolid or Elche.

Victory in that tie would send them into the quarter-finals, where a likely meeting with one of the Madrid giants would await.

With the exception of Real's tie, all first legs will be played on December 3, with the return fixtures scheduled for two weeks later.

Round of 32 draw in full:

Huesca v Barcelona, Real Valladolid v Elche, L'Hospitalet v Atletico Madrid, Cornella v Real Madrid, Cadiz v Villarreal, Real Oviedo v Real Sociedad, Real Betis v Almeria, Getafe v Eibar, Deportivo La Coruna v Malaga, Albacete v Levante, Las Palmas v Celta Vigo, Alcoyano v Athletic Bilbao, Rayo Vallecano v Valencia, Alaves v Espanyol, Granada v Cordoba, Sabadell v Sevilla.
 
The following is an extract from a book that was written about Guardiola recently. It goes into detail about his relationship with the Barcelona presidents, his role at the club, why he left and him joining Bayern. It is quite long but a good read, especially if it is true as it is interesting to sometimes get an insight into what goes on behind the scenes.


New York, October 2012
“Prepare yourself, Manel. I’ve chosen Bayern!”
In Pescara, in the north-east of Italy, Manel Estiarte (Pep Guardiola's personal assistant) smiles. Hard though it had been for his old friend to close one chapter of his life, the decision about his next step had obviously been an easy one. Their destination would not after all be England, but Germany.
The exchange is taking place five months after Pep’s departure from Barca. In this time, he has been flooded with offers: Chelsea, Manchester City, AC Milan and, of course, Bayern. In reality, they are not job offers, but love letters, project proposals for this most illustrious of coaches.
The departure from Barca had been long and difficult and Guardiola had shared his plans with his friend Estiarte before speaking to the club, or even to Tito Vilanova, his deputy and successor. The reason was pretty straightforward. After four years at maximum intensity, Pep was drained. He had no more to give.
This was not the only reason, of course.
Over his four-year tenure, Pep had been expected to act as coach, club spokesperson, virtual president and even travel co-ordinator. During that time he had also struggled to remain on good terms with two successive presidents.
He had found in Joan Laporta a dynamic but pushy man who possessed volcanic energy and who could be supportive one minute and undermining the next. Electric, contradictory – occasionally lewd.
Sandro Rosell was different and Pep quickly discovered that the new president’s smiling demeanour concealed the cold, treacherous heart of a bureaucrat. Guardiola balanced the at-times hysterical behaviour of Laporta with his own calm sobriety. He coped with Rosell’s sanctimonious posturing by injecting an overdose of his own energy.
Relations with neither president were simple. Pep managed to deal calmly and quietly with Laporta’s histrionic outbursts. Although the two men were not close, the coach appreciated the opportunities the president had given him. Laporta had initially appointed Guardiola as Barcelona B coach and Pep had been hugely successful there, bringing the team up from the tough Third Division, an achievement he still considers one of his greatest successes. His gratitude to Laporta was absolutely sincere and also extended to the sports director, his old colleague from Cruyff’s 'Dream Team', the elusive winger, Txiki Begiristain.
The triumphs of Laporta’s period in charge, however, concealed the struggles and skirmishes going on behind the scenes.

At times Pep felt like the captain of a ponderous ocean liner as he fought to steer the team in one direction whilst the club pulled in the other. No decision was straightforward, whether it involved transferring training sessions to the new training ground, making sure his technical staff had the same sponsored cars as the squad, organising publicity shots or agreeing the club’s official position on any issue. FC Barcelona was a vast machine that moved to a rhythm and leadership style that had little to do with the way Guardiola managed his team.
However, by early 2010 Guardiola sensed that things were about to take a turn for the worse. Presidential elections were looming that summer and Sandro Rosell was the favourite to win. Rosell had been vice-president from 2003 to 2005, until disagreements with Laporta forced him to resign.
Under Laporta, the Catalan coach had won all six titles: La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League, the European and Spanish Supercups and the Club World Cup. Rosell won the elections with an overwhelming majority and his arrival added a sense of animosity and resentment to the already complex bureaucratic difficulties which plagued life at the club.
In private, the new president referred to Pep as the Dalai Lama. Believing his coach to be a Laporta devotee, he was slow to trust him and resented the fact that the team had peaked too early by winning the six trophies during his predecessor’s reign. The gulf between president and coach became unbreachable when Rosell persuaded the club’s general assembly of members to vote in favour of taking legal action against Laporta. Rosell was smart enough to abstain from the vote himself, but for Guardiola it was the beginning of the end.

For four years, Pep demanded unstinting effort from his players. Nothing but their best would do and at times his exacting standards caused friction within the group. Many of the players were unfazed by the relentless work rate, but some felt they had earned the right to relax a bit. They were the elite of world football, after all, and they had the trophies to prove it. More than one of Pep’s men were now interested in contesting only the important games and they began to make excuses to avoid the kind of grim, uninspiring winter matches which were played on cold, inhospitable pitches. To add to Pep’s woes, one new signing in particular was failing to live up to expectations.

Despite the team’s continuing success, Pep knew that his time at Barça was nearing its end. “The day I see the light go out of my players’ eyes, I’ll know it’s time to go.”

By early 2012, some eyes were already a little less bright.

People around FC Barcelona have often claimed that Pep’s decision to leave was influenced by Sandro Rosell’s lack of support for his plans to make drastic changes to the squad. Plans which apparently included selling players like Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas and Dani Alves.

The Catalan coach flatly denied this when we spoke: “It’s just not true. I left Barcelona because I was worn out. I explained how I felt to the president in October 2011. There was no change of heart after that. So it would have made no sense at all for me to start changing the squad. I knew I was leaving!

“The facts of the matter are that we won four titles that year and were playing better than ever, with the 3-4-3 we used against Real Madrid and the 3-7-0 I opted for in the Club World Cup. We were playing brilliantly but I was on my knees and had no new tactical ideas left. That was why I left. There was no other reason.”
 
Nothing revelatory really, most of this has been rehashed or rumoured for years. Yet despite Pep's resolute denials about a rift with Rosell, most fans easily could conclude why both Guardiola left & how the change in philosophy of the club coincided with Rosell's election.
 
Vato said:
The score is not the only thing I fear when playing these old thugs from Levante. :nervous:
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On the bright side for Ronaldo (who got hit in the eye by him a couple of years ago) David Navarro won't be playing today.
 
Mariño; Pedro López, Héctor, Iván López, Juanfran; Rubén, Diop, Camarasa; Morales, Gavilán; y Casadesús.

Vs

Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Nacho, Marcelo; Kroos, Modric, James Rodríguez, Isco, Cristiano Ronaldo y Chicharito Hernández

Ronaldo looks lively (aka he's missed with his opening couple of shots)
 
I hope Madrid embarrass Liverpool. Like pull their pants down and laugh at their wienies level of embarrassment.
 
akash02 said:
Madrid have been a bit shite so far
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We started well, scored, and then Levante made couple of hard challenges to remind us where we're playing. These are awful games for us, 3 points and no injuries would be great.

I really want us to go with our first 11 against Liverpool. I think we'll destroy them, literally.
 
gaucho_10 said:
We started well, scored, and then Levante made couple of hard challenges to remind us where we're playing. These are awful games for us, 3 points and no injuries would be great.

I really want us to go with our first 11 against Liverpool. I think we'll destroy them, literally.
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Yeah, there's also next weekend.

Chicharitooooooo
 
gaucho_10 said:
We started well, scored, and then Levante made couple of hard challenges to remind us where we're playing. These are awful games for us, 3 points and no injuries would be great.

I really want us to go with our first 11 against Liverpool. I think we'll destroy them, literally.
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Yeah. a couple of thuggish challenges by Levante after the goal
 
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