<div id="attachment_2856" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/02/Gijon-Sculpture.jpg"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div></a>Elogio del Horizonte (Eulogy to the Horizon), one of the famous works of Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, stands sentry over the Gijón coast.</div>
After a less than impressive performance by the Spanish Armada in European competition, these teams return to their domestic responsibilities in order to regain their confidence.&nbsp; Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao traveled to Wolfsburg and Anderlecht, respectively, and became punching bags for those teams as both Wolfsburg and Anderlecht scored four goals on their visitors.&nbsp; They never had a chance, and both Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao exited the UEFA Europa League with a silent whimper.
The three Spanish representatives in the UEFA Champions League failed to display their prowess in Europe’s most glamorous club competition but still maintain the upper hands in their ties.&nbsp; Although Real Madrid faces a one-goal deficit against Olympique Lyonnais, they return to the Bernabéu in the second leg, and they have won every single match there this season.
Sevilla visited frigid Moscow and secured the away goal in a 1-1 entertaining draw.&nbsp; Mark González, a former rival of Sevilla when he played for Real Betis, scored the goal of the round with a wonder strike from thirty yards that froze Andrés Palop to even the score, but Sevilla still controls the tie as they return to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.
FC Barcelona’s attacking intimidation took a significant hit against Stuttgart because the Germans did not relegate themselves to playing with ten or eleven men behind the ball.&nbsp; Barcelona will always have a dominant possession edge, but the chances they created were few and far between, whereas Die Roten could have easily scored two or three more goals with a slightly better touch in the penalty box.&nbsp; This match is akin to Barcelona’s first leg against Lyon in the Round of 16 last year, where they struggled but managed to squeak out a 1-1 draw away from home.&nbsp; When they came home to the Camp Nou, they demolished Lyon 5-2 in a match that was not close as the score indicated.&nbsp; The Catalans hope to reincarnate those same spirits this year, but this Stuttgart team seems determined to become the giant-killers of the round and defeat the reigning European champions.
The two teams that actually played well were Atlético Madrid and Valencia, although both needed late winners to advance to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.&nbsp; An otherworldly performance by Club Brugge goalkeeper Stijn Stijnen kept the Belgians into extra time, but the persistence of David Villa and Pablo Hernández eventually broke the brick wall to score twice in extra time to advance to the next round.
Atlético Madrid controlled their match against Galatasaray, but the match looked prime to go into extra time until Caner Erkin received his second yellow card for a late challenge on Juan Valera.&nbsp; Diego Forlán converted on an ingenious pass from man of the match José Antonio Reyes in the 90th minute to send Los Colchoneros into the second knockout round.&nbsp; Both Atlético Madrid and Valencia will play against each other in the late Sunday kickoff, and a prediction for how Atleti will perform against Los Che is a useless exercise given their completely incomprehensible form from one match to the next.
The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.
Feb. 27
Getafe vs. Real Zaragoza – 11:55 AM on Gol TV
Tenerife vs. Real Madrid – 1:55 PM on Gol TV
FC Barcelona vs. Málaga – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Feb. 28
Real Valladolid vs. Mallorca – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 456
Sporting Gijón vs. Osasuna – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 457
Racing Santander vs. Almería – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 458
Villarreal vs. Deportivo La Coruña – 10:55 AM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Sevilla vs. Athletic Bilbao – 12:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Atlético Madrid vs. Valencia – 2:55 PM on Gol TV
Unfortunately, the Xerez – Espanyol match at El Chapín will not be shown on US TV.
International Friendly
Next Wednesday is the last international date before the end of the club season, and national team managers will use these friendlies more as a training regimen than anything else.&nbsp; Spain will play France at the Stade de France, and while Raymond Domenech bled some new blood in his 23-man squad, Vicente del Bosque featured little change.&nbsp; What is most significant is that Álvaro Negredo keeps his spot over Fernando Llorente, and Jesús Navas’ excellent play has kept his place in the squad.&nbsp; A winning formula over the past three years, del Bosque need not change for the sake of change.
France vs. Spain – 3:00 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360

La Liga Preview and US TV Listings for Jornada 24: Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 - World Soccer Talk

La Liga Preview and US TV Listings for Jornada 24: Feb. 27 and Feb. 28

<div id="attachment_2816" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/02/El-Teide.jpg"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div></a>Snow-capped El Teide in Tenerife, the highest point in Spain and the highest point in the Atlantic Ocean.</div>
The obvious surprising result of the previous round was Atlético Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Barcelona to hand the Catalunyan champions their first loss in La Liga this season.&nbsp; If analyzed deeper, however, Barça’s defeat at the hands of Los Colchoneros becomes less of a shocker.
Historically, Atleti had a respectable record against Barcelona in Madrid, the boys from the capital play to the level of their competition (which frustrates their fans when they get blown out by lower clubs like Málaga and Recreativo Huelva), and Barcelona was ravaged by injuries and suspensions to the point where Josep Guardiola employed winger Jeffren Suárez at right back. The blaugrana were never going to march through the whole season without a loss, and losing at place where they always struggled would be better than falling to a team they own.
Real Madrid cares not a single iota about Barça’s injury problems, as their less than impressive performance against Xerez still profited a 0-3 road victory.&nbsp; They climbed to within two points of their eternal rivals, but in the late Sunday kickoff, Los Blancos face a Villarreal club that is hard to predict.&nbsp; Much like Atlético Madrid this season, the Yellow Submarine plays with a sublime nature in one game, as they did against Barcelona at the beginning of 2010, and in another match, the Villarreal “B” team, who currently lies sixth in the Segunda División, deserves to be playing in the top flight over the senior team.
The most important match of the weekend in terms of final placement will occur on the island of Mallorca.&nbsp; Mallorca hopes to extended their 100% home record in La Liga when they host Sevilla in the late Saturday kickoff.&nbsp; Both continue to tussle for the final Champions League spot, and with Sevilla winning their first meeting in September 2-0, Mallorca needs to win by a higher margin to overtake Sevilla in the tiebreaker should they be equal on points at the end of the season.&nbsp; Unlike in some leagues, where goal difference over the whole season is the first criterium in settling a tie in points, La Liga uses the head-to-head tiebreaker to determine who lies ahead in the table.
The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DirecTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.
Feb. 20
Deportivo La Coruña vs. Xerez – 11:55 AM on Gol TV
FC Barcelona vs. Racing Santander – 1:55 PM on Gol TV
Mallorca vs. Sevilla – 3:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Feb. 21
Athletic Bilbao vs. Tenerife – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 456
Málaga vs. Espanyol – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 457
Real Zaragoza vs. Sporting Gijón – 10:45 AM on DirecTV channel 458
Almería vs. Atlético Madrid – 12:55 PM on Gol TV
Real Madrid vs. Villarreal – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Feb. 22
Valencia vs. Getafe – 2:55 PM on ESPN Deportes/ESPN 360
Unfortunately, the Osasuna – Real Valladolid match at El Reyno de Navarra will not be shown on US TV.
UEFA Champions League
Real Madrid’s performance against Lyon on Tuesday was not poor, but give credit to the Ligue 1 side, who tactically and strategically played the match to perfection.&nbsp; Real maintained possession more than 60% of the time, but the chances they created were few and far between, whereas Lyon had many fewer opportunities, but those they fashioned were of high quality, highlighted by Jean Makoun’s Champions League goal of the week, a thirty-yard missile to the top left corner of the goal.
The other two Spanish teams left in the competition, Barcelona and Sevilla, will kickoff their first legs in the Round of 16 next week.&nbsp; They will be considered heavy favorites to advance into the next round against Stuttgart and CSKA Moskva, respectively.&nbsp; Stuttgart steadily improved from a disastrous start to the season, but defeating Barcelona over two legs may be a chore they are not ready to handle at this point.&nbsp; As for CSKA Moskva, they have not played a competitive match since the Russian Premier League season ended in late November.&nbsp; Sevilla has no idea what kind of team they will face at the Luzhniki Stadium, and CSKA may not know either.&nbsp; On paper, this looks to be the least appetizing of the four Champions League ties, but the uncertainty of both teams may lead to the tightest of the four matches.
Feb. 23
Olympiakos vs. Girondins de Bordeaux – 2:30 PM on Fox Soccer Channel (5:00 PM on delay on Setanta Sports)
Stuttgart vs. FC Barcelona – 2:30 PM on FSN HD and Fox Sports en Español
Feb. 24
CSKA Moskva vs. Sevilla – 12:15 PM on Setanta Sports (5:00 PM on delay on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español)
Inter Milan vs. Chelsea – 2:30 PM on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español
UEFA Europa League
A mediocre week for all of the Spanish teams in European competitions, the four La Liga teams in the Europa League face deficits coming into their second legs next Thursday.&nbsp; Athletic Bilbao surged in the second half of their match against Anderlecht and should have taken a league to Belgium, but a lack of finishing touch by Fernando Llorente and company forces the Basques to score in Brussels in order to advance to the next round.
Atlético Madrid played the most complete football of the Spanish teams in Europe this week, but when David de Gea was forced to leave the game due to injury, Sergio Asenjo, the deposed number one goalkeeper, came in and gave the shaky performance that caused him to be benched.&nbsp; Hesitation cost him at his near post, as he conceded an acute-angled equalizer to Abdul Kader Keita late in the match.&nbsp; As they head into “Hell,” as the Galatasaray supporters call the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, there is good news for Atlético fans in that David de Gea may be available for the second leg on Thursday, although he will likely be out for their domestic match against Almería.
Valencia and Villarreal were also average, but these two teams may be the ones that have the best chance to overturn their ties.&nbsp; For Valencia, they return to the Mestalla with a mere one-goal deficit.&nbsp; While they do not have a stellar home record in La Liga, they have not lost in four home matches in the Europa League, and they have the ability to score in bunches.&nbsp; As for Villarreal, their inconsistency can benefit them when they travel to the Volkswagen Arena.&nbsp; Wolfsburg has only won three out of eleven matches at home in the Bundesliga, and Villarreal has the experience of playing in contentious road European ties.
Feb. 25
Anderlecht vs. Athletic Bilbao – 12:45 PM on DirecTV channel 467 (467-1 for HD) (Anderlecht 1-1 Athletic Bilbao after the first leg)
Galatasaray vs. Atlético Madrid – 1:00 PM on Gol TV (Galatasaray 1-1 Atlético Madrid after the first leg)
Valencia vs. Club Brugge – 3:00 PM on DirecTV channel 465 (465-1 for HD) (Valencia 0-1 Club Brugge after the first leg)
Wolfsburg vs. Villarreal – 3:00 PM on DirecTV channel 463 (463-1 for HD) (Wolfsburg 2-2 Villarreal after the first leg)

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Almería

La Liga Preview and US TV Listings for Jornada 24: Feb. 27 and Feb. 28

Almería

La Liga Preview and US TV Listings for Jornada 23: Feb. 20 – Feb. 22