Chicago ended the year as potentially the best non-playoff team in MLS.  They caught "fire" and had a winning record for the final third of the season, almost stealing the tenth playoff spot from New York.  The same team that set the MLS record for draws in a season (which they tied with NY) gave […]

Two of the most active clubs in the January transfer window meet together this weekend in an Andalucian derby at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán between Sevilla and Málaga.  Málaga and new owner Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani scoured the world in January for bright, young talents and seasoned veterans (or washed-up former stars depending on […]

The headlines emanating from Bilbao have had little to do with Athletic's white-hot form, as the rumors swirling around Fernando Llorente's future destination have blanketed this historic club.  Tottenham Hotspur has been the main culprit of the Llorente saga, originally offering €30 million, but after Athletic rejected the bid, they upped the ante to an […]

Espanyol's surprising start has not only stretched to this juncture of the season but has also improved from a club that only garnered points at home to a team that can win the tough matches away from home.  Impressively winning at Sevilla and Getafe in their last two games have shown that a top-six finish […]

La Liga officially begins the second half of its season this weekend, and FC Barcelona has continued its stellar form with a staggering fifty-two points out of a possible fifty-seven points, a Spanish record for the opening half of any campaign.  Despite this extended run of breathtaking football, Barça only has a four point lead […]

Back from personal vacation, this weekend's round of matches is the last one of the 2010 calendar year before the players go on their own vacations during the La Liga winter break.  To top off the end of 2010, El Derbi Barceloní headlines the round as FC Barcelona travels to the south of the city […]

Now that the El Clásico tornado has swept through Spain, leaving bits of Real Madrid debris in its wake, everyone can take a breath and move on with the rest of the season.  Real must pick up the pieces and stay in the present rather than dwell on the 5-0 beating that Barcelona handed them […]

For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness.  As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed […]

The Valencian Derby between Villarreal and Valencia jumps out as the headline match of the weekend in La Liga.  Since Villarreal rose to La Liga for the first time in 1998, their record at home against their neighbors Valencia is an impressive 7-2-2, including winning five of their last six meetings.  While Villarreal lost 3-1 […]

The highlight match of the weekend will occur at the Camp Nou, where Villarreal will want to display their résumé as a legitimate threat to a dominion currently ruled by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.  After a topsy-turvy month of results where they looked somewhat hapless in away fixtures at Hércules and Sporting Gijón in […]

As with most local derbies (national derbies such as El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain, De Klassieker between Ajax and Feyenoord, etc. excluded), the derby means a little more to one club than the other.  While Arsenal always wants to defeat their north London neighbor Tottenham Hotspur, […]

In Atlético Madrid's 1-2 win in the UEFA Europa League over Rosenborg in Norway on Thursday, Rosenborg enjoyed long spells of dominance over their Spanish opponents but could not convert more than once on their many scoring opportunities.  Atlético capitalized on two of their only three chances in the match and escaped with a valuable […]

UEFA Champions League While Real Madrid and Barcelona can earn their spots into the knockout round with wins against AC Milan and FC København, respectively, and will likely qualify even without victories in Matchday 4, Valencia does not have that margin of error as they play their reverse fixture against Rangers on Tuesday night. Ever […]

For a seemingly middling, 13th placed promoted team from La Liga Adelante with a 2-3-3 record, Hércules Club de Fútbol has debunked the increasingly popular theory that there is little competitive balance in Spain's top division.  A two-goal victory at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona, a 2-0 win over Sevilla, a 2-2 draw against […]

The first year of the post-Manuel Pellegrini era commenced with a startling thud, as through seven rounds last season, Villarreal propped every other Primera División team up at the bottom of the table.  This smooth, plucky team from the Valencian Community had not felt such futility since they made their maiden voyage to La Liga […]