With Real Madrid already qualified for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona and Valencia could also seal their berths into the knockout round with wins in their group match this midweek. Barcelona will travel to Athens to face a Panathinaikos club that did not win either of their two previous home matches […]

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 […]

A select few matches each season define the league in terms of pecking order and/or overall footballing ability. Obviously, the two editions of El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona usually determine the fate of La Liga's crown. More specifically, in the past five seasons, the team that won the most points in El Clásico […]

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 […]

With the reinstitution of the Galáctico policy following Florentino Pérez's return as President of Real Madrid last summer, Pérez wasted no time in the second construction of his universe-beating side. Lost in the shuffle of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, and Xabi Alonso joining the club, Karim Benzema quietly transferred from Olympique Lyonnais to Real Madrid, if […]

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 […]

Amidst the whirlwind of José Mourinho at Real Madrid, the somewhat human play of Barcelona, and the managerial change in Sevilla, Villarreal's impressive start to their La Liga campaign has gone mostly unnoticed. Villarreal had a chance to top the table for the first time in its history with a win against their Valencian neighbors […]

UEFA Champions League If judging by current form at this very minute, Real Madrid might be playing the best football in Europe. After their opening few matches where they could not kick the ball into the Mediterranean Sea, their ten goal outburst against Deportivo La Coruña and Málaga in their last two matches shows signs […]

Through the first six rounds in La Liga, Valencia CF led the way at the top of the ladder with sixteen points, one point ahead of Villarreal, two points ahead of Real Madrid, and three points ahead of FC Barcelona. Along with Real Madrid, Valencia remained only one of two teams still undefeated in the […]

This weekend, the Camp Nou hosts the first match between legitimate title contenders as FC Barcelona invites league leaders Valencia into the Catalan crucible on Saturday evening. Some might argue that the Atlético Madrid – Barcelona match in Jornada 3 provided the first clash between clubs that have a real chance to win La Liga, […]