Well, Barça, Real Madrid and Sevilla came out of this week’s Champions League fixtures with flying colours but poor old Atletico don’t look as though they’ll be progressing to the next round.

Sevilla Take On The Mighty Madrid This Weekend

There’s only one ‘must watch’ game in La Liga this week and it’s a biggie – Sevilla v Real Madrid in the Sanchez Pizjuan. The Sevillanos look like the only team capable of ruffling the Big Two’s feathers this season, so it should be a great match.

I must admit, though, that Real Madrid whilst not very entertaining look pretty lethal in the box – they only seem to need to put their game together for five minutes and they go two up.

Barça should have no problems dismissing Almeria – they’re the opposite of Madrid. Lovely creative football, millions of chances but they’re not scoring quite as many as they should.

I do think they deserve to go top, though.

As usual tickets are available for all games . . .

Here are this week’s fixtures

03 Oct 2009
18:00 CET    Tenerife v Deportivo
20:00 CET    Barcelona v Almeria
22:00 CET    Atletico Madrid v Zaragoza
04 Oct 2009
17:00 CET    Getafe v Osasuna
17:00 CET    Sporting Gijon v Mallorca
17:00 CET    Valladolid v Athletic
17:00 CET    Villarreal v Espanyol
17:00 CET    Xerez v Malaga
19:00 CET    Racing Santander v Valencia
21:00 CET    Sevilla v Real Madrid

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Just a quick post today with the fixtures for this weekend’s games.

Here they are . . .

FC Barcelona have got an interesting game against an erratic Malaga – Iniesta could well start the game if Ibrahimovic is still injured.

26 Sep 2009 
18:00 CET Athletic ? : ? Sevilla 
18:00 CET Real Madrid ? : ? Tenerife 
20:00 CET Malaga ? : ? Barcelona 
22:00 CET Valencia ? : ? Atletico Madrid 
27 Sep 2009 
17:00 CET Almeria ? : ? Racing Santander 

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Champions League against Dinamo Kiev on Tuesday, so Click Here for Champions League Tickets and I’ll prepare something a little more coherent after the weekend.

Technorati Tags: FC Barcelona Tickets, Malaga Tickets, Primera Liga Tickets, Real Madrid Tickets, Spain Football Tickets, Tenerife Tickets

Although I hope that Barça win La Liga for the second year on the trot, what I really want to see is a well-fought competition – and that means more than just competition from Real Madrid.

For La Liga to fulfill its potential as The Best League in the World – with the permission of the EPL – we need to see Sevilla, Atlético, Villarreal and Valencia fighting for more than just Champions and Europa League places. However, after only one game, it looks like this season’s Liga will follow a similar pattern to last year.

Sevilla lost in Mestalla and Atlético got thrashed by Málaga, so I won’t be surprised if Barça and Madrid are ten points clear at the top of the table come December. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen because it’d be very bad news for Spanish Football.

This week we’ll get a better idea of whether La Liga is going to be a two horse race or not. Espanyol-Madrid and Getafe-Barça are two interesting tests for the favourites - debuting in their new stadium and with the memory of Jarque still very present, Espanyol have got a lot of reasons to put up a fight and an unpredictable Getafe are a very tough nut to crack on a good day.

I think most of us agree that Barça start La Liga with a slight advantage over Pellegrini’s Real Madrid because they

Pellegrini has a tough job ahead of him

already play as a team, whereas the Bernabéu boys are as yet a group that relies on flashes of brilliance from individual players. The big question is whether the undeniable quality of Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema will be enough to follow the pace that Barça has already set by winning the two Super Cups.

Comparisons between the two squads are inevitable, and I must admit that I glance down the list of names that make up this Real Madrid side and some of my culé bravado fades. However, it remains to be seen whether this group of superstars will actually work well together as a block.

Barça have signed fewer players, but the three signings are players that were definitely on Guardiola’s Wish List. Chygrynskiy will be key in the centre of the defence, while with Maxwell on one flank and Alves on the other, the backs will be coming up to join the attack even more often than they did last season.

Guardiola ready for the season ahead

Having watched quite a few videos now, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ibrahimovic is a potentially great player but his role in the side will be very different from Samuel Eto’o. He’s more classy and stylish but I doubt whether he’ll score as many goals and he’s still got his work cut out to get himself in the right position for when Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, in particular, start to work their magic.

But the fact remains that Barça only have to adapt their game for one player whilst not even Pellegrini could predict Madrid’s starting line-up in a month’s time. And what’s more the ‘cantera’ factor means that Barça’s theoretical substitutes know the 4-3-3 philosophy like the back of their hands and both they themselves and the fans are confident that should anything go awry, they’ll slot into the first team just like veterans.

Anyway here are this week’s games . . .

12 Sep 2009
18:00 CET Atletico Madrid v Racing Santander
18:00 CET Getafe v Barcelona
20:00 CET Espanyol v Real Madrid
22:00 CET Sevilla v Zaragoza
13 Sep 2009
17:00 CET Deportivo v Malaga
17:00 CET Sporting Gijon v Almeria
17:00 CET Tenerife v Osasuna
17:00 CET Villarreal v Mallorca
19:00 CET Valladolid v Valencia
21:00 CET Xerez v Athletic Bilbao

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Technorati Tags: FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona Tickets, Primera Liga, Primera Liga Tickets, Real Madrid, Real Madrid Tickets, Spain Football Tickets

Duration : 0:4:51

Technorati Tags: 07, 09, 18, FC, Goles, ROTEÑA, SEVILLA, UD

Duration : 0:4:51

Technorati Tags: 07, 09, 18, FC, Goles, ROTEÑA, SEVILLA, UD

Duration : 0:8:35

Technorati Tags: Especiales

Duration : 0:8:35

Technorati Tags: barca, BBVA, bonito, Coruna, depor, Especiales, Futbol, Goles, Highlights, historicos, jogo, jugadores, Liga, makaay, mejores, miticos, momentos, nike, Primera, riazor, roy, taka, temporada, tiki, tv

After five successful seasons in Mexico, with 99 goals to his name, Sanchez drew the attention of several Spanish sides, and signed with Atletico de Madrid in 1981. It took him a while to find his feet in La Liga, but by the 1984-85 season he was scoring regularly with a team that won the Copa del Rey, finished in second place in the Spanish League and won the Spanish Super Copa. That year Hugo also won his first Pichichi trophy for being the most prolific scorer in the league.

At this point, he reached the high-point of his career, signing for Real Madrid in 1985 and playing with players such as Camacho, Butragueño, Gordillo, Valdano and Míchel ( La quinta del Buitre). This team won five consecutive league titles (from 1985-86 to 1989-90), the Copa del Rey in 1989, and the UEFA Cup in 1986. During these five years, Sánchez garnered four consecutive Pichichi trophies, scoring 207 goals in 283 games.

Sanchez scored 38 goals in the 1989-90, tying the record of the great Zarra and giving him a European Golden Boot for best scorer in Europe. Overall, he scored 23 goals in 45 European Cup games.

His trademark was to perform a celebratory somersault after each goal he scored, honouring his sister, who was a gymnast and participated in the Montreal Olympics.

After this fantastically successful period, Sanchez returned to his native Mexico for a season, before playing for a variety of clubs in Spain, Austria and the USA (he played for the Dallas Burn in the inaugural year of Major League Soccer). He finished his career playing for Atlético Celaya with his old colleagues from Real Madrid, Butragueño and Míchel.

Sanchez was the only Mexican to feature in Pele’s 125 Top Living Football Players List in March 2004.

As Capello maybe leaving the ex-galaticos, the world is still pondering who will be the next manager in the wake of the La Liga title win?

Cheers

Duration : 0:1:31

Technorati Tags: 07, 09, 19, cf, CONIL, FC, SEVILLA