La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 11: Handbags at El Molinón, Forlan > Torres

José Mourinho watched his team overcome Sporting Gijón this weekend in what turned out to be a feisty and intense affair. After being sent off against Murcia in the Copa del Rey, the Real Madrid manager was forced to watch the game from one of El Molinón’s VIP boxes.

While Sporting fans are renowned for their excellent support, the added intensity surrounding the game came from two men; the managers, Mourinho and Manolo Preciado. It began with Mourinho having a go at Preciado for playing a weakened team against Barcelona, a game which Barcelona of course went on to win. Sick of Mourinho’s media antics, Preciado responded on Friday by calling him a “canalla”, which translates roughly as “scumbag”. Lovely.

Going into the game, there was a fantastic atmosphere. Mourinho, comfy up in the dark VIP box was in contact with coach Rui Faria, who was passing his messages on to assistant Aitor Karanka. Madrid made a good start; a lively Gonzalo Higuaín struck the post after ten minutes, and then turned provider for Ángel di María who fired over from close range.

Sporting were playing quite well too, but anything they created tended to find Iker Casillas. But at the other end, Sporting keeper Juan Pablo was in equally good form; first pulling off a top class save from Di María’s drive, then standing tall to deny Higuaín one-on-one. Minutes later he was at it again, this time keeping substitute Karim Benzema’s shot out.

The pressure was building and eventually the breakthrough came in the 82nd minute. This time Juan Pablo was unable to keep hold of, or parry away Benzema’s header, and Higuaín was on hand to tap the rebound in. Another important goal scored by Higuaín and another important contribution from a recently revived Benzema.

Just one minute later Sporting’s moment came (and went). A nice piece of approach play ended with a perfect cross towards David Barral, but his header was saved wonderfully by Casillas. “Incredible,” as Barral put it. “I still wonder how he got his hand to it.” Probably not the first time the Spanish goalkeeper has left people with that thought.

That wasn’t the end of the action though. Sporting centre-back Alberto Botía (who had played very well all game) was sent off in the 93rd minute for chopping down a rampaging Cristiano Ronaldo. My favourite part though, came as Ronaldo jumped straight up after the foul (really), and arrogantly screamed “más!, más!, más!” – more, more, more. He certainly enjoyed it. But the Sporting fans next to him were, let’s just say, not best pleased with the winger.

Cristiano wasn’t finished there though. Oh no. “There was a lot of kicking, a lot of ‘anti-football’ and that’s difficult to play against,” he said after the match. Probably not a popular thing to say, but I doubt that matters in the world of Cristiano Ronaldo.

There was one more piece of drama to end an eventful night. According to some reports, as Preciado made his way to his car, he encountered the Madrid team coach in the parking lot. The Spaniard said he was taunted by one of Mourinho’s assistants who was shouting “A Segunda!” – a reference to his team’s possible drop to the second division.

He then apparently threw a bottle at the coach. What a way to end the night in Asturias.

Second pulls away from third

There was also the small matter of Barcelona and Villarreal this weekend – a clash of La Liga’s two most attractive teams. But, in terms of competitiveness of the league as a whole, this wasn’t a good result. Barça’s 3-1 victory took them five points clear of third place.

As expected, it was a thrilling encounter. Villarreal came to attack, Xavi and Iniesta were at their creative best and David Villa was scoring again. It was in fact Villa who put Barça ahead with a well-taken goal. Brazilian Nilmar then exploded into action for Villarreal, accelerating straight past Barça’s defence and powering his shot past Víctor Valdés.

The second-half came down to one man – Leo Messi (of course). His first goal came after a one-two, followed by another one-two, with Pedro. Then Messi somehow managed to chip the ball over the goalkeeper from the tightest of angles. It was sensational. With eight minutes to go, Pedro set Messi up again for his second and Barça’s third.

In stark contrast to Mourinho and Preciado, Pep Guardiola and Juan Carlos Garrido were being nice to each other. “Villarreal are a gem of a team,” remarked Guardiola. Only for Garrido to respond that his team were up against “not only the best players in the world, but against the best team in the world.”

Lower down the Lowdown

• Málaga won their first home game of the season under new coach Manuel Pellegrini, beating Levante 1-0 thanks to a goal from Eliseu. Not only that, but the win took them out of the relegation zone. Pellegrini deserves praise here, right? Not according to Marca. They took their negative view of Pellegrini one step further and labelled the Chilean the “worst” of the day in their match report. Amazing.
• Go, Diego, go! Forlán was back amongst the goals this weekend for Atlético after a minor dip in form. He scored twice as Atléti battered Osasuna 3-0 at the Vicente Calderón. Incidentally, that took his total to 91 goals, the same amount the former rojiblanco Fernando Torres managed in his time in Madrid. Although it took Forlán just 170 games compared to Torres’ 249.
• Valencia are back to winning ways after their 2-0 win over Getafe at the Mestalla. Emery dropped his favourite 4-2-3-1 system in favour of a 4-4-2 with two proper strikers, and it paid off. Although neither scored, they played well, and the fans would’ve been happy to see a more positive approach at home. The goals came from David Navarro and a truly spectacular hit by Argentinian midfielder Tino Costa.
• And finally, with it being youth football month on Just Football, La Liga saw two new debutants this weekend – Isco (Valencia) and Adrián Sardinero (Getafe). Isco in particular is one many have high hopes for. At just 18-years-old, the forward came on to replace Aritz Aduriz for his league debut. Already a key part of the Spanish youth teams, he has all the fundamental qualities in place to work on. Many have drawn upon the obvious and expected comparison to former Valencia man David Silva.

Results

Athletic 1-0 Almería, Atlético 3-0 Osasuna, Barcelona 3-1 Villarreal, Racing 0-0 Espanyol, Málaga 1-0 Levante, Hércules 2-1 Real Sociedad, Mallorca 0-0 Deportivo, Zaragoza 1-2 Sevilla, Sporting 0-1 Real Madrid, Valencia 2-0 Getafe.

Goal of the Week

Tino Costa (Valencia 2-0 Getafe)

(photo via Buñuelesco on Flickr)

FC Barcelona, Gonzalo Higuain, Real Madrid, Spanish Primera Division, Sporting Gijon, Villarreal