La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 19: Last placed Almería cause furore at the top

Such is the nature of La Liga, a single loss or draw could go a long way to deciding who wins the title, and Real Madrid’s failure to overcome Almería last weekend was a set-back in their bid to beat Barcelona to top spot. And one thing is for certain: no one expected the slip up to come against a side stuck at the bottom of the table.

Almería have struggled for points all season, managing just two wins so far in the league. Previous manager Juanma Lillo was sacked back in November following a series of poor performances, including the 8-0 loss to Barcelona in his final game in charge. The man that came in to replace Lillo was the relatively inexperienced José Luis Oltra, then coach of Segunda División side Tenerife.

Oltra came in with a huge task on his hands, and in truth not much has changed as of yet. The south coast club have won just one league game since the new appointment and are still sat in the bottom three, staring a return to the Spanish second-tier full in the face. However, if the weekend’s events don’t spur the Andalusians on, I don’t know what will.

The Estadio del Mediterráneo welcomed Jose Mourinho and Madrid with many expecting an easy victory for the visitors. Oltra set his team up as usual; 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 with Leo Ulloa leading the line. His Argentinean partner in crime Pablo Piatti also took his place in the attack. For Madrid, Kaká returned to the starting line-up for the first time in months and Cristiano Ronaldo took his place up front instead of Karim Benzema.

Much to everybody’s surprise, it was those two who combined to give Almería the lead on the hour mark. Diminutive speedster Piatti did most of the hard work, dribbling his way into the Madrid box where he was then brought down. Fortunately for them though, the loose ball trickled across to Ulloa who was perfectly placed to sweep the ball into Iker Casillas’ bottom corner. It was Ulloa’s fifth goal in the league so far and he’s looking a decent signing; the little-known 24-year-old joined the summer from CD Castellón, a team currently playing in the third tier of Spanish football.

Madrid weren’t playing well, and after all Mourinho’s moaning about needing a new striker, a number ‘9’, it was in fact Karim Benzema who helped make their equaliser in the 77th minute. His delicate pass put substitute Esteban Granero in on goal, who then smashed the ball past Diego Alves. Just to add to things, Madrid’s Director General Jorge Valdano piped up after the game with the comment: “We had a number 9. He was on the bench.”

Of course the long-term injury to Gonzalo Higuaín has only intensified Mourinho’s desire for another striker, but it’s nothing new. He had already complained about being a striker short long before the season even began, noting that yes Cristiano Ronaldo was indeed an option, but also that he wasn’t ideal for the ‘9’ role; the role he was ‘forced’ to play against Almería. Despite the club’s reluctance to grant Mourinho his wishes, they have apparently spoke about the issue and come to the conclusion that a short-term solution is the best way forward.

The Madrid press have obviously gone wild with speculation in recent weeks, linking all manner of strikers with the club, with Fernando Llorente reportedly the number one target. However, his price tag has put Florentino Pérez off somewhat it seems. The big story this week though, was the emergence of news that former goal-getter Ruud van Nistelrooy was an option, and that he was keen to return. Mourinho seemed happy, Ruud seemed happy, but his current club Hamburg were far from happy, insisting he’s going nowhere. The search goes on…

Back at the Mediterráneo and Madrid had just ten minutes to find another goal – a late winner was surely inevitable? Not quite, although Cristiano Ronaldo gave it his best shot in the 93rd minute with a thumping free-kick that rebounded off the crossbar. The full-time whistle went and it was all over. It was a great result for Oltra and his Almería side, and two points dropped for Real Madrid – two points that could have a significant effect at the top of the table come the end of the season.

The result could be a turning point for Almería, and coach José Luis Oltra said after the game that he hopes it will be a big boost of his team’s morale. “We’ve managed a draw against a great team,” he said.

The result finally caused some trouble at the top though; Real Madrid are now four points behind rivals Barcelona who don’t look like dropping points ever again. Barça took on Málaga at the Camp Nou and were in scintillating form once more, breaking another bunch of statistical records in the process.

Andrés Iniesta opened the scoring with a wonderful strike inside ten minutes, and David Villa made it two shortly after. Basically, the game was pretty much over by the 17th minute. In-form Pedro then grabbed his 10th league goal of the season (his 16th in all competitions so far). Málaga did manage to pull one back thanks to a well-placed Duda free-kick, but Villa wrapped things up five minutes later to make it 4-1.

Pep Guardiola was very happy with his team as usual, but also said that the four point gap between them and Madrid is a “negligible difference”, and that they must carry on competing at a high level in order to win the title. He did get a bit upset at the term ‘tiqui-taca’ though, the term that refers to their style of play. “We do not play ‘tiqui-taca’, I hate this expression. It makes it sound like we’re discrediting the opponent, when it’s not like that.” Sorry Pep!

Lower down the Lowdown

• Thank God for Villarreal keeping up with the top two in La Liga. Well, I say keeping up, they are actually nine points behind second-placed Real Madrid, but they do at least play like a top-class team and possess a number of quality players – Santi Cazorla, Giuseppe Rossi, Nilmar to name a few. This weekend they put four past Osasuna despite missing a number of their first team regulars and were able to adequately replace them with more quality. Take Cani for example; the midfielder has been in brilliant form recently, and if you’re going to check out one goal from this weekend, make it his fantastic lob from the halfway line.
• After things had been going so well recently, Getafe put in a disappointing performance against Real Sociedad at the Coliseum. The Basques were a goal up early on through their player of the season so far, Xabi Prieto, who tucked away his penalty. Another of their top performers, Frenchman Antoine Grizemann, made it two with a stunning volley. And true to his penchant for bizarre celebrations, he ran around like a lunatic kissing the Basque logo on his shirt. Mikel Aranburu came on with five minutes to go and scored twice in two minutes, rounding off an emphatic victory for Martín Lasarte’s men.
• Espanyol picked up an important away win against Sevilla, with José Callejón stepping up to score twice in Pablo Osvaldo’s absence. Sevilla did get a goal back late on through Álvaro Negredo, but they lacked any real creativity throughout, especially from the centre of midfield. Praise must also go to Espanyol’s young defence – Victor Ruíz and Juan Forlín who handled two of La Liga’s best and most experienced strikers Fredi Kanouté and Luís Fabiano very well.
• Down at the bottom, 18th placed Zaragoza managed to get an important win over 19th placed Levante at a fog-filled Romareda. The only goal of the game was scored by Gabi, although once again Levante coach Luis García was left feeling hard done-by and complained about the referee, after he claimed their disallowed goal should’ve stood.

Results

Villarreal 4-2 Osasuna, Getafe 0-4 Real Sociedad, Zaragoza 1-0 Levante, Sporting 2-0 Hércules, Athletic 2-1 Racing, Sevilla 1-2 Espanyol, Valencia 2-0 Deportivo, Real Madrid 1-1 Almería, Barcelona 4-1 Málaga, Atlético 3-0 Mallorca.

Goal of the Week

Cani (Villarreal 4-2 Osasuna)

Almeria, FC Barcelona, Malaga, Real Madrid, Spain, Spanish Primera Division, Villarreal