La Liga Hangover: Ronaldo's Big Response, Set-Piece Woes and Goalkeeper Howlers
Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a light-hearted, though in-depth, look at the key stories and talking points from the most recent weekend of action in Spanish football's top flight. With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we examine how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.
Some Things Never Change
Two gameweeks in Spain have passed since our last Hangover column, but rest assured all remains exactly the same as last time we met: Barcelona missed a penalty, Real Madrid's fans whistled their own star man (who responded with goals), Sevilla failed to win away from home and Aritz Aduriz has folks shouting for his inclusion in the national team. Except Vicente del Bosque.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
But let's stick with the weekend.
Real's response to defeat in the derby has been largely good, and the second half against Celta on Saturday was, without question, their best 45 minutes under Zinedine Zidane so far. The Cristiano Ronaldo detractors in the crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu who jeered the No. 7 for sending a pass out of play witnessed him lash in a 14-minute hat-trick—and eventually score four of his team's seven goals.
It was a timely and harsh reminder of the impatience and ill-discipline displayed too frequently this season, open to obvious rebuttals and criticism from rival supporters. But enough about Celta's defence, the Real fans should display more gratitude to their team. They were, after all, winning at the time.
The top three in Spain all won their midweek and weekend games to move even further clear of the pack, with Villarreal failing to win either game and remaining in fourth spot.
While Barcelona's 4-0 win over Eibar on Sunday was impressive, it was also expected—especially given the Basque side's recent drop-off. Atletico Madrid's 3-1 win at Valencia later that day was more notable and hard-fought, and it was also their penultimate big test of the season. A trip to San Mames to face Athletic Bilbao lies ahead, but most of Atleti's last 10 games are against bottom-half opposition.
Barcelona's late-March run against Villarreal, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad is far tougher and could yet make the run-in interesting.
Then again, some things never change. And Barca's unbeaten record (which is now at 36 games) looks like continuing.
Jornada 28 Results
Real Madrid 7-1 Celta Vigo
Villarreal 0-1 Las Palmas
Getafe 1-1 Sevilla
Deportivo La Coruna 3-3 Malaga
Real Betis 2-0 Granada
Eibar 0-4 Barcelona
Real Sociedad 1-1 Levante
Sporting Gijon 0-2 Athletic Bilbao
Valencia 1-3 Atletico Madrid
Espanyol vs. Rayo Vallecano, Monday 7:30 p.m. GMT kick-off
Spain Squad Possibilities
With Spain facing upcoming friendly matches against Italy and Romania later in March, there is plenty of speculation about who could make the squad as Del Bosque takes a final opportunity to give new faces a chance before the UEFA European Championship in the summer.
The calls for Aduriz are obvious after his 17 goals this season in La Liga, but there are other candidates in other areas of the pitch.
Saul Niguez's form for Atletico Madrid has been nothing short of fantastic over the last three months, and he deserves a spot. Ignacio Camacho has been back to top gear since returning from injury with Malaga. His former team-mate Sergi Darder is impressing with Lyon in France after a settling-in spell early on.
In defence, there may well be a spot or two up for grabs. Marc Bartra had habitually been Del Bosque's back-up centre-back, but having barely played this season, the likes of Inigo Martinez or Victor Ruiz, particularly the latter, should be considerations. A three-way battle for right-back has developed between Juanfran, Dani Carvajal and Mario Gaspar too.
A final thought goes to the goalkeepers. Iker Casillas and David De Gea will go to the tournament and Sergio Rico is likely to be the third, but Casillas is so far past his prime and Rico is so inconsistent it may be Del Bosque wants another option to fall back on. Antonio Adan of Real Betis is sure to be in the frame if so, while Miguel Moya would provide an experienced, though not regularly playing, alternative.
Points of Authority
- Some weeks back, we noted the excellent goalkeeping performances around La Liga. This time, we acknowledge the errors: Diego Alves' lack of coordination for Atletico's third, Pichu Cuellar's untimely step to allow Benat's free-kick to fly past him and one awful one from the midweek Jornada, with Malaga's Carlos Kameni clawing the ball into his own net.
- Bad runs are hard to get out of at this stage in the season, which isn't good for Getafe to hear. They ended a run of seven straight defeats with a home draw against Sevilla, but Sevilla themselves haven't won away from home this season. So for which team is that 1-1 worse?
- Elsewhere, Deportivo La Coruna are down to 13th and haven't won in 14 matches, and Eibar have lost seven of their last eight games. Athletic are the club that has taken advantage of the lack of consistency in the top half, winning three in a row to move into sixth.
Tactical Notes
- The first evolution of Zidane! Real were in control by the time the boss made his move, but Real switched out of 4-3-3 and went 4-4-2 for an extended period on Saturday for the first time under the Frenchman. Ronaldo and Borja Mayoral, later Jese, played as the strikers. Gareth Bale's entire time on the pitch was spent at left wing.
- Set pieces, people! A huge 17 goals were scored in La Liga this weekend from either the first or second phases of set-piece plays—corners, free-kicks and penalties. That includes both of Betis' goals, both in the draws between Getafe and Sevilla and Real Sociedad and Levante and Las Palmas' priceless winner over Villarreal. And we still have one game to play!
- Atletico Madrid went for the kill against Valencia, removing a central midfielder to bring on Fernando Torres and giving Antoine Griezmann free rein. It worked perfectly, as they dominated the last 20 minutes, scored twice and took the points.
- Las Palmas' brave 4-4-2 at Villarreal paid dividends as they continually left two up top to go direct in the first half, forcing the Yellow Submarine to leave their usually adventurous full-backs down the field. Marcelino's team created enough chances to score in the first half but lacked a clinical edge, allowing Las Palmas to take advantage and strike on the break in the second 45 once they were ahead.
Good Week, Bad Week
The Good
Real Betis' excellent run under Juan Merino deserves attention and credit for the caretaker boss. He has clocked up an unbeaten run of six games, with three wins and just one loss in the last nine. They're up to 11th and looking impressive.
Casemiro's display will get overlooked because he's defensive-minded and Real Madrid scored seven, but without his performance, they simply wouldn't have dominated Saturday's game the way they did. A great performance from a man who should be an integral part of the team more often than not.
A round of applause for the soloists of the weekend: Lionel Mess's first was a fine dribbling effort with a low finish across the 'keeper, Jese weaved his way toward Real's sixth, Yannick Carrasco's lead-up to his goal was a moment of magic and Bale was simply waved on toward goal for Real's seventh. The best of the Jornada 28, though, was Fede Cartabia's superb run and finish for Depor's second goal.
The Bad
Just the five red cards to note this weekend. Nacho Camacho was dismissed for Malaga in stoppage time, while Betis won despite playing for more than half an hour with 10 men after Juan Vargas was sent off. Granada levelled matters when Andres Fernandez was dismissed late on. Aderlan Santos was shown a second yellow for Valencia for the weekend's most brainless tackle. And the fifth went to Aymeric Laporte.
No "bad" tag for Laporte though—that belongs firmly to Barcelona's Alen Halilovic, on loan at Sporting Gijon, who produced a shameful dive to get Laporte sent off. Horrendous stuff from the young Croatian.
"Halilovic dives and gets Laporte sent off. They fight today and join the same club next season.
— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) March 6, 2016"
Plenty of the refereeing left lots to be desired during over the past week in La Liga, quite aside from that Halilovic decision. Goals being questionably disallowed, blatant penalties going unpunished and a lack of consistency over yellow-card decisions don't make for happy players or crowds.
