La Liga News

By Gareth Messenger, Editor-in-Chief, www.laliganews.tv

Velasco Carballo has been chosen as the referee for the Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on May 17. 

 It is a unique appointment, as usually referees in Spain cannot officiate matches involving teams from their autonomous regions. But the proposal to have Madrid-based Carballo in charge of the all-Madrid final next month stems from Temprado Vicente, who is president of the regional federation Football Association, which is celebrating its centenary in 2013.

The intention is to make the May 17 final the greatest spectacle in Madrid football with two teams from the capital and an official on the pitch in the fight for silverware.

Del Cerro Grande is said to be considered as the fourth official, who is also another collegiate of the Madrid autonomy. When Vicente offered the idea, Angel Villar, president of the Spanish Federation, agreed immediately showing his full support to the centenary of the region.

Villar has spoken to both clubs and Atletico Madrid have agreed to Carballo, although Real are yet to make an official decision. Despite this, it is fully expected Carballo will named the man in charge of the Madrid final in just under five weeks time.

By Gareth Messenger, Editor-in-Chief, www.laliganews.tv

21-year-old midfielder Koke ran the show at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico condemned Granada to a 5-0 defeat in Madrid.

The Spaniard provided assists for Diego Costa, Radamel Falcao and Raul Garcia as Diego Simeone’s side cruised to victory over a Granada side who haven’t won in eight matches.

It didn’t take long for Atleti to open their account. Diego Costa rose highest from Koke’s corner to put the home side in the lead after just four minutes after Granada stopper Roberto was caught in no-man’s land.

Costa then set-up leading goalscorer Falcao to double the advantage for Simeone’s side, but this was just moments after he almost headed into his own net which narrowly missed the corner of the goal.

Falcao scored his second of the afternoon just after the break. Koke’s teasing free-kick found the foot of Falcao of poked home just out of the reach of Roberto. Koke then set-up Raul Garcia for the fourth goal of the game. His cross was met on the half-volley by Garcia who hammered home from six yards out – a deserved goal for Garcia who had earlier had a disallowed goal before rattling the post later in the second half.

Luis Filipe also got in on the act with his first goal of the season. Substitute Adrian’s perfectly weighted ball allowed the Brazilian the opportunity to flick the ball over Roberto.

By Gareth Messenger, Editor-in-Chief, www.laliganews.tv

Imanol Agirretxe scored twice as Real Sociedad moved a step closer to qualifying for the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Rayo Vallecano.

The 26-year-old opened the scoring after just six minutes, latching onto Antoine Griezmann’s low pass and racing ahead of his marker to fire with a neat finish and score his 8th goal of the season.

Eight minutes later and the Spaniard had doubled the away side’s advantage. Xabi Prieto was given acres of room to drill a cross toward Agirretxe, who simply finished from six yards out.

In what was a very slow start by the home side, Rayo coach Paco Jemez made a bold double substitution after just 17 minutes, replacing Lass and Tito with Jose Carlos and Arbilla. However, it proved ineffective as Sociedad continued to dominate the early periods of the match until just before the interval when Leo Baptistao had the easy task of poking home from yards out only to be denied by the defensive heroics of Alberto de la Bella who converted Leo’s effort over the bar for a corner.

Rayo started making a bit of a charge after this and early in the second half Alejandro Dominguez’s free-kick flew agonisingly over the crossbar.

Agirretxe then had a glorious chance to complete his hat-trick but his shot sailed over from just eight yards out.

The win keeps Sociedad in 4th, four points above Malaga and Valencia while Rayo sit in 9th, level on points with their Madrid compatriots Getafe.

By Gareth Messenger, Editor, LaLigaNews.tv

Sevilla 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

Sevilla: Negredo 5′, 86′.

Athletic Bilbao: Gurpegi 55′.

Sent Off: Navarro (Sevilla), Laporte (Athletic Bilbao)

Alvaro Negredo scored twice as Sevilla kept within touching distance of a Europa League qualifying spot in a heated match at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. 

Carlos Gurpegi pulled Bilbao level in the second half before Fernando Navarro and Aymeric Laporte were both sent off to leave both sides down to ten men.

The hosts made the perfect start when Negredo headed home Ivan Rakitic’s well-flighted free-kick. They almost doubled their lead less than ten minutes later but Jose Antonio Reyes’ effort flew just wide of the upright.

Oscar De Marcos came close to levelling after being teed up by Fernando Llorente, who was enjoying a rare start this season under Marcelo Bielsa, but De Marcos fired narrowly wide.

Unai Emery’s side should have been 2-0 up when Coke rattled the post from close range, and moments later Bilbao duly punished the miss when Ibai’s free-kick found the head of Carlos Gurpegi who rose highest to finish past Beto.

Beto was a saviour midway through the half when he denied Ander Herrera’s low effort and it soon got worse for an under pressure Sevilla when Fernando Navarro was dismissed. However, the numbers were soon even once more when youngster Aymeric Laporte was given his marching orders for his second bookable offence.

Both sides pushed hard for a winner and it was the home side who earned it. Reyes break swiftly down the left before crossing to Negredo who made no mistake to score his 23rd goal in all competitions.

 By Gareth Messenger, Editor, LaLigaNews.tv

The Real Madrid Foundation will be expanding its Campusexperience programme for another year with 15 new destinations being added for 2013. 

The programme, which is adding the extra venues to the 2012 list, will be moving to America, Asia and various European nations as well as more events in Spain.

Campusexperience is aimed primarily at boys and girls aged between seven and 17  who want to enjoy sport with the values of Real Madrid. This year it will take place in Spain during the months of June, July and August and will be held at venues in the Community of Madrid (Madrid and Tres Cantos), the Balearic Islands (Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza), Cartagena, Almería (Vícar), Santiago de Compostela (Amés), Santander and Murcia (Cartagena and San Javier).

There is also an option for children away from Spain where participants will practice languages through sport. The campuses will be located in Europe – (England: Chichester and Oxford, Holland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria and Slovenia), America (Puerto Rico, Mexico City and Brazil) and Asia (Singapore and Saudi Arabia).

By Monica Villar, News Editor, LaLigaNews.tv

Manuel Llorente today gave a tearful press conference to inform everyone that he has decided to step down as president of Valencia CF.

“I have communicated to the Board of Directors and to the President of the Generalitat that I am resigning as president of Valencia CF”.

Manuel Llorente says that he had been mulling his decision over for days “but mostly during these last 24 hours, also after the meeting held with the Board of Trustees and also after hearing the address made by the new president of the Board of Trustees”.

He says that it became clear to him then that it had become a whole different scenario but nonetheless he said that “from today we will make the transition as easy as possible”.

“For us, for me, the most important thing is Valencia CF, Valencia is bigger than any individual person and for me, and it’s bigger than any institution, right now speaking as a ‘Valencianista’”.

By this point, the now ex-President started to show emotions, having to take a brief break while he drank some water and held back tears. What he was saying is that he leaves with a clean conscience of a job well done. He pointed out that “when this committee came in, in 2009, the club was in a fragile economic situation” and he says that he leaves it in a far better situation.

Valencia is now a club that in Manuel Llorente’s eyes is respected across Europe’s football institutions. He admits that the economic situation of the Club is still delicate, but he thinks that with everyone’s help they can make it better.

The 61 year old then moved on to start giving thanks. “I want to thank the people and institutions that have trusted in this administration. I think that it should be appreciated, not only what we did economically, but also where football is concerned, never had Valencia made 3 consecutive Champions League appearances and it had been many years since Valencia didn’t have a balanced income statement with benefits.”

His thanks were also dedicated to the supporters; he wanted to thank their understanding and called them a ‘family’: “I want to thank the supporters for their understanding, we have had to sell our big players to balance our economy, our fans must keep supporting the Club like they have done until now because this Club has to keep playing the Champions League”.

“I want to give thanks to friends, managers, players, club employees, the media, to everyone that has contributed to these four years in improving Valencia to what it is today”.

He finished the press conference hoping the best for Valencia, and he hoped the new Board, as well as Valencia can solve all their problems “so we can keep enjoying this feeling that is infinite in its glory, and will last forever”.

As well as Llorente resigning, the vice-president has also stepped down and he said that Fernando Giner would take his place next Sunday.

See more  Spanish Football News at www.laliganews.tv

By Monica Villar, News Editor, LaLigaNews.tv

Malaga 0-0 Dortmund

Málaga were lucky to leave La Rosaleda with a draw. They have everything to play for next week against Borussia Dortmund.

The truth is Klopp’s men were far superior during most of the game, what saved Málaga was their goalkeeper Willy Caballero’s brilliant performance against the German team.

The first half was all about Dortmund, they set the pace and they had the ball.  Just before the end of the first half, Malaga’s Weligton had the best chance for the Boquerones. A great pass from Joaquín saw Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper having to make a great save to keep his team from going 1-0 down. Just for a few minutes, the teams changed roles; it was Málaga who was going for the game.

Without a doubt the best players for Málaga were Caballero and Joaquín, for Dortmund it was Mario Gotze, however it wasn’t just him that was creating problems for the home side, Lewandowski and Reus also found themselves with a sublime Caballero.

In the second half it was more of the same, Lewandowski had a chance to put their team in front, but hit the ball too wide.

As time went on, Málaga were seeing more of Dortmund’s half of the pitch, but with no real threat. The Germans were unstoppable in the counter-attack.

In the 65^th minute Gotze had another clear chance to put their team in front, he didn’t score a one on one with Caballero.

Just one minute later, Málaga’s wonderkid Isco shot with his right foot but Weidenfeller punched it away, Toulalan caught the rebound but his shot was no danger to the visiting side.

Dortmund needed to be a little more precise at the time of facing the opponent’s goal; they seemed to get to Malaga’s area with ease, but in the end couldn’t finish the job.

The final chance for Málaga came from Antunes, who hit it with his left foot, but it went over the crossbar.

Málaga couldn’t seem to string three passes together and it seemed that Manuel Pellegrini was happy to keep a clean score sheet. Nonetheless Málaga is making history, and they will travel to Germany alive and kicking, with a chance to dream of the Champions League semi-finals.

See more spanish football news stories @ www.laliganews.tv

By Monica Villar, News Editor, LaLigaNews.tv

Valladolid are thinking whether to take legal action after it came to light that Atlético de Madrid’s Sporting director, José Luis Pérez Caminero, had a secret meeting with Valladolid winger Patrick Ebert.

In light of this discovery, Valladolid CF have posted the following press release on their official web page:

“It has come to Real Valladolid C.F’s attention through the media that Atlético de Madrid’s Sporting Director has had at least two meetings with one of our player’s agents. On the 21^st of February in the Vicente Calderón stadium and with the player himself in Torrecaballeros (Segovia), on the 27^th of March.

These meetings have taken place without the knowledge of Valladolid C.F., despite we informed Atlético’s Sporting Director in December that our club was not going to sell our player in the January transfer window and if they were interested in said player, they should hold talks with Valladolid C.F directly during the summer transfer window.

Since these meetings are prohibited by sports legislation, since you cannot negotiate for a player from another club before the final six months of his contract, Real Valladolid C.F has put this situation in the hands of their lawyers, in case there is any damage to the club’s economic and sporting interests.

Real Valladolid has waited until today to make this public because of the important match we had in la Liga last Sunday and to give Atlético de Madrid time to apologise for their Sporting Director’s behaviour”.

See more Spanish Football News Stories @ www.laliganews.tv

By Monica Villar, News Editor, LaLigaNews 

 By Sam Hooley, Reporter, LaLigaNews

Mallorca 2-3 Deportivo La Coruna

Mallorca: Victor 19′, Nsue 86′.

Deportivo La Coruna: Silvio 27′, Marchena 48′, Riki 60′.

Deportivo La Coruna gave their fans something to smile about at last, as they saw off relegation rivals Mallorca 3-2 in what was their first away win of the season.

Despite their recent financial troubles, the side from La Coruna showed no signs of giving up, and the win sees them move to within 2 points of safety.

It was a bad start for the away side as Mallorca dominated the early stages, with Giovani Dos Santos looking dangerous on the right hand side.

Victor came close for the home side, but he failed to convert Alan Hutton’s cross, slicing his shot wide.

But the deadlock was broken in the 19^th minute in unfornate circumstances for Deportivo. Victor’s effort took a big deflection, and sailed past Depor keeper Aranzubia to make it 1-0 to the home side.

Fernando Vasquez’ side responded well to going behind, and were level after 27 minutes through a great solo effort from left-back Silvio. The Portuguese international picked the ball up just outside the penalty area, beat two defenders and slotted past Aouete into the bottom corner.

The game was perfectly poised for the remainder of the first half, although Mallorca will claim that they should have had a penalty. Tomas Pina broke into the Deportivo box and went down under a challenge from Aythami, but the referee saw differently and gave a free kick to Deportivo, booking Pina in the process. Replays showed it was the correct decision.

Deportivo took the lead shortly after the restart through Marchena. Set pieces have proved to be a real problem for Mallorca this season, as they struggled to clear Pizzi’s free kick, and resulted in Marchena converting from close range.

Mallorca thought they’d equalised in the 53^rd minute, but Pina’s curling effort was ruled out for offside.

Much to the frustration of the home fans, Depor doubled their advantage seven minutes later through Riki’s header. Good work from Pizzi saw him dart into the box and test Aouete, who couldn’t stop the ball rebounding to Riki, who scored his 12^th goal of the season.

An 85^th minute goal from Alfaro gave the game a nervy finish for the visitors, but Depor hung on to give themselves real hope of avoiding the drop this season. The win keeps them at the bottom of the table, but sees them move just one point below Celta Vigo and Mallorca, who are both on 24 points. Mallorca need to sort out problems at the back if they are to stay up, in what looks like a relegation battle set to go right to the wire.

See LaLigaNews.tv for the latest news on Spanish football

 By Sam Hooley, Reporter, LaLigaNews

Real Valladolid 1-3 Osasuna

Real Valladolid: Ruben (OG) 11′.

Osasuna: Sola 50′, 60′, De las Cuevas 69′.

Kike Sola scored two goals on his return to action as Osasuna came from behind to beat Valladolid 3-1, giving a huge boost to their survival hopes.

Top-scorer Sola missed last week’s 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid, but was back with a bang this week, scoring two headers to lift the Pamplona team into 15^thplace in La Liga.

Osasuna got off to a terrible start, after a calamitous own-goal gave the hosts an early lead. A cross from the left hand side in the 11^th minute was a straight forward one for goalkeeper Andres Fernandez, but team-mate Ruben went for the ball and headed it into his own net.

The visiters responded well to going behind, but left themselves open at the back, inviting more pressure from Valladolid. Fernandez did well to stop efforts from Oscar and Manucho, and another Osasuna player Alejandro Arribas came close to doubling Valladolid’s lead by nearly scored the second own goal of the game.

But Osasuna themselves squandered a great chance to equalise on the stroke of half-time, when Nino found himself one-on-one with Valladolid keeper Dani Hernadez, but shot straight at the Venezuelan international.

Valladolid came close straight after the restart, but Alberto Bueno couldn’t quite get on the end of a cross.

Minutes later, Osasuna were level with another defensive mistake. Hernandez spilled De Las Cuevas’ shot, which was snapped up by Kike Sola, who headed home from 6 yards for his 8^th goal of the season.

Sola was on the score sheet 10 minutes later, when a delivery from a corner was punched away by Hernandez, but headed back into the mixer from Francisco Silva. Sola with his back to goal was there to head past the stranded keeper to make it 2-1 to the visitors.

Osasuna sealed the points on 69 minutes, when De Las Cuevas robbed the ball on the halfway line, and ran through unchallenged before coolly slotting the ball past Hernandez.

Jose Mendilibar’s side could have scored more goals in the late stages, but the score remained 3-1, giving Osasuna just their third victory away from home all season, and putting them seven points clear of the relegation zone.

The defeat leaves Valladolid 11 points clear of the drop zone, but Miroslav Duckic’s men will be looking over their shoulders, as they haven’t won at home for over two months, which will be concerning for the 13^th placed side.

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 By Scott Mills, Reporter, LaLigaNews

Rayo Vallecano 1-3 Malaga

Rayo Vallecano: Piti (PK) 31′.

Malaga: Weligton 21′, Baptista 55′, Morales 86′.

Malaga temporarily reclaimed fourth spot with a 3-1 victory at Rayo Vallecano as they continue their fight for European football next season.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men took the lead in the 21^st minute when Weligton found himself unmarked in the area to head in a superb cross from the very impressive new signing Pedro Morales.

It didn’t take long before Rayo drew level, when right back Tito timed his run perfectly to beat the Malaga back line and was then brought down by Malaga’s goalkeeper Willy Caballero earning his side a penalty, which their Captain Peli slammed home to equalise.

Jose Carlos then missed a glorious chance to give the home side the lead shortly before half time when he saw his header go wide of the goal.

Soon after Rayo were once again denied by Caballero, when Lass’s shot was saved by the Argentine and could only hit the rebound into the side netting.

Within 10 minutes of the restart, Malaga restored their lead with the ever present Morales delivering yet another fine cross, this time from a corner for former Real Madrid forward Julio Baptista to head home his first goal since October 2011.

Rayo’s heads appeared to have dropped after that goal, seeing their creativity starting to fizzle out, as Malaga began to impose themselves on the match for the first time.

Baptista was soon presented with an easy chance to double his tally, slicing his shot well wide of the goal after a superb cut back from Joaquin.

Morales then wrapped the points up with a superb finish to cap off a marvellous man of the match worthy performance on his debut for the club.

The win was Malaga’s first in five matches, giving them a boost to their European ambitions whilst Rayo remain in ninth place.

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By Scott Mills, Reporter, LaLigaNews

Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona

Celta Vigo: Insa 38′, Oubina 88′.

Barcelona: Tello 43′, Messi 73′.

Lionel Messi cemented his name in the record books once again despite his goal not being enough to earn Barcelona a win after they drew 2-2 with relegation-threatened Celta Vigo.

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner’s 73^rd minute goal meant that he has now scored in 19 successive matches in La Liga.

In doing so the Argentine International has also become the first player to have found the net against every side consecutively in the competition, scoring 29 goals in his last 19 games.

With Messi breaking the record and Eric Abidal returning to the bench, a good day for Barcelona was soon ruined, as Borja Oubina’s late header rescued a point for the home side after Naxto Insa’s opener was cancelled out by Cristian Tello just before half time.

The first chance of the game fell to Celta Vigo’s Augusto Fernandez who saw a blistering effort tipped around the post by Barca’s Jose Pinto. The match then got its first goal in the 38^th minute when a well worked cross from Fabian Orellana found Insa who slotted it in from close range.

The lead didn’t last long though, as just before the break Messi picked out Tello who opened up his body superbly, before curling a short across the outstretched Javi Varas into the far corner.

With the referee waving away any penalty appeals from both sides in the second half, the half’s first real chance came when Varas made a neat save to prolong what seemed to be the inevitable; Messi getting that historical 19^th consecutive goal.

The Argentine finally secured another piece of history with 17 minutes left on the clock, when Tello pulled the ball back from the left flank, for Messi arriving just in time to convert.

It would not prove enough to secure the points for the away side, though, with Oubina’s looping header from Fabian Orellana’s 88th-minute cross levelled things up.

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