Tag Archive for La Liga

EPL, La Liga and Serie A

May 4, 2012 Soccer

Last week, cross-town rivals Manchester City and Manchester United battled it out in what would most likely lead to the EPL winner. With such an intense setting, both teams played their hearts out. In their end, it was Manchester City’s lonesome goal that was enough to come away with the spoils. So, many believe that City will without a doubt win the English Premier League. Man City and Man U’s point tallies are tied but their goal difference is in strong favor of City. More so, the remaining schedule favors Manchester City with their easier opponents than Manchester United. It’s definitely not over but it looks as if the EPL title will end up on the other side of town this year as City strive to bring back the title since they did so in 1976.

Over in Spain, La Liga continues to house the two best soccer players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.  In the end, it was Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, Real Madrid, managed by Jose Mourinho that came away with the league title this year. Real Madrid beat out former Champion Barcelona by a long shot. To Real Madrid’s credit, the Madridistas boasted 3 of the top 5 goal scorers in La Liga so they definitely deserved it.  To my own surprise, both these Spanish clubs who I believe are the best in the world could not advance to the Champions League Final. Barcelona lost against a 10 man Chelsea squad as the German club Bayern Munich unleashed the blitzkrieg to smoke past the Spaniards with relative ease. Still, the talent provided in the Champions League by the Spanish clubs was certainly entertaining. Lionel Messi’s 5 goal game against Bayer Leverkusen and Cristiano’s brilliant free-kicks were all just excellent features of Europe’s most premier league. The League ended with Lionel Messi netting a league record 46 goals this season while Ronaldo followed suit with an impressive 44.

Further west along the Mediterranean Coast is the beautiful country of Italy and their extraordinary league. After this Wednesday’s 1-1 draw between Lecce and Juve, AC Milan has snuck up on the league leading Juventus, trailing them by only 1 point with two matches remaining.  Juve had won 8 straight prior to Wednesday’s draw. I imagine AC Milan basically accepted the second place standing given Juve’s momentum. However, it all seems up for grabs now. AC Milan will play 6th placed and cross-town rival Inter Milan next match and conclude the season against Novara; the 2nd worst team in Serie A. Juve definitely has odds in their favor as their two remaining opponents, Atalanta and Cagliari, are ranked 11th and 15th. As a fan of Ibrahimovic, Boateng and Robinho, I would love to see them pull through with the Serie A title.

Soccer fanatics like me with have a much better idea of who will win the EPL and Serie A after this week’s matches. As the domestic leagues wind down, American soccer will most likely be the league I watch more of. Although, I am anxiously awaiting the Champions League title match and the Euro 2012.

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#Ronaldo or #Messi, Who is More Valuable?

March 26, 2012 Soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are goal scoring machines. There’s no question that the sport would be less entertaining without them. Sure, others would fill their absence but we wouldn’t see the habitual magnificent performances that we do with these two players. Their goal scoring ability is their biggest commonality. They do, however, also have a lot of uncommon characteristics. For example, take into consideration their size, their speed, their nationality, their international marketing, their supermodel girlfriends, and their off-field antics. These are just a few things to consider when valuing a player’s ability to play the game and represent and lead your club.

As of late, Messi seems to be scoring in pairs. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be pulling tricks out of his hat with his extraordinary goals. Messi seems laid back and reluctant to relish the media. On the other hand, Ronaldo appears to be public relations savvy and enjoys the spotlight that’s always cast on him. Being trilingual really helps him appeal to the international community which obviously makes him more popular than Messi (at least in America).

In spite of this, who is a better player? It is remarkable that La Liga is host to both of these football gods. So, if you had a choice to make, which athlete would you prefer to have on your team? What do you think makes Messi or Ronaldo more valuable? [polldaddy poll=6078699]

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#Messi Breaking Records in Style

March 20, 2012 Soccer

Lionel Messi does it again. Day in and day out, he’s always outperforming everyone else. Today was no different. The Argentine international scored another hat-trick today, breaking Barcelona’s total goal scoring record (234), tying La Liga’s most hat-tricks in a season (6, set by Cristiano Ronaldo last year), and becoming the highest goal scorer in La Liga to date. Messi has netted 234 club goals with Barcelona, breaking the 57 year old record set by César Rodríguez Álvarez. What’s even more amazing is that Messi is still young. At only 24 years old, the Argentine striker has years of football ahead of him.  This is great for the sport and for Messi as his current goal scoring record and $43.5 million annual salary (salary/sponsorship combined) are undoubtedly going to grow tremendously as he becomes more and more lethal on the pitch.

At only 5’6”, his height is not a disadvantage. He has impeccable dribbling skills, great awareness, and swift agility. How about this fact? Lionel Messi has scored in all of Barcelona’s past 7 games. That’s quite a streak. Out of those 7 games, he has scored an unbelievable 17 goals. Dude’s unreal. The hockey player Wayne Gretzky was dubbed “The Great One” for his untouchable records and skills; I believe Lionel Messi is “The Great One” of soccer (Yes, I know he has no World Cups titles). He has contributed so much to his club. He has been a part of 75 of Barcelona’s 148 goals this year.  With 53 goals scored and 22 assisted, Lionel Messi appears to be the best player of modern day. Sorry Cristiano.

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Barcelona’s 5-3 victory over Granada today keeps the club’s hope of catching the league leading Real Madrid. It’s going to be tough but anything is possible, especially if Lionel is spearheading your team. Before today’s game, Barcelona wore shirts in honor of English league player Fabrice Muamba who is recovering from an abrupt cardiac arrest collapse that happened this past Saturday. We are all hoping he will make a full recovery.

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Soccer getting some love in ESPN’s Top 10

February 27, 2012 Soccer

Who would have thought that after the NBA All-star weekend ESPN would have hockey and even soccer in its weekend’s top ten plays? Hell, they even had a Bass fisherman’s victory, some mad-man bowler going nuts upon winning the PBA and a gnarly bicycle kick in an Asian foot volleyball match. For diversity, the last weekend of February was filled with great plays from all sports spanning the globe.

Coming in at 8 on the ESPN Weekend’s Top 10 was the Carling Cup victory for Liverpool. This dramatic ending on penalty kicks was well needed for the Liverpool Reds as they haven’t won a League trophy in nearly 6 years. Close to facing relegation last year, Steven Gerrard and his fellow Reds were determined to improve their record and reputation and this victory over Cardiff City was the product of their discipline and hard work. Now, Liverpool sits only 4 points out of the 4th ranked standing. Much is to come within the next several matches for English football.

Further down the line in the Top 10 was 2 Spanish League Plays. The different plays where from 2 different matches but were deemed worthy of the weekend’s # 6 seed. First, it was the Portuguese Prince Cristiano Ronaldo who scored an unbelievable goal with a back heel kick against Rayo Vallecano. How this goal found the net through the apparent blind defense and goaltender was unexplainable, especially when you consider that it was from about 20+ feet out. But this was a Cristiano Ronaldo goal and all sports fans would agree that the greatest sometimes are the luckiest. After the match, the sometimes humbling Ronaldo even told the media that it was not one of the best goals of his career. I certainly agree. Regardless, this play is competing for ESPN’s Best of the Best.

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With all respect to Cristiano’s no look goal, another Spanish League player named Lionel Messi scored his team’s game winning goal on a free kick. Messi, the 24 year old Argentine with 3 consecutive FIFA Player of the Year awards, kicked a tear drop of a shot into the back far corner of the net. The stunning goal was about 25 meters out and came in the 81st minute with the score tied at 1-1. Fortunately, Messi happens to be the best player in the world and proved it again with that kick; saving Josep Guardiola from another loss. A big victory over Atletico Madrid as Barcelona desperately tries to make up the 10 point deficit to Cristiano’s Real Madrid in La Liga standings.

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How about this? Ronaldo’s goal this past weekend but him at a 29 goals scored on the year while Messi’s goal brought him to 28. The funny thing about this close race is that the 3rd highest goal scorer in La Liga is Falcoa with an acceptable 15.

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