LET’S TALK MALAGA. To the casual observer of La Liga, Malaga means money. New money. But they have not parked their tanks at the Camp Nou and shot fifty euro notes at Barca.
That is not to say that they haven’t spent of course. No one had a greater net spend in Spain this summer, but there is a plan at Malaga. A structure. The appointment of Manuel Pellegrini is central to this plan, but he is backed up by his general manager; former Real Madrid legend Fernando Hierro.
It also helps to have a beast on the pitch. Julio Baptista has never reached the heights he scaled at Sevilla, but he is beginning to feel at home in Malaga. A decent return of nine goals last season has been carried into this one. He was the match winner on Saturday night in their epic 3-2 win over Getafe, with this jaw dropping bicycle kick.
Gerry Armstrong on Sky said it had a touch of ‘Escape to Victory’ about it. I think there is a touch of ‘The Matrix’ too.
Dull and uninspiring are not words you normally associate with Barcelona, but their 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon was that in spades. It was the twenty-fourth consecutive away game that Barca have scored in though, and it came off the back of their 5-0 drubbing of BATE midweek. So let’s cut them some slack.
Real Madrid won in Barcelona but alas, it was merely Espanyol they brushed aside 4-0. Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick to remind us all of his talents. It’s easy to forget how he was the main man at Real until his injury. There were even some rumours that Ronaldo was getting a bit jealous of his status.
He has struggled for form and a consistent run in the side since. The signing and eventual good form of Karim Benzema didn’t help him, but scoring goals like this gives Jose Mourinho the type of problems he likes: selection ones.
How about Levante? They have a share of the lead in La Liga heading into the international break after a 1-0 win away to Real Betis. Fernando Llorente, a.k.a the Lion King, scored both goals in Athletic Bilbao’s 2-1 win over Real Sociedad. That though, is a small detail. The real story of the match was Inigo Martinez’s sixty-yard stunner. Yes, sixty yards. There are players who can’t run sixty yards. This guy hits the top corner from there.
Valencia managed to squeeze past new boys Granada 1-0. Sergio Canales scored the winner after only four minutes. Their good start to the season continues, though the gulf in class between them and Chelsea last week was stark, despite the good result.
Canales is a gem of a player, one they would do well to keep from Real. There are ways of stopping him though. In what I hope will become a new feature on Vamos – referee’s sliding tackles.
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