La Liga: state of affairs in Europe

My take on Barca's win over Atletico will come later. For now, an update on how the Spanish teams are doing in European competition.

Champions League

The official UEFA website has the group standings after two games.

Sevilla 4-2 Slavia (Sevilla goals by Kanoute, Fabiano, Escude, and Kone)

I'm sure this victory came as a great relief to Juande Ramos, as it arrested a 4-game losing streak and gave them something to build on in the group. Fortunately for them, they have one of the easier groups, and should eventually progress - fingers crossed - despite their current dodgy form. For now, Sevilla sit second in the group with 3 points, level with Slavia.

Lazio 2-2 Real (Real goals by van Nistelrooy (2))

Not the result Schuster would have wanted, given Lazio's troubles in Serie A this season, but it was never going to an easy ground to go to, and a point is certainly good enough keep Real on track to progress. They have the advantage of two of Europe's greatest goalscorers in the Champions League, van Nistelrooy and Raul, and it's certain served them well so far. Real are top of the group, level with Olympiakos on 4 points, and poised to look down from their perch as the other three teams battle it out for the other spot.

(By the way, I see that Schuster has proclaimed Real's defence the best in Europe. Perhaps he has a very short memory?)

Valencia 1-2 Chelsea (Valencia goal by Villa)

Oh dear. Almost every journalist writing about this game presumed that Valencia would win, given the supposed chaos and discontent at Chelsea. I thought so too. Credit to Chelsea, they did very well to win the game, and Drogba's goal was sublime, but surely Valencia could have done better, especially after taking such an early lead. If conclusions are to be drawn from this game, one could perhaps say that Chelsea aren't nearly as bad as everyone feared given Mourinho's departure, and Valencia, despite their winning run in the league (which has just been broken this weekend) aren't quite in the best of form. From what I've seen, there's still some problems in midfield, and some would also point to the departure of Ayala in the last transfer window as the source of uncertainties in defence. In any case, Valencia are second in the group on 3 points, level with Schalke. I'm fairly confident in their ability to progress, but Schalke are a substantial lurking threat.

Stuttgart 0-2 Barcelona (goals by Puyol and Messi)

I've already written about this game, although not at length. I should probably mention that Stuttgart were very unlucky and probably deserved a goal, although as Frank Rijkaard said, Barca really should have put the game to bed in the first 30 minutes instead of wasting chance after chance. In the context of the group, Barca are top on 6 points, level with Rangers, which puts them into a good position heading into the double header with the Scots.

UEFA Cup

Given the great success of the Spanish clubs in last season's competition (3 of the semifinalists were Liga teams - Espanyol, Sevilla, and Osasuna) we can only hope that this season's entrants can do the same. Curiously, there are 4 completely different teams this time around (the other team from last season being relegated Celta Vigo). Sevilla of course have moved up in the world to the Champions League, while Espanyol and Osasuna's fine UEFA Cup runs affected their form in the league and the domestic cup and they could not qualify.

Zaragoza 2-1 Aris Thessaloniki (Zaragoza goals by Oliveira and Sergio Garcia; 2-2 agg, Aris win on away goals)

I can't help but like Zaragoza, who along with Villarreal seem to be the most 'South American' teams in the league. It was great to see them do so well last season and I looked forward to seeing them in European competition. Unfortunately, Zaragoza's early season slump in the league extended to their form in the UEFA Cup, and they were eliminated by the Greek side. It is no doubt an incredibly disappointing result for the club and their fans, but the one consolation is that they can now concentrate on getting their league form back, which they now seem to have done. This season's battle for European places looks likely to be fiercer than ever, and if they're to have another shot at European competition, Zaragoza have to have their act together.

Erciyesspor 0-5 Atletico (goals by Aguero (2), Jurado, Rodriguez, Forlan; 0-9 agg)

Having had a couple of scares in the Intertoto Cup, Atletico put on two displays befitting a club of their stature and cruised through into the group stages. Luis Garcia - who I'm pleased to see back in Spanish football - and 'Kun' Aguero were very impressive over the two legs. It remains to be seen how the gruelling schedule of UEFA Cup football will affect Atletico's challenge for at the very least a Champions League place given the deficiencies in their squad when it comes to the defence.

Twente 3-2 Getafe (Getafe goals by Belenguer and Granero; 3-3 agg, Getafe win on away goals)

Getafe, who qualified for the UEFA Cup because they were Copa del Rey finalists (having beaten Valencia and Barcelona over two legs to get there) barely scraped through to the group stages, having scored two goals and then conceded two in extra time. Given their struggles in La Liga, where they are second bottom on 2 points, having yet to win a single game, this is a pretty good result. However, if they continue to struggle in the league, I'm not sure an UEFA Cup campaign will be very helpful.

BATE 0-2 Villarreal (goals by Cani and Angel; 1-6 agg)

Villarreal have had such great results in recent years in European competition, and it's wonderful to see them back in Europe again. I'm hoping they can go far this season, given the quality of their squad. As in the case of Atletico, though, they have to be wary of the effects an UEFA Cup campaign can have on the struggle for a Champions League place in the league.


Here's one for nostalgic Barca fans: Henrik Larsson's Helsingborg overcame a 2-goal deficit in the first leg, winning 5-1 at home against Heerenveen of the Netherlands to go through 8-6 on aggregate. No prices for guessing who scored 3 of the 8 goals for the Swedish side over the two legs.


This is not Europe related, but for interest's sake, I thought I'd mention that we have a winner in the La Liga sack race: perhaps rather predictably, it's bottom club Levante's Abel Resino. Ironically, Resino was the man who took over in January and led the club to survival last season, but 1 point (!) from 7 games so far this season sealed his fate.

Barca news and La Liga teams in Europe

Barca are obviously Spain's crisis club, having drawn their first game away, a horrifying fate that has surely -

Oh for God's sake. Dictionary definition of 'leaping to conclusions', anyone?

Barca 5-0 Inter Reserves (Joan Gamper Trophy)

El Mundo Deportivo called Inter 'tourists', which is harsh but true, and who can blame the Italians with an important league fixture to come in the weekend? However, a sold-out Camp Nou - yes, 98,599 people attended a season-opening friendly (so much for the fans feeling let down by the Barca team) - probably would have wished to see a few more of Inter's star players.

The team carried a banner reading 'we will play for you' with a picture of the Sevilla defender onto the pitch. By the way, it was the squad themselves who decided on the tribute of wearing his no.16 shirt and not to celebrate the goals scored that day.

"At first the squad wanted the game to be postponed in order to show our respects to the Puerta, although after talking to the directors we agreed that the best homage was to play for him," Xavi said.

"It was a good way for us to send a message of support and our concolences. Before that none of the players had really fancied playing at all."

I feel quite bad for Santiago Solari, who I've always liked and who received a hostile reception due to his status as a former Real Madrid player. He was one of the few Inter players who tried to make things happen and departed seemingly injured. Hopefully he's alright.

Interesting, there was a lot of support for the beleaguered Deco amongst the crowd, which I'm very pleased by. Other than that, the crowd absolutely loved the immense Yaya Toure, chanting his name after his excellent goal. The others to received the same treatment included Giovani, and Messi (seemingly for just being on the field). But anyway, Yaya is awesome. I'm beginning to suspect he may prove to be our signing of the season.

Of the other new guys, we already know what Abidal can do, but it was nice to see Gaby Milito get 45 minutes of playing time. He obviously needs more time, as there were some early communication issues, but it was good to see headers being won in the Barca area for the first time in ages courtesy of him, and his great sense of positioning was evident.

I've been pretty hard on Thierry Henry for a while, but I have to admit he's starting to win me over. He played 90 minutes of the Gamper game and looked very lively despite some rough defending from Inter. I was worried that his pace had gone with injuries and age, but was pleased to be proven wrong. My one concern is with the number of times Giovani has had the ball on the right flank, looked up to try and find Henry in the center with his cross, and discovered that he had drifted to the left, where Ronaldinho was, and that there was nobody to be found in the center. That has to change. Overall, though, I'm pleased with his progress and am happy to rely on his talents in future competitive matches.

I say this partly because unfortunately, Samuel Eto'o suffered a tear in his right thigh tendon about 2 minutes after he came on and had to be substituted.

How long is he going to be out? At least two months. God. I was afraid all pre-season that something was going to happen, and now it has. Good thing we haven't sold Gudjohnsen or Ezquerro yet. And now the thought of having Henry around is very reassuring, despite his own battle for fitness. Well, at least we'll be putting all that crap about the four forwards to one side, but I feel awful for Eto'o, who was still struggling to be fit from his last major injury. Those types of injuries are so tricky to recover from, too. Look at the nightmare Messi went through with his in 05-06.

The latest is that he will need surgery, which will happen on Saturday morning. Good luck, Sammy!

I hate to say this, but Ronaldinho needs to make just a bit more effort on the pitch, especially with Puyol's absence because of injury, since it's hard to have everybody giving their best when the captain's wandering around, too lazy to chase after a pass. His lack of movement was pretty worrying.

On the other hand, young Giovani is definitely a hard worker. I'm reluctant to admit this, given how much I like Messi, but in some ways Giovani has the greater tactical discipline, because he seldom holds onto the ball just a touch too long like Messi sometimes does. Of course, Messi's dribbling runs are just part of his playing style, just like his tendency to cut into the middle from the right, and it's good that Rijkaard has more tactical options, with Giovani more likely to stay wide. The young Mexican still has a bit to learn in terms of general tactical discipline, and sometimes his decision-making is suspect, but that will come with playing time.

Poor old Cristian Chivu had a torrid time against Giovani and must have been relieved to see the boy depart. Except that his replacement was one Leo Messi, who continued to torment the defender.

Champions League draw

Hey. we're in the group of death (again), isn't that great? To be fair, none of the groups look like walkovers this time around, but God. Of the Spanish teams, Valencia have got a tough job themselves. (By the way, how are Valencia still a pot 2 team after doing so well since the turn of the century?) The draw in full:

Group A: Liverpool, Porto, Marseille, Besiktas
Group B: Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke 04, Rosenborg
Group C: Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio, Olympiakos
Group D: AC Milan, Benfica, Celtic, Shakhtar Donetsk
Group E: Barcelona, Lyon, VfB Stuttgart, Rangers
Group F: Manchester United, Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kiev
Group G: Internazionale, PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce
Group H: Arsenal, Sevilla/AEK Athens, Steaua Bucharest, Slavia Prague

UEFA Cup draw

I have to admit, I don't know much about the clubs the four Spanish participants have been drawn with:

Villarreal CF (ESP) v FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) v Kayseri Erciyesspor (TUR)
Aris Thessaloniki FC (GRE) v Real Zaragoza (ESP)
Getafe CF (ESP) v FC Twente (NED)

Also of interest to Barca fans, Henrik Larsson's Helsingborgs have been handed a relative tough tie against Heerenveen of the Netherlands.

And speaking of former Barca players, Gerard Lopez has joined Recreativo on a free transfer.

La Liga news round-up: RIP Antonio Puerta

"Today has been one of the saddest days in the history of Sevilla FC," Del Nido told the club's official website. "The diamond left-footed player Antonio Puerta has left us, a player that changed our lives now leaves us."

The man who scored this goal in extra time against Schalke to take Sevilla into their first ever European final and the last penalty in the shoot-out which won them their second UEFA Cup in 2 seasons has left us. 22-year-old Antonio Puerta was one of the rising stars of Spanish football, and had passed a club medical just 20 days ago, before he collapsed on the pitch just 30 minutes into the first game of the season.

I'm just shocked. Tim at La Liga Loca has a far more eloquent tribute to the young man. Rest in peace, Antonio. I hope you'll be watching the brilliant team that you were a part of from the big football pitch up in the sky.

Understandably, Sevilla's second round Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens has been postponed and is tentatively set to be played next Monday instead. The La Liga game against Osasuna which was to be played on that date will now be rescheduled. The European Super Cup clash against AC Milan will still go ahead on Friday, but will now be arranged as a tribute to Puerta.

Not that it matters next to the death of a young man, but because of the suspension of the Champions League game, UEFA are currently looking for a solution to the problem this has caused for the draw for the group stages, to be held this week. The rules regarding teams from the same country not meeting in the group stages will complicate the draw, given that we do not yet know whether Sevilla or AEK will progress. One solution which has been investigated is holding the draw twice, once assuming that Sevilla qualify and once in case AEK do in their stead.

Real Madrid have decided to suspend their traditional season opener friendly, the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy which was to be played against Sporting Lisbon out of respect for the memory of Puerta. President Calderon and captain Raul both expressed their condolences on the club website.

The fans of Seville's city rivals Real Betis have behaved very well in this horrible situation. Many joined the Sevilla fans keeping a vigil outside the hospital, and many showed up to pay their respects once the coffin reached the Sanchez Pizjuán stadium. Even mad owner Manuel Ruiz de Lopera behaved well, issuing a graceful statement of sympathy.

Barcelona

The club has expressed its condolences for the tragic death of Puerta via a message on the club website, given by captain Carles Puyol.

The scheduled festivities preceding the Joan Gamper Trophy match against Inter have been cancelled out of respect for the memory of Puerta, and the club will donate 10 percent of all proceeds from the game to the research of cardiovascular diseases.

There will be a minute's silence, in memory of both Puerta and former vice-president Nicolau Casaus, who died earlier this year. The acts of tribute set to be carried out in honour of Casaus before the game will still go ahead.

Club president Joan Laporta, technical director Txiki Begiristain and Puyol will attend the funeral of the Sevilla player on behalf of the club.

In other, less depressing news, defender Jesus Olmo has been allowed to join Racing de Ferrol in the second division for one season, although the club have retained a buy-back option on the player, who has played several times for the first team.

Olmo will join former third-choice goalkeeper Ruben Martinez, who is there on loan.

Happy birthday to Thiago Motta, who turns 25, and Bojan Krkic, who turns 17.

Barca news: inconveniently timed international dates edition

Excitingly enough, competitive football is back in La Liga. Here's what's been going on ahead of Barca's opener away against Racing Santander.

squad news

The international break came and went with the fans holding their breath for no further injuries, and thankfully that's exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, Gabi Milito will not be available for selection for the first game against Racing Santander, since he has a suspension from last season which will be carried over, thanks to a yellow card in his last game for Zaragoza which carried him to the five-card threshold. It's a pity for Gabi, who received fairly good reviews for his 30-minute cameo in Germany, but it's just as well, as he's only played those 30 minutes of pre-season action, and the minutes he played for Argentina against Norway were at left-back (criminal misuse, surely).

So given the injury to Puyol, Rijkaard's options are Marquez, Thuram and Oleguer. Marquez is 1) not fully up to competitive level, having played only 45 minutes of the pre-season due to his extended holidays (like Milito and Messi) and 2) crucial backup for Yaya Toure in midfield, so you'd think that he'd be unlikely to start. Thuram is carrying a knock from the Bayern game and was excused from playing for France. It looks like he'll be fit in time to start, from what I've been hearing alongside Marquez instead of Oleguer, which is a bit strange. Thuram himself has been in great form in preseason, and he should get his opportunities before Puyol makes his comeback.

Other absentees include Edmilson with his long-term injury, and Gudjohnsen who is still struggling to get fit. Bojan Krkic is busy taking the U17 World Cup by storm, and Gio Dos Santos doesn't get his Spanish citizenship papers until the 28th of August, so he can't play until then. And then there's Deco, who was not quite fit but came through 90 minutes for Portugal fine, so it looks like he might actually start alongside Iniesta. Seems kind of insane given Xavi's excellent preseason form, but I guess psychologically it's good for Deco to see that he hasn't been left out of the team's plans for the season.

Speaking of injuries and Barca's absent captain, Puyol did turn up to get his photo taken for UEFA the other day along with Edmilson. This was not in fact the first time Puyol met the new arrivals, as he has been diligent as ever and hobbled in on his crutches (hopefully having taken the journey by car first, although with him you never know) to come and greet the new guys on the first day of training with the full squad before the tour.

There's some news on his recovery as well, featuring hilarious quotes from the poor club doctors trying to stop Puyol from overworking himself. Even given what they're saying though, I doubt he'll try to make one of his early comebacks, since the knee is a delicate area when it comes to recovery. It's probably better to play it safe for the sake of his career, since he's already increasingly injury-prone.

It looks like Henry will start on the bench in favour of the old school trident, which is a move I'd entirely approve of except for one thing: Eto'o had to fly to Japan for Cameroon's game against the host nation, and he looked really tired during the game. Then he had to fly back, and he hasn't looked fully sharp in preseason anyway, so I'm a bit worried. Having Sammy back to full fitness would beat signing anybody, but it's been a year since he got that horrible injury and I suppose we just have to be patient with these things.

Projected starting line-up: Valdes; Zambrotta, Thuram, Marquez, Abidal; Toure, Deco, Iniesta; Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi

transfers

I've already paid tribute to the departing Belletti, but I didn't mention that Maxi Lopez has also left, for FC Moscow in a deal worth 2 million dollars. I think his entire transfer was a bit of a mistake by Barca, and the player himself desperately needed more time in the Argentinian league before moving abroad, let alone to a club like Barcelona where he was expected to step for Henrik Larsson. This is a good move for him to develop as a player, as he was never going to do that sitting on the bench, and I'm glad to see him going out on a good note. He'll join 3 other Argentinian players at the Russian club, including rising star Maxi Moralez, who had such a great U20 World Cup just a few months ago to help Argentina bring the title home for a record 6th time.

But back to Mr Lopez. I will always treasure the memory of his one great game for us: 04-05, Champions League round of 16, Barca v Chelsea, scored one and set one up to win the game: the definition of an impact substitute. Thanks, Maxi, and good luck.

It was good to see an article in Sport (and you won't read that phrase very often) defending the possibility of Deco fighting his way back into the starting 11, after all the negative press he's gotten for stating that he'd leave if the club didn't require him anymore. Yes, he sometimes says stupid things, and his behaviour last season hasn't always been exemplary, but I've been over why Deco must not be sold so many times on this blog, I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

More than the positive reasons I've stated before, there's the fact that if he does go, Xavi and Iniesta will have no cover, and that's a recipe for disaster if I've ever seen one. Even with Deco there, I think we could still do with another midfielder to fully cover those 2 positions. (At this point, I kind of miss Mark van Bommel. He was never that great for us, and his playing style is not always pleasant, but he's a true Barca supporter, and at least he added some steel in midfield that we badly missed last season.)

other news

I'd like to note that Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi and Henry have now all come out and more or less said that they'd accept being benched for some games, if not happily, then out of respect for the decision-making powers of the coach. Let's see how well this goes. Personally, and I'll elaborate on the reasons for this in a later post, I'm part of the growing group who want to stick by R-E-M up front, at least at first.

Congratulations to Frank Rijkaard for being the second longest serving coach of Barcelona, at least in terms of consecutive years, just after a certain legendary Dutchman by the name of Johan Cruyff. Couldn't happen to a nicer man, and I mean that in terms of both the honour and the baggage that goes with it. Speaking of which, the official web site has a nice interview with him.

The Joan Gamper trophy is going to be as fun-packed as ever. My only concern: did the management not think about the possible consequences of inviting Inter to our annual warm-and-fuzzy fest? The team itself is fine and fits the bill, considering the invitees of recent years (AC Milan, Juventus and Bayern respectively), but a certain Mr Luis Figo is still playing for them. I'm just worried about the friendly match which is supposed to welcome the new arrivals to the squad turning less than friendly. But hey, hopefully I'm just being paranoid, and that unpleasant business is long forgotten.

(My favourite Figo quote - other than the tragicomic irony of 'white babies, salute the champions', of course - is his comment after his first acrimonious return to the Camp Nou in a white shirt. Describing the fun-packed experience of being pelted with all sorts of objects and an atmosphere which was said by Roberto Carlos to be the most intense he had ever played in, he said sarcastically that it was: "...one of the richest experiences of my life.")

former Barca players section

Congratulations are due to Ludovic Giuly, who won the Italian Super Cup with Roma by beating Inter 1-0 off a De Rossi penalty.

Congratulations are also due to Henrik Larsson's Helsingborg, who got a fairly good result by drawing their UEFA Cup qualifier 1-1 away to Irish club Drogheda United. I don't even need to tell you who scored (again) to put the Swedish club in the lead before their opponents clawed one back, do I? The second leg is being played on the 30th of August.

By the way, there's a great new interview with Henke in the Times. I'm honestly so pleased that he's enjoying the twilight of his career so much and indeed still making a valuable contribution to his team. It will be interesting to see what kind of player his son Jordan makes.

La Liga news round-up: friendlies galore

For many of the big European leagues, the sweet relief of proper competitive football is just a week or so away. Unfortunately, La Liga (and Serie A) are taking longer holidays, with almost all the teams jetting around the world, playing friendlies. Yawn. Thank God, then, for the diverting prospect of European club competition, with the early rounds of the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and the Intertoto already under way.

European Football

The third qualifying round draw for the Champions League has now been made, with the two Spanish clubs involved having had mixed fortunes. Valencia have been handed a relatively good draw against the winners of Debreceni of Hungary and Elfsborg of Sweden. Sevilla on the other hand were lumbered with the unappealing prospect of a tricky trip to Greece (never fun for Spanish teams), having been drawn against AEK Athens, coached - ironically enough - by former Betis manager Lorenzo Serra Ferrer.

I really want both clubs to make it through. As has been pointed out on numerous columns by various La Liga experts, too many people still see La Liga as a duopoly. I've cringed far too many times at the assertions of the ignorant that the likes of Valencia or Sevilla aren't big clubs. At least Valencia, having been regular European contenders for some time, now have a fairly good reputation abroad. Sevilla on the other hand have been hugely underrated. I want them in the Champions League proper so that they can show just how good they are and surprise a few people.

The draw for the second qualifying round of the poor man's Champions League, the UEFA Cup, has also been made. Having made it through their Intertoto adventure, Atletico Madrid have been rewarded with a tie against Vojvodina of Serbia, who beat Hibernians FC - no, not that one - of Malta convincingly in the last round. Here's hoping that Atletico's travelling mishaps do not continue to dog them.

Lastly, this isn't exactly La Liga-related, except for perhaps being of passing interest to Barca supporters, but I couldn't resist mentioning that Helsingborgs of Sweden are also in this round (they're going to play Drogheda United of Ireland), having overcome Trans Narva of Estonia 9-0 on aggregate with a brace in the first game from - rather inevitably - Henrik Larsson.

Yes, my favourite Swede is back in European competition with his hometown club. Helsingborgs qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the Swedish Cup during Larsson's first season with them. What a career the man's had, and it really makes me glad (and a little sad that he left us so soon) to know that he's still out there, and still occasionally banging them in.

Barca

Despite having pretty much finished shopping for the season and laid out a list of the players we're looking to ship out (Maxi, Ezquerro and Motta, if you're wondering), Barca are still plagued with transfer stories, from the ridiculous to the frustrating.

The prime example - and the only one stupid enough that I feel the need to point and laugh at it - is Deco giving an interview to the Sun in which he very politely says that he'd like to work with Mourinho again someday. How this got spun into headlines of Deco's imminent exit, Lord only knows. Anyhow, Deco says he wants to stay, and Laporta says he's definitely not for sale. Besides, does Chelsea even need another midfielder?

On the subject of players leaving the club, it's going to be difficult to find a home for Maxi for obvious reasons (i.e. him not being any good for the past season), and Ezquerro will hopefully have his case resolved before 15 August, with Athletic, Celtic and various Premiership clubs all likely destinations. If he goes to the former, then Barca are likely to let him leave on a free transfer, but otherwise we'll be looking to get a token amount for the player. Considering we signed him for free, it won't be a lot.

The matter of Thiago Motta has only gotten increasingly complicated and contentious. Motta himself is hurt that the club have made it so clear that he's not wanted, weakening his negotiating position with potential suitors. Fair enough, but Thiago, man, everyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish football already knows that you aren't exactly in huge demand at the club. He wants a free transfer, and we want some money (5 million euros is the figure they're hoping for) for him. This could get messy.

Vice-president in charge of finance and transfer talks (that's not his official title, by the way) Soriano is very pleased with himself. To be fair, he has done a good job with all the negotiations.

On to some tour-related news. Barca landed in Beijing (only a two-hour drive from where I was born, incidentally) yesterday, jetlagged and disorientated from the long flight. They'll play Beijing Guo'an - who used to be a decent team but are now rubbish - in a few days time.

There has been much artificial "controversy" over the tour, which stemmed from these very reasonable comments by Lilian Thuram when asked about pre-season tours:

"I do not think it is possibly the best way for the team to prepare," he continued. "But that is how football is and all the big clubs do it nowadays."

Sounds about right. But of course his words (and similar remarks from Zambrotta and Oleguer) have been blown out of proportion by a press gleeful for some pre-season drama.

(Incidentally, if you want pre-season drama, I quite liked the story that Ronaldinho, suffering under the new training regime, shouted "life shouldn't be like this!" - jokingly or not, depends on which source you listen to - at Rijkaard when he demanded more intensity from the sweating players, wilting under the sun.)

There's good news and bad news on the injury and personal front. First, the good news. Carles Puyol is moving forward with his recovery and should be back for us at the end of September. By the way, I re-watched the 04-05 Clasico in the Camp Nou a couple of days back, and God, Puyol played almost perfectly in that game. Nothing got past him. Injuries robbed him of that kind of form last season, but hopefully we'll see that Puyol again.

The other piece of good news is that the three players absent from the squad due to their participation in the Copa America are due back early next week. Messi, Marquez and new signing Gabi Milito will fly into Barcelona and begin their pre-season programme. Hopefully we'll see them in the friendlies against Bayern and Inter before the start of the season. Personally, I can't want for Marquez and Milito to get back to full fitness - that centerback pairing of Thuram (class) and Oleguer (occasionally class) really worries me. Plus, I really want to see Messi and Henry playing together.

Now the bad news. The drama related to Bojan Krkic's call-up for the Spanish U17 side has finally been resolved in favour of the Spanish federation, and he'll miss the pre-season (and probably the start of the season). Normally, I'm in full support of players being released by clubs to go play international matches, but in the case of Krkic, I can kind of see the club's point. Krkic has already played quite a bit for the U21s, so I'm not sure what he's doing with the U17s. I think he's proven that he's got skill some way above that age level. Just to be clear, I'm totally in favour of him playing for Spain when he's needed, but surely he's entitled to stay at at least U20 level? Hopefully this won't prevent him playing a part in the first team this season.

Lastly, and apologies for the Spanish link, but I haven't found any English sources reporting this yet. Poor injury-dogged Juliano Belletti is going to be out for 7 to 10 days, having hurt himself in training in China. This means that he'll probably play no part in any of the games on tour. You know, he's probably thinking that he would have done better to get injured back in Barcelona and stayed behind with Gudjohnsen. Now he's done all this travelling for nothing.

Real

Unlike Barca, Real's South Americans who were at international tournaments (that's Marcelo, Gago, Baptista, and Robinho) have already gone back to work with the squad.

In related news, Julio Baptista has stated his desire to stay at Real and fight for a place this season. I do hear rumours that the club might sell him if their price is met, which is a little sad for him, but at least all the clubs he's been linked to are big ones.

Real played their second friendly against Bundesliga side Hannover 96 and lost 3-0, thanks to 1) the German club being further along in their pre-season, 2) missing and/or injured players, 3) terrible finishing from Higuain in particular and 4) chaos in defence, Cannavaro in particular showing that he still hasn't shed the problems of last season.

It was only a pre-season friendly, though. And hey, they won their third one 5-2, beating Lokomotiv Moscow to advance in the Russian Railways Cup (other participants AC Milan and PSV). The game started in a similar fashion to the loss against Hannover, with errors in defence. Real staged a great comeback from 2-0 down at half-time to win with goals from Guti, Saviola (pen.), Higuain and Balboa. They'll play PSV in the final after the Dutch club beat Milan on penalties.

Sevilla

I have to say, I was surprised by Dani Alves' outburst. (Basically, he wants to be allowed to leave for a 'bigger' club. Read: Chelsea.) I felt that it was somewhat disrespectful of Sevilla, who are after all very ambitious, and who have improved every season in the past few years. If the move to Chelsea doesn't come off, I'm not sure what's going to happen to him. I'd be very sorry to see him go, to be honest. Sevilla are the kind of team who don't depend on any one player, and have sold their star players to good effect before (Reyes, Sergio Ramos, Baptista), but they won't be the same without Alves, at least in the short term.

On the other hand, the club have landed the Colombian defender Aquivaldo Mosquera from Pachuca of Mexico. I hear that he's quite an excellent player, so good work by Sevilla.

They've also been participating in a pre-season Trophy, in this case the Chicago Trophy, starring Toluca of Mexcio, Reggina of Italy and Wisla Krakow of Poland. Sevilla beat Toluca 1-0 and needed a draw against Wisla to claim the trophy. Unfortunately they lost, but as Juande Ramos pointed out, having only trained for five days prior to the games, it's not been a bad workout for the team.

(Speaking of Ramos, did you know that he used to coach Barca B? Although, so did Jose Mourinho.)

Valencia

Valencia started their pre-season tournament brightly, beating an Argentine-less Inter in the Emirates Cup. Unfortunately a re-shuffled Valencia side then lost 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain. I don't think anything should be read into their defeat, other than maybe that PSG are going to have a better season in France this time around.

In my opinion, Valencia are the Spanish club with the greatest strength in depth. They have some of the best young talent, and commendably regularly field 7 or 8 Spanish players in their starting 11, which is not something the other three top sides from last season can say. They've done some smart business on the transfer market, too, although nothing big and splashy - which is no bad thing. What it does mean is that I've not been able to write as much about them as I have about some of the smaller sides in La Liga.

However, there is some news. The most surprising is that Asier del Horno has been allowed to train with the rest of the squad again, with a view to perhaps keeping the defender at the club.

Valencia have also sent Fabian Estoyanoff, who was on loan at Depor last season, back out on loan, this time to newly promoted Real Valladolid.

Atletico

Firstly, two pieces of news, both well-covered by our friendly neighbourhood Atletico blogger, so I'll just link to his comments: Costinha gets into a training ground dust-up, and Atletico are set to leave the Vicente Calderon for the Olympic stadium, when it's actually built.

I thought Atletico were done with their summer shopping - except maybe a couple of defenders, which they seem to need - but then they went out and bought Jose Antonio Reyes. Go figure. They've certainly got enough quality wingers (Simao, Maxi Rodriguez, Reyes, Luis Garcia) to be going on with now.

Atletico minus Aguero and Forlan (both on vacation due to their international exertions) went down 2-0 to the hosts Ajax at the Amsterdam Tournament, with goals by former Barca player Gabri and Wesley Sneijder. Simao apparently played quite well, though. And Ajax manager Henk ten Cate (also known as the much-missed former Barca assistant coach, the bad cop to Rijkaard's good cop) certainly thinks Atletico will have a good season.

Villarreal

The club have conducted their business in the usual efficient manner, snapping up Giuseppe Rossi from Manchester United, thus fulfilling their need for a striker to go with the likes of Nihat, Guillermo Franco, Jose Mari and Jon Dahl Tomasson. Now that I look at that list, actually, that's a lot of strikers. Yeah, Franco couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo, but the others are all useful in their own way.

I really hope they're still in the market for some defenders, because they've let Jose Enrique go to Newcastle, making him the 347th defender to leave the club in the close season. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but they really need some reinforcements.

Lastly, some news on the Juan Roman Riquelme front. Yeah, he still belongs to Villarreal, much as the club and the player might wish otherwise. The latest (very sad) news is that Boca have all but given up hope of landing him on another loan spell, because of Villarreal's asking price. I'm a neutral when it comes to Argentinian domestic football, but I've become convinced that Roman belongs at Boca, and it would be great to see them go to the World Club Cup with him. It's now looking like that scenario will remain a pipe dream, and the flogging of Roman to various clubs around Europe will commence.

Depor

The club have put a deadline on any suitors for Argentinian defender Fabricio Coloccini coming forward.

Coach Miguel Angel Lotina has told Iago, Momo, Jairo and Antonio Tomas that they can go, with loan deals looking likely.

Betis

The club have lost their first two pre-season friendlies, both against lower league opposition, to leave coach Hector Cuper frustrated and demanding more from his players.

Aside from demanding more, he's also identified the ones he wants out of the squad, including Assuncao, who had insisted that he wanted to say with the club. The others are Lembo, Maldonado, Xisco, Alberto Rivera and Fernando Fernandez.

Others

A badly-timed injury to Racing Santander striker Nikola Zigic may delay plans to cash in on the player. I don't think selling him is necessarily a wise move, given their dependence on him in the previous season, but I can completely understand the need for the funds generated to strengthen in other positions.

Zaragoza won a friendly against SD Huesca with on loan striker Ricardo Oliveira scoring a brace and Barca product Sergio Garcia chipping in with two of his own. I really hope Zaragoza do well in the UEFA Cup - they've certainly got the squad for it.

Espanyol lost 3-0 in their game at the Reebok to Bolton. I'd write more, but the reports aren't very detailed. In general, Espanyol have done pretty good business in the transfer window, and their manager is a good guy who knows what he's doing, so they should be set for the season ahead.

Newly promoted Murcia have broken their transfer record to sign Fernando Baiano from relegated Celta Vigo for 5 million euros, which tells you something about the state of things at the bottom of the Spanish league as opposed to the amount of money even the bottom Premiership sides have. I've always thought that Baiano was a decent player despite his lack of consistency, and the club did need a goalscorer. Hopefully he'll repay their faith in him. Murcia have also got Curro Torres on loan from Valencia.

Getafe have let grumpy striker Daniel Guiza go to Mallorca. Guiza isn't too happy about the move, but has no one to blame given his own unwise statements to the press regarding the relative status of Getafe and Mallorca. Once again, Angel Torres comes out on top. He really is one of the more sane and canny chairmen in the Spanish league.

the Spanish league season wrap-up: team by team (3)

Continuing on with my overview of the Spanish season. From this point, I have to confess my knowledge of the clubs begins to vary a bit, so some of these will be shorter.

Racing Santander

50 points

Things looked so promising for Racing halfway through the season, when their little and large strike partnership of Munitis and Zigic were on fire and they looked on course for an UEFA Cup place. They're a very long-ball team in terms of playing style, leading to mixed feelings from some about the prospect of seeing them representing the not-quite-best of La Liga in Europe. (Kind of like the moaning I saw about the prospect of Bolton in the Champions League earlier in the season.) Racing's season really collapsed towards the end, though, and they ended up with nothing.

Still, compared to previous seasons, the lack of a relegation battle has to be a big plus, and they've got a platform to build on for next season, provided they don't lose any of their better players.

Espanyol

49 points

Ah, our city rivals. A decent season for Espanyol, and it will be a shame not having them in European competition next season, considering their impressive achievements this season in the UEFA Cup, only just losing the final to Sevilla on penalties after playing with a man down for almost half the game. They beat some damn good teams on the way to the final, too.

Considering the circumstances of their European qualification last season, which was through winning the Copa del Rey while fighting relegation in La Liga, the relatively smooth waters of this year's mid-table league finish must come as a relief. Plus, they played a crucial part in denying Barca the title, which must be fairly satisfying. (Note: I'm not blaming anybody but ourselves, but Espanyol played very well in both Barcelona derbies this season, and they deserve credit for that.)

Espanyol have already identified 3 positions in which they need strengthening for next season and started signing players. The first of these is Argentine full-back Clemente Rodriguez, previously of Spartak Moscow, who has just won the Copa Libertadores with Boca (more on which later).

Real Mallorca

49 points

As Tim over at La Liga Loca has pointed out before, the Mallorca of the past 3 seasons has seemingly become one of those clubs who perpetually hover about in mid-table, playing stifling, defensive football and not doing anything particularly interesting. I say past 3 seasons because before that they had the services of one Samuel Eto'o for several seasons, during which they won the Copa del Rey and conjured up several famous defeats of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, including the rather unbelievable 1-5 thrashing they administered in the 02-03 season.

Those days would seem to be past, and while Mallorca has had a pretty uneventful season at least they spent most of it not having to worry about relegation, unlike the clubs in my next and last round-up post.

Deportivo La Coruna

47 points

Oh dear. (But a different 'oh dear' to Atletico Madrid.) Anybody remember the time when Depor were regularly challenging for the title and a force in the Champions League? Teams used to fear going to the Riazor. Seems rather far away when you see the Depor of today, but it was only about 5 years ago. Now they're facing bankruptcy without an investor to bail them out, and were perilously close to getting dragged into a relegation battle at times during this season.

To be fair, a lot of Depor's problems are the result of careless spending in those glory years, and now the current management have inherited an aging squad that desperately needs renewal and a whole mountain of debt. They started the painful process of renewing the squad at the end of last season, bringing in lots of young players from other clubs' youth systems and attempting to construct a dynamic young team from scratch. It has worked about as well as you'd expect, with the result that coach Joaquin Caparros is expected to move on.

Depor may not have been relegated, but the hole they find themselves in both financially and in a sporting sense is almost as bad, pending some kind of bail-out from a wealthy investor.

Osasuna

46 points

A disappointing result when their spectacular 4th place finish last season is taken into account. However, like other one season wonders, they were never likely to repeat their amazing feat, especially given the departure of their coach Javier Aguirre at the beginning of the season.

The Champions League was always a big ask for a club with the kind of budget that Osasuna have, and a team who mostly relied on grit, organisation and some crunching fouls to achieve their results. They were knocked out in the qualifying round by Hamburg, which was a mixed blessing, really, in that it deprived them of the revenue offered by the group stages of the Champions League, but enabled them to embark on an impressive UEFA Cup run which only ended with them going down to Sevilla in the semi-final.

So not a bad season, all things considered, although in my opinion Osasuna will find it difficult to work their way back into European competition in their present state.


Next up: those who fought relegation successfully and those who didn't

La Liga title race update

Barca 2-2 Espanyol

Zaragoza 2 -2 Real Madrid

Mallorca 0 - 0 Sevilla

Both Sevilla and Barca blew their chance, while Real march on. In Sevilla's case it was through little fault of their own, having lost crucial players to injury over the international break. In Barca's case...well, Xavi says it best in his post match interview:

"What happened today is basically the summary of the year," he said. "We have breathed life into them [Real Madrid], and we have give them the league...Madrid now have everything in their favour...We will hope that they slip up, but it has been ours to lose. If we do not win this, we will have lost it more than they will have won it."

No disrespect intended to Real, who have shown admirable spirit, mental strength, and in the case of Capello, great tactical insight in his often match-changing substitutions. I think he also deserves great credit for discipline he has finally installed in the Real squad, and I'd be very surprised if they move to sack him after this season.

(Edited to add: Ruud van Nistelrooy is, in my humble opinion, La Liga's Player of the Season, pending the last round of matches. Sid Lowe is spot on, as always.)

Having said all that, it really was Barca's to lose for long stretches of this season, and pending the last round, we have duly folded. No one to blame but ourselves.

In terms of this game in particular, Barca may have had more chances, but as I always say when big teams moan about this type of thing, we can only blame ourselves for failing to put those chances away. That late equalizer from Espanyol was probably only fair in light of the fact that, as much as I admire Leo Messi, the first goal was a blatant 'Hand of God' style handball.

(We really need to sort ourselves out defensively, having conceded far too many late equalizers this season, but that's another discussion which can wait until the end of the season.)

Lastly, great credit to all three teams who were playing the title chasers. Maybe there were secret payments involved as some insist, but as these teams will tell you, they had enough motivation of their own (okay, maybe not Mallorca) to be getting on with. Espanyol always want to beat Barca, and Zaragoza still needed to preserve their UEFA Cup spot. In any case, a great performance from especially Espanyol and Zaragoza, who've both had pretty good seasons. (I hope poor Pablo Aimar hasn't got yet another long-term injury on the cusp of a major international tournament.)

I feared getting my heart broken today. If Espanyol had beaten us at home, thus handing Real the title, I wouldn't be sitting here calmly, typing this post. Drawing is pretty much the same as losing in this instance, only delayed, but the visceral impact somehow isn't the same. And so it goes on for yet another week.

Final day. We can do all the crying and celebrating then.