La Liga got underway this past weekend with plenty of goals, entertaining football and a long list of shocks. Although there was some wonderful football, what happened at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán overshadowed all the football. Antonio Puerta suffered two heart attacks and is still in a critical condition. Let’s hope he will have a speedy recovery.
Barcelona started their campaign with new signing Thierry Henry on the bench, with such a star studded frontline there was no room for him in the starting line up. One may wonder, if Henry is used as a substitute he may end up regretting his move to Sunny Spain, in contrast to the King status he had back at the Emirates. Back to the proceedings at El Sardinero (Racing Santander’s stadium), Henry came off the bench and came closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot that hit the post. The fantastic four (Barcelona front line: Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto’o & Henry) couldn’t have imagined starting the season firing blanks! Racing also threatened at the other end but the deadlock could not be broken as the game finished 0-0. Shock number 1.
Other shocks include all three newcomers to La Liga starting with convincing victories; Almeria beating Deportivo 0-3 away, Valladolid beating UEFA Cup finalists Espanyol 0-1 away and Murcia beating Champions League hopefuls Zaragoza 2-1 at home. Shock number 5 came at Mestalla, Villarreal battering title credentials Valencia 0-3. The latter had two stars sent off; Joquin for dissent and David Villa, for mouthing off and diving The Spanish FA have said they will not be tolerating diving in La Liga this season, so let’s see how long this will last as a downfall to this great league is that players do fall theoretically all too often.
Finally, Real Madrid endured a moral boosting win over neighbours Atlético Madrid. The pundits were predicting an away win (or even stating that this was the best chance Atlético had in beating Real in many years, this due to Real Madrid suffering their worst pre-season in many many years). After the first minute this looked the case after the all so reliable Guti (NOT!) lost his marker, Aguero who headed the ball in at the back post from a corner. Real moved up a few gears (they started in reverse to be honest) and took control of the game, playing entertaining football (as Schuster promised). Raul headed in the equaliser and before the winner came Sergio Ramos hit the post with a header as did Guti with a free-kick. In the 79th minute Wesley Sneijder popped up with the winner striking from 20 yards out which evaded Leo Franco via a deflection. These were the remaining results:
A. Bilbao 0 – 0 Osasuna
Sevilla 4 – 1 Getafe
Mallorca 3 – 0 Levante
Recreativo 1 – 1 Betis
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