SPAIN
If you’ve been following La Liga this season, then you know that most of the good clubs, at least Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal and Sevilla have thus far benefited from a freaky schedule by not having to play each other. This ended this week. In the biggest example, Barcelona proved that it was not just good because it was playing weak competition – it’s just good – defeating Sevilla 3-0 with a pair of goals from Lionel Messi. The upset of the week saw Getafe defeat Real Madrid 3-1 and knock the royal club to fourth place in the Primera Division.
Now that the good clubs are facing off, December promises to be an exciting month of Spanish action. This week, Sevilla moves on up the schedule from Barcelona to take on Real Madrid. The match of the week, however, should see a pair of WCR Top 25 clubs face off when Barcelona hosts Valencia.
Table:
1. Barcelona (10-2-1) 32 +31
2. Villarreal (8-4-1) 28 +8
3. Valencia (8-3-2) 27 +14
4. Real Madrid (8-2-3) 26 +10
5. Sevilla (7-3-3) 24 +7
6. Atletico (6-3-4) 21 +9
7. Deportivo (6-3-4) 21 E
8. Valladolid (6-1-6) 19 -1
9. Malaga (5-3-5) 18 -2
10. Sporting G (6-0-7) 18 -6
11. Real Betis (5-2-6) 17 +2
12. Getafe (4-5-4) 17 -2
13. Racing San. (4-3-6) 15 -4
14. Almeria (4-3-6) 15 -7
15. Mallorca (3-4-6) 13 -8
16. Athletic (3-3-7) 12 -8
17. Espanyol (3-3-7) 12 -9
18. Numancia (3-2-8) 11 -12
19. Osasuna (1-5-7) 8 -8
20. Recreativo (1-4-8) 7 -14
Current Matches:
Getafe 3-1 Real Madrid
(Leites 3, 47; Uche 82; Saviola 55)
Sevilla 0-3 Barcelona
(E’to 20, Messi 78, 90)
Espanyol 0-1 Sporting Gijon
(Carmelo 29)
Almeria 0-1 Deportivo La Coruna
(Fernandez 75)
Malaga 4-2 Osasuna
(Apon 56 (p), Baha 62, Luque 83, dos Santos 90; Nekounam 80, Bezunarte 81)
Valladolid 3-0 Mallorca
(Calvo 30, Dorado 57, Goitorn 67)
Recreativo de Huelva 1-2 Villarreal
(Colung 83 (p); Gonzalez 27, Ibagaza 45)
Valencia 3-2 Real Betis
(Villa 10, Manuel 20, Baraja 73; Sanchez-Juanma 56, Emana 64 (p))
Athletic de Bilbao 2-0 Numancia
(Llorente 7, 31)
Atletico de Madrid 4-1 Racing Santander
(Simao 21, Aguero 34, Forlan 78, 81; Mohamed 7 (p))
Upcoming Matches:
Getafe at Villarreal
Recreativo de Huelva at Real Mallorca
Valladolid at Osasuna
Malaga at Deportivo La Coruna
Almeria at Numancia
Athletic de Bilbao at Racing de Santander
Atletico de Madrid at Sporting Gijon
Espanyol at Real Betis
Valencia at Barcelona
Sevilla at Real Madrid
GERMANY
The biggest match of the past week in the Bundesliga saw the second- and third- place clubs face off, resulting in Bayern Munich taking three points on the road and dropping Bayern Leverkusen into fourth place with a 2-0 victory on Friday. Hertha Berlin moved into third place in the Bundesliga after a late goal gave the club a 2-1 victory over Cologne. One of the biggest performances of Matchday 15 took place in Bremen, where three goals by Peruvian Claudio Pizarro helped Werder Bremen score a 5-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The biggest match in Germany, and probably all of Europe, next week takes place in Munich, where second-place Bayern Munich hosts surprising Bundesliga leaders TSG Hoffenheim on Friday. A victory by Bayern will move the club into a tie for first place. With only two matches left until the half-way point, I believe it’s safe to say that TSG has proved itself regardless of the result. If I had to pick a match as the distant-second place match of the weekend, it would be Hertha Berlin at Schalke 04.
Table:
1. Hoffenheim (11-1-3) 34 +20
2. Bay. Munich (9-4-2) 31 +14
3. Her. Berlin (9-3-3) 30 +4
4. Leverkusen (9-1-5) 28 +13
5. Hamburger (8-3-4) 27 E
6. B. Dortmund (6-7-2) 25 +7
7. W. Bremen (6-5-4) 23 +11
8. Wolfsburg (6-5-4) 23 +10
9. Schalke 04 (6-5-4) 23 +7
10. Stuttgart (6-3-6) 21 E
11. Cologne (6-1-8) 19 -6
12. E. Frankfurt (4-4-7) 16 -9
13. Hannover 96 (4-4-7) 16 -11
14. A. Bielefeld (2-6-7) 12 -12
15. En. Cottbus (3-3-9) 12 -14
16. VfL Bochum (1-8-6) 11 -6
17. M’Gladbach (3-2-10) 11 -14
18. Karlsruher (3-1-11) 10 -14
Recent Matches:
Hertha Berlin 2-1 Cologne
(Kacar 24, Pantelic 86; Novakovic 45)
Hannover 96 3-2 Karsruher
(Hanke 12, 18, Forssell 44; Da Silva 48, Stindl 87)
TSG Hoffenheim 3-0 Arminia Bielefeld
(Ibisevic 5, Eduardo 11, Copado 88 (p))
Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Bayern Munich
(Toni 59, Klose 82)
Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Energie Cottbus
(Gohouri 59; Bradley 18 (og), Sorensen 51, Julia 85)
Werder Bremen 5-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
(Pizarro 11, 20, 63, Rafas 44 (p), Hunt 75)
Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Wolfsburg
VfL Bochum 1-1 Hamburger
(Sestak 39; Olic 70)
VfB Stuttgart 2-0 Schalke 04
(Simak 79, Gomez 83)
Upcoming Matches:
TSG Hoffenheim at Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen at Borussia Monchengladbach
Borussia Dortmund at Arminia Bielefed
VfB Stuttgart at Energie Cottbus
Werder Bremen at Karlsruher
VfL Bochum at Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha Berlin at Schalke 04
Hamburger at Cologne
Hannover 96 at Wolfsburg
If you’ve been following La Liga this season, then you know that most of the good clubs, at least Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal and Sevilla have thus far benefited from a freaky schedule by not having to play each other. This ended this week. In the biggest example, Barcelona proved that it was not just good because it was playing weak competition – it’s just good – defeating Sevilla 3-0 with a pair of goals from Lionel Messi. The upset of the week saw Getafe defeat Real Madrid 3-1 and knock the royal club to fourth place in the Primera Division.
Now that the good clubs are facing off, December promises to be an exciting month of Spanish action. This week, Sevilla moves on up the schedule from Barcelona to take on Real Madrid. The match of the week, however, should see a pair of WCR Top 25 clubs face off when Barcelona hosts Valencia.
Table:
1. Barcelona (10-2-1) 32 +31
2. Villarreal (8-4-1) 28 +8
3. Valencia (8-3-2) 27 +14
4. Real Madrid (8-2-3) 26 +10
5. Sevilla (7-3-3) 24 +7
6. Atletico (6-3-4) 21 +9
7. Deportivo (6-3-4) 21 E
8. Valladolid (6-1-6) 19 -1
9. Malaga (5-3-5) 18 -2
10. Sporting G (6-0-7) 18 -6
11. Real Betis (5-2-6) 17 +2
12. Getafe (4-5-4) 17 -2
13. Racing San. (4-3-6) 15 -4
14. Almeria (4-3-6) 15 -7
15. Mallorca (3-4-6) 13 -8
16. Athletic (3-3-7) 12 -8
17. Espanyol (3-3-7) 12 -9
18. Numancia (3-2-8) 11 -12
19. Osasuna (1-5-7) 8 -8
20. Recreativo (1-4-8) 7 -14
Current Matches:
Getafe 3-1 Real Madrid
(Leites 3, 47; Uche 82; Saviola 55)
Sevilla 0-3 Barcelona
(E’to 20, Messi 78, 90)
Espanyol 0-1 Sporting Gijon
(Carmelo 29)
Almeria 0-1 Deportivo La Coruna
(Fernandez 75)
Malaga 4-2 Osasuna
(Apon 56 (p), Baha 62, Luque 83, dos Santos 90; Nekounam 80, Bezunarte 81)
Valladolid 3-0 Mallorca
(Calvo 30, Dorado 57, Goitorn 67)
Recreativo de Huelva 1-2 Villarreal
(Colung 83 (p); Gonzalez 27, Ibagaza 45)
Valencia 3-2 Real Betis
(Villa 10, Manuel 20, Baraja 73; Sanchez-Juanma 56, Emana 64 (p))
Athletic de Bilbao 2-0 Numancia
(Llorente 7, 31)
Atletico de Madrid 4-1 Racing Santander
(Simao 21, Aguero 34, Forlan 78, 81; Mohamed 7 (p))
Upcoming Matches:
Getafe at Villarreal
Recreativo de Huelva at Real Mallorca
Valladolid at Osasuna
Malaga at Deportivo La Coruna
Almeria at Numancia
Athletic de Bilbao at Racing de Santander
Atletico de Madrid at Sporting Gijon
Espanyol at Real Betis
Valencia at Barcelona
Sevilla at Real Madrid
GERMANY
The biggest match of the past week in the Bundesliga saw the second- and third- place clubs face off, resulting in Bayern Munich taking three points on the road and dropping Bayern Leverkusen into fourth place with a 2-0 victory on Friday. Hertha Berlin moved into third place in the Bundesliga after a late goal gave the club a 2-1 victory over Cologne. One of the biggest performances of Matchday 15 took place in Bremen, where three goals by Peruvian Claudio Pizarro helped Werder Bremen score a 5-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The biggest match in Germany, and probably all of Europe, next week takes place in Munich, where second-place Bayern Munich hosts surprising Bundesliga leaders TSG Hoffenheim on Friday. A victory by Bayern will move the club into a tie for first place. With only two matches left until the half-way point, I believe it’s safe to say that TSG has proved itself regardless of the result. If I had to pick a match as the distant-second place match of the weekend, it would be Hertha Berlin at Schalke 04.
Table:
1. Hoffenheim (11-1-3) 34 +20
2. Bay. Munich (9-4-2) 31 +14
3. Her. Berlin (9-3-3) 30 +4
4. Leverkusen (9-1-5) 28 +13
5. Hamburger (8-3-4) 27 E
6. B. Dortmund (6-7-2) 25 +7
7. W. Bremen (6-5-4) 23 +11
8. Wolfsburg (6-5-4) 23 +10
9. Schalke 04 (6-5-4) 23 +7
10. Stuttgart (6-3-6) 21 E
11. Cologne (6-1-8) 19 -6
12. E. Frankfurt (4-4-7) 16 -9
13. Hannover 96 (4-4-7) 16 -11
14. A. Bielefeld (2-6-7) 12 -12
15. En. Cottbus (3-3-9) 12 -14
16. VfL Bochum (1-8-6) 11 -6
17. M’Gladbach (3-2-10) 11 -14
18. Karlsruher (3-1-11) 10 -14
Recent Matches:
Hertha Berlin 2-1 Cologne
(Kacar 24, Pantelic 86; Novakovic 45)
Hannover 96 3-2 Karsruher
(Hanke 12, 18, Forssell 44; Da Silva 48, Stindl 87)
TSG Hoffenheim 3-0 Arminia Bielefeld
(Ibisevic 5, Eduardo 11, Copado 88 (p))
Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Bayern Munich
(Toni 59, Klose 82)
Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Energie Cottbus
(Gohouri 59; Bradley 18 (og), Sorensen 51, Julia 85)
Werder Bremen 5-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
(Pizarro 11, 20, 63, Rafas 44 (p), Hunt 75)
Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Wolfsburg
VfL Bochum 1-1 Hamburger
(Sestak 39; Olic 70)
VfB Stuttgart 2-0 Schalke 04
(Simak 79, Gomez 83)
Upcoming Matches:
TSG Hoffenheim at Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen at Borussia Monchengladbach
Borussia Dortmund at Arminia Bielefed
VfB Stuttgart at Energie Cottbus
Werder Bremen at Karlsruher
VfL Bochum at Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha Berlin at Schalke 04
Hamburger at Cologne
Hannover 96 at Wolfsburg
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