REAL MADRID | GONZALO HIGUAIN IS BACK !

Its always good for SPANISH FOOTBALL to recover a World Football star. That joy is also evident at REAL MADRID as Argentine International forward GONZALO HIGUAIN has returned to the squad for tomorrows Liga match against Real Sporting de Gijon. Why the post on the return of "another" injured player? 

1. Nearly miraculous. Higuain was discarded for the season after a "complicated" back operation.
2. Sports medicine has advanced spectacularly 
3. American Dr. Fessler has gained a whole new market & European fame
4. Higuan returns when he is most needed for Real Madrid ( overload of important matches & Benzema injuried)
5. If you suffer a back hernia & need to be operated, Higuain is your example of getting back fine. 

Gonzalo Higuain: photo jesus aguilar

Gonzalo Higuain will be on the bench & may get some minutes tomorrow as part of a carefully planned "back to work" schedule. Nice to see you again Pipa!

REAL MADRID | SERGIO CANALES | THE SHAMAN & THE DESERT

SERGIO CANALES arrived at REAL MADRID CF at a cost of 10M€ from Racing de Santander as a 19 year old midfield promise after having a wonderful & meteoric season 2009 – 2010. Now after more than six months the youngster has had just a few games ( mostly friendlies ) with Real Madrid & many observers had dubbed this “his lost season”, a term not at all positive for a young Football professional with serious long term ambitions.

Young Canales has a few names ahead of him at Madrid in his area of expertise: Ozil, Khedira, Granero & Pedro Leon, with the latter in an even “worst” situation. Apart from the mentioned names Coach José Mourinho hasn´t all the confidence in the player as he would wish, perhaps being Canales lack of big game experience. One may intuitively suppose that Mourinho ( his Football “shaman”) is making Canales go through a particular “40 days in the desert” scenario as a character building exercise that will make the 20 year old Spanish International stronger in the long run. Whatever the strategy there is only one sure way & method that truly works for a Football player, that is, field minutes & playing games.

Real Madrid player Sergio Canales

To this end the Club is thinking about giving the player options outside the Club, seeing that at Real Madrid the doors are currently shut. The Club could very well loan the player next season (or sell with a buy back option) so that Canales can continue with his “apprenticeship” & evolution elsewhere with guaranteed playing time.

A few names are appearing in the horizon as the rumour mills begins to churn as the season gets into its final sprint stage. Liverpool, Arsenal & Chelsea sound from England, while Sampdoria & Genoa sound in Italy. However, there is a Spanish option that has strength & may be more suited for Madrid & Canales: Getafe. Real Madrid is said to wish to recover “home grown Real Madrid junior” midfielder PAREJO for next season & may include Canales in the operation.

Whatever happens, we desire all the best for Sergio Canales because potential & talent are not missing from this extraordinary young player. I hope that he can get back to be a regular player as it would be an injustice to “lose” him in “the desert” of Football.

REAL MADRID - FC BARCELONA | CLASICO OVERLOAD

Lets suppose that we can comfortably bet that both Real Madrid & FC Barcelona manage to tie up their 2º leg Q/Finals Champions League games & get into the semi-finals. With this scenario, Spanish Sports paper "Marca" highlight to their readers that we are heading - as spectators - towards 4 big Real Madrid - Barça clashes once a week all in a month.  

Possible upcoming fixture

• 16th of April : Spanish League - Liga Round 32 game
• 20th of April : Spanish Cup Final
• 27th of Abril : 1º leg Champions League semi-final
• 3rd of May. 2º leg Champions League semi - final

A bonanza for World Football fans & multi million €/$ for Television & promotions. The unfortunate & unavoidable side of all these games is that one team or the other will come out stronger & the other "critically" wounded. This tends to happen when two "Football Beasts" of this size & strenght go head to head.

Love it!

SPANISH LEAGUE FOOTBALL ROUND 30 MONDAY NIGHT GAME RESULT | ALMERIA 1 AT BILBAO 3

SPANISH FOOTBALL tonight with the last match corresponding to Round 30 of the Spanish League in the now habitual "Monday Night Football" match. Here is a quick summary of events , the result & scorers.

Piatti scores for Almeria

ALMERIA are last on the SPANISH LEAGUE classification ladder & victories are important if they are to avoid relegation into the 2º Division with 8 Rounds left to go. Tonight they lost 1 - 3 to ATHLETIC DE BILBAO, & why not say it, got into further "shit".

They started well & gave hopes when PIATTI scored the opener in the 5th min, but the good play lasted very little.

Fernando Llorente for At.Bilbao

Bilbao equalized via youngster MUNIAIN in the 28th min, then TOQUERO put Bilbao ahead in the 51st min & ORBAIZ put in the third in the 60th min.

With these three points At. Bilbao consolidate themselves in the "Euro positions" of the ladder, a profound contrast to Almeria.

SPANISH FOOTBALL | ROUND 30 SATURDAY GAMES SPANISH LEAGUE RESULTS

Top level SPANISH FOOTBALL was back with Round 30 of  LA LIGA returning with three great games with results that may have given FC Barcelona the Spanish League title after rival Real Madrid lost at home. Here is a summary of events, all the results & the scores.

Real Sporting de Gijon gave the surprise
in Round 30 of the Spanish League

REAL MADRID lost 0 - 1 to REAL SPORTING DE GIJON thus breaking Real Madrid Coach Mourinho´s "150 straight home games without loss" record ( or 9 years without loss at home) & allowing FC Barcelona to escape & further opening their classification gap to 8 points. Although mathematically the Spanish League has yet to be decided the advantage to Barça is very significant & puts them firmely in the "box seat" to take this years Spanish League title.

Real Madrid was missing key players like Xabi, Ronaldo & Benzema & looked "relaxed" most of the match. Although they controlled the whole game they missed some very clear chances & were not given an obvious penalty in the first half. However the last point is no excuse, as Sporting defended well & worked hard. So much so, that Coach Mourinho wentl for the victory putting more "fire-power" up front with Higuain, Canales & Pepe ( shifting Ramos as an attacking defender) to attempt to score. However, with spaces, Gijon made one of their very few attacking counter-attacks & scored via DE LAS CUEVAS in the 78th min.

From here it was all rush & nerves, as Real tried everything, but failed again with some very clear chances to equalize. Final result,  a very severe blow for Madrid as they now look onwards to Tottenham next Tuesday in the 1ºst leg Q/Final Champions League match.

Roberto Soldado had a big night with Valencia CF

VALENCIA CF travelled to Madrid to play GETAFE & won 2 - 4 with ex-Getafe player & now Valencia forward ROBERTO SOLDADO scoring all four goals for his team ( 46th, 63rd,70th & 77th min). Getafe got ahead early via MANU in the 12th min before the "Soldado Show", & got another towards the end via SARDINERO in the 87th min.

A needed win for Valencia whos Coach Emery was being questioned during the week & more trouble for Getafe who are not looking good at all.


VILLAREAL hosted an undernamed FC BARCELONA which had Messi starting on the bench, Xavi out with sanction, Abidal with his illness & Pedro still recovering from his injury. It made little difference in the end as Villareal lost 0 - 1 to Barcelona which knew beforehand that a win tonight would virtually give them the Spanish League title as Real Madrid lost earlier their game & the 8 points difference would be a classification table gap to wide to shut.

The first half was very balanced with both sides having chances & perhaps Villareal looking the more dangerous. But things changed in the second half & especially when LIONEL MESSI came on in the 52nd min that allow Barça to dominante proceedings. 

Pique scores for Barça

The Barça goal finally arrived in the 74th min via PIQUE putting Barcelona ahead & later giving them 3 points to - as already mentioned - take the Spanish League title a little bit more closer towards Barcelona. Villareal reacted somewhat & Barça goalkeeper Valdes had to do a "miracle" save, but Barça kept things relatively under control right up until the end. 

Lots of joy at "Camp Barça" as they see via their rear-view mirror Real Madrid drift back onto the horizon.

SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE | ROUND 30 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL continued this Sunday with six games of Round 30 played of the Spanish League. Great matches with comebacks & plenty of goals. Here is a brief summary of events, the final results & the scorers.

Deportivo Lassad puts his team ahead

DEPORTIVO won 2 -1 REAL MALLORCA in a vital game as the home side struggles to get out of the relegation zone gravitational force & constant pull. Mallorca got ahead first in the 26th min via WEBO & the visitors were looking good. Deportivo Coach Lotina must have said something to his boys as the second half saw a transformation that began with the equalizer in the 54th min via XISCO & the second (the winner) in the 66th min via LASSAD.

Levente keep winning

LEVANTE are still on a roll as they secure their mid-table position with a 3 - 1 victory over MALAGA who are in deep relegation zone trouble. The man of the match was Levante player STUANI with two goals ( 5th & 70th min) along with team-mate RUBEN scoring the third in the 8th min. The only goal for Malaga came in the 60th min when SEBAS FERNANDEZ scored.

Drenth is back for Hercules

REAL SOCIEDAD was beaten by HERCULES which needed the points like air if they are to serious consider getting out of the relegation zone. Tough affair all match until PORTILLO scored for Hercules in the 69th min, which was then followed by the "Royston DRENTE Show". The "bad boy" scored twice ( 84th & 89th min) to settle things & secure the points for his team. Real Sociedad finally managed their well earned consolation goal in the 93rd min via IFRAN. New Hercules Coach Djukic praised Drenthe in his post-match press conference.

Colsa for Racing de Santander

Comeback for the visitors RACING DE SANTANDER to win 1 - 2 RCD ESPANYOL. The home team got ahead via a penalty transformed by OSVALDO. Racing took control in the second half & began working their comeback with goals from COLSA in the 50th min & the winner via young GIOVANI in the 75th min. Espanyol will be disappointed as they have lost the steam of the first part of the season.

Sevilla-Real Zaragoza

SEVILLA FC defeated a sticky REAL ZARAGOZA 3 - 1 in a controversial game of Football. Very equalled & fought out in the midfield with Sevilla getting ahead first via PEROTTI in the 43rd min. Zaragoza reacted immediately in the second half equalizing via JAROSIK in the 47th min:

Then came the controversy as Sevilla was awarded a very doubtful penalty in the 56th min that KANOUTE converted. This angered the visitors & shifted their concentration on other things except playing Soccer. The third goal for Sevilla came via another penalty in the 93rd min which NEGREDO transformed.

Diego Costa HAT-TRICK for At Madrid 

Important away victory for ATLETICO DE MADRID 2 - 3 against OSASUNA putting the former just a game out of their seasons objective, the Euro ladder positions. Very exciting & entertaining game with Osasuna getting ahead via SOLE in the 31st min. From here Atletico de Madrid took complete control with the help of a very sloppy Osasuna defense. Atletico forward DIEGO COSTA scored a HAT-TRICK with goals in the 38th, 61st & 63st min.

Atletico then missed a penalty in the 70th min which Reyes failed, but Osasuna did convert theirs later via NEKOUNAM in the 81st min. To finish, there was a red card to Osasuna defender Sergio in the 84th min.

Tomorrow MONDAY NIGHT match: Almeria vs Athletic de Bilbao