Well the 2nd half was more like back to normal, it finished 3-0 but it could easily have been 3-3 if not for the 'keeper making save after save.

vila-real back on track and defeat for athletic

www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 79,00.html Barca won't be too happy about him telling one of the best young players in the world not to join them.

www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 79,00.html Barca won't be too happy about him telling one of the best young players in the world not to join them.

cant believe sky have only got hold of this today!
it was in the papers last week. to be fair he's only telling the truth. maybe in a couple of years when henry slows down then barça could make a move for benzema. not once have i seen them seriously linked with ribery over here.
barça are playing with eto'o as the sole main striker and considering he's nailed 19 goals this season i cant see guardiola wanting to replace him just yet.

Osasuna beat Valencia 1-0 in the last game of the weekend to move off the bottom, with Sevilla dropping points as well it is shaping up to be one hell of a battle for the last two CL spots....

3 Sevilla 38
4 Valencia 37
5 Villarreal 37
6 Atlético 35
7 Málaga 35
8 Deportivo 34

Can't remember who the Athletic fan on here is, but did they sign San Jose back off us on loan?

that would be john d ....and despite what some might think, myself.
last i heard Mikel San José was back on loan at athletic. big things hoped for him too.

He's a fantastic prospect, if he continues to grow and size up, he'll make it as a centre back in English football, without a doubt.

not too many smiley faces when he left i can tell you. hasn't he been at anfield for a couple of years now?

This is his second year now, like. He impressed massively last year, I remember him playing in the reserve cup final, and he coped really well with Harewood. I know Harewood's sh'it, but he's a big fella, and when he's up against a lad who's only 18 and hasn't come up against someone of his size, I thought San Jose would struggle but he was awesome.

Give him a year or two out on loan and I think we could have a ready made replacement for Carra/Hyypia, I'm really excited to see him progress.

remember little rossi at united? he scored today for vila-real. not doing badly in la liga. think steve finnan's still injured. rumour was he was looking for a move back to england in the transfer window. soft

The weekend in full:

Barcelona 3 Sporting Gijon 1
Getafe 1 Espanyol 1
Malaga 3 Almeria 2
Mallorca 1 Deportivo La Coruna 1
Osasuna 1 Valencia 0
Recreativo Huelva 0 Atletico Madrid 3
Valladolid 2 Athletic Bilbao 1
Villarreal 2 Numancia 1
Real Madrid 1 Racing Santander 0
Real Betis 2 Sevilla 1

The table:

Barcelona 59
Real Madrid 47
Sevilla 38
Valencia 37
Villarreal 37
Atletico Madrid 35
Malaga 35
Deportivo La Coruna 34
Valladolid 30
Athletic Bilbao 29
Racing Santander 28
Sporting Gijon 27
Getafe 26
Real Betis 25
Almeria 24
Recreativo Huelva 24
Osasuna 20
Numancia 20
Espanyol 18
Mallorca 18

[url=http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/futbol-huntelaar-quiero-marchar-madrid/dasftb/20090209dasdaiftb_24/TesHuntelaar: I want to leave Real[/url

Can't read Spanish, so what does it say his reasons are? Judging by the picture he isn't happy been on the bench.

The main reason he's quoted as saying is that he believes Juande Ramos has no confidence in him.

Ah right okay. Tbh I think Madrid should of waited and see what the chances are of signing Benzema at the end of the season.

try other sources for your stories! as is a blinkered, lop-sided propaganda rag for madrid.
marca is much better if you're looking for real madrid stories.

result of the weekend must be osasuna claiming a well deserved 1-0 win against champions' league chasers valencia.
but in terms of spectacle and football there can only be one winner. it's a long time since i've seen a team play such scintillating, attacking football consistently.
100 goals for the season already and we're not even half way through february!

one other thing. who's the racing fan on here? did you catch any of the game at the weekend? madrid laboured to a 1-0 victory, but as they say 'a win's a win'. but what riled me was the persisent fouling by heinze, cannavaro and pepe which went unpunished by the referee. heinze and cannavaro i can understand but pepe is too good to be resorting to that level of antics.

Did Faubert make his debut?

yep and did absolutely feck all... like most of the madrid team.

'eees me. Didn't catch it as I was away last weekend, but could have told you we'd lose by a narrow margin as happened the week before.

Can't really complain about physicality though as we're a fairly, ahem, 'robust' team ourselves. Cesar Navas is nails.

Can't understand why Real signed him. He didn't bring anything to West Ham so I can't see him making an impact at Real.

could say the same about huntelaar... only he cost a bit more

I would say Huntelaar is a great young player but would have done better to stay at Ajax for another season or two to become the complete article.

have you seen how ajax are going? van basten will be out on his ear unless they turn things around quickly