Last Week in Las Ligas

By Jake Appleman and Oliver Price

Caught two games live during my trip to Spain, which you can read about in my forthcoming Vacay notes. Here, then, are some other videos worth watching from the Spanish league.

This past week:

Racing 2 Real Madrid 1  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfr4bOLFJ-w

Valencia 2 Sevilla 0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T91vZv4Ch4o

Atletico 1 Levante 0. I was there with friends. This is the goal that made our day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5dMCp1INdo

And this is what it was like to be there, except it was better, and these people were stuck way up, and shielded from the sun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLNrVxOD7gs

From the weekend of April 8:

Sevilla 0 Racing 0 Probably as good as a 0-0 tie live gets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mflgGv_mUn0

Also: Check out Leo Messi against Getafe in the Copa Del Rey. Shades of Maradona. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYy9QAFJk64

Loads of football to bring you after our week off-Here’s some of the best

Premiership

Everton 4-1 Fulham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_PrXOOm0o&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fcategory%2Fvideos%2Fpage%2F11%2F

Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nkf9_chelsea-vs-tottenham-goal

Arsenal 0-1 West Ham

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nkx0_arsenal-vs-west-ham-goal

Portsmouth 2-1 Manchester United

A fantastically comical own goal from Rio and United drop their first points in a while

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nkqv_portsmouth-vs-man-utd-goal

Reading 1-2 Liverpool

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nkqv_portsmouth-vs-man-utd-goal

Middlesbrough 4-1 Watord

Middlesbrough probably aren’t goin’ down

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nlkj_middlesbrough-vs-watford-goals

Blackburn 1-2 Aston Villa

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nlhj_blackburn-vs-aston-villa-goals

Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idW0wNPB16Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efootytube%2Ecom%2Fcategory%2Fvideos%2Fpage%2F6%2F

Champions League

Bayern Munich 0-2 AC Milan

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1owcb_bayern-munich-v-ac-milan-ssn-match

Liverpool 1-0 PSV Eindhoven

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1owal_liverpool-v-psv-ssn-match-report

Valencia 1-2 Chelsea

Chelsea man up to beat Valencia- leavin a grand total of zero Spanish teams in the semis – check out the Canizares save- phenomenal!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1oknu_valencia-vs-chelsea-highlights

Manchester Utd 7-1 Roma

Not much you can say- just watch and enjoy as Roma and Totti, who declared ‘Ferguson will remember my name’ is…..well shall we say humbled

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1okhv_manchester-united-v-roma-all-the-go

Uefa Cup

Tottenham 2-2 Sevilla

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1p71k_spurs-v-sevilla-home-made-highlight

Spurs go out of the Uefa cup…there’s a shame

Premiership

Arsenal 2-1 Bolton

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ppf8_arsenal-vs-bolton

Man City 0-0 Liverpool

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1pr6i_man-city-lfc-highlights

FA- Cup Semi’s

Manchester United 4- 1 Watford– At Villa Park

Ronaldo celebrates his new contract with a goal, as does Richardson and Rooney gets a double

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1prl6_manchester-united-v-watford-140407

Chelsea 2-1 Blackburn– At Old Trafford (set to the Rolling Stones for some reason? Enjoy)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1q2l3_chelsea-vs-blackburn-goals

Premiership

Man Utd 2-0 Sheffield Utd

The Red’s not quite as dominant as last week- but Paddy Kenny still had a fairly busy night- goals from Carrick and Rooney

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qsdb_manchester-united-v-sheffield-unite

West Ham 1-4 Chelsea

SWP the hero as he scores two fantastic goals to carry the Blues past the Hammers

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r4bz_whu-v-chelsea-ssn-match-report

Liverpool 2-0 Middlesbrough

A brace from Stevie Gerrard carries the ‘pool through to move back up to third

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r4dc_liverpool-v-middlesbrough-ssn-match

Arsenal 3-1 Man City

The Gunners all but secure fourth place with a good win over a scrappy City side- check out Fabregas pile driver- his second in two games

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qsga_arsenal-v-manchester-city-report

Everton 2-1 Charlton

YOU BEAUTY! Mcfadden tonks home the winner and Charlton are heading down to the Championship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8GHVkoiBRE

And finally….

RONALDO

– The news that Cristiano Ronaldo- or from now on just Ronaldo, because that guy at Milan just cant compete with this guy anymore, signed a 5 year contract with the red Devils this week worth a whopping $240,000 a week- making him one of the highest earners in the Premiership along with a few of the big Chelsea stars and fellow Manchester duo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand-

Ronaldo could probably have asked for $500,000 a week and Alex Ferguson would have backed him, seeing as this year has marked a complete turn around in the Portuguese sensations fortunes. Widely expected to pin his tail between his legs and scarper for Spain and the warm embrace of sunny Madrid after the debacle at the World Cup, Ferguson managed to persuade the youngster to give Manchester another shot. Entering the season Ronaldo was possibly the most hated footballer in Britain, somewhat reminiscent of when Beckham returned in ‘98. Wrongly or rightly Ronaldo was targeted for abuse by every away fan in England and even had to suffer the indignation of finding his house vandalised. However Ronaldo managed to win back the support of his team mates, especially Wayne Rooney who had felt so betrayed by his team mates actions a few weeks before and started the season in good spirits. United started the season on fire with Ronaldo inspiring his team to a 5-1 win over Fulham and scoring in the process. The hot start continued with the winger leading United to 12 points in their first 4 games. Things came undone at Arsenal a few weeks later, however it seems Ronaldo has not had a bad game since as he set up the goal against Benfica that started United’s upward march again. Around the middle of the campaign Ronaldo really began to find his form, including an unstoppable performance off the bench at Wigan (two goals in four minutes) and a double at Villa. A few games later and talk began. Was Ronaldo the best player in the world? Even yours truly began to believe the hype and started tuning in on the regular for what has become the greatest footballing show on earth. There is nothing quite like watching Ronaldo twist, turn, step, feint, dodge and then zoom past his defender at speed. Defenders literally have no answer for him. He is as close to unstoppable as I have ever seen on a football field. He has two great feet, strength, absurd speed, height and a good head, intelligence, crossing, finishing and he’s even cut the diving out, my main gripe with his football- The question is does anyone else even come close at this current moment?

Ronaldinho is great, but he doesn’t have the pace of Manchester’s no. 7 or it seems judging from the pictures doing the rounds in Barcelona of the main man drinking and smoking it up in clubs, the desire

Kaka is also having a great season and is probably Ronaldo’s main rival for the world footballer of the year award, but simply is not as deadly-

The closest in history to his ability to run with the ball- Maradonna? Well he was incredible, but when you consider the two at the same age it’s not ridiculous to suggest that Ronaldo is in the same league, same goes for George Best, a similar sort of player. When you consider that Ronaldo is 6’2 compared to the 5’5 Maradonna and that Ronaldo appears to have a much more grounded outlook on life than the wild Argentinean or the constantly drunk Irishman its not outlandish to assume that Ronaldo could well do things we have not seen any player do….ever.

His 21 goals (and counting) from the wing are preposterous and team that with the 20 assists he has (compared to seven last year) and your looking at the top ‘point’ scorer (if you look at it from a hockey point of view) in the Premiership. He’s not all stats either as his stunning footwork aggravates opposition players into wild tackles (if anyone saw the Middlesbrough game in the FA Cup you’ll catch my drift) and he has to be defended by at least two players at all times as one player has no chance of even coming close- As a sports fan I can honestly say I have not witnessed as thrilling a spectacle as Ronaldo anywhere. Vick twisting and turning, running for a touchdown comes close, so does watching Kobe take on an entire team on the way to yet another 50 point game, watching Roy Jones beat snot out of yet another poor sap in his prime was another wonderful example of an athlete at his peak, but none right now can match the unbridled genius(and now with added substance) of the 22 year old. So I urge you, buy satellite TV if you have too- (or go to www.sopcast.com – download it and watch every Manchester game you can for the rest of the season) because quite honestly there is no other show on earth that compares-

Here’s a couple of fun vids to show you what you’re missing- I have got a feeling they may not be the last I ever post-

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/ronaldo/video/x6jkc_cristiano-ronaldo-football

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/ronaldo/video/x1qwkg_cristiano-ronaldo-compilations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwVYssbreU

Update- Obviously Pele has to bring the party down (there’s a surprise-) he announced Thursday that Ronaldo will have to wait a few years before he can be called the best player in the world….That’s odd Pele? Don’t they have the award every year to determine who the best player is that year?. idiot-