Week 18: Kaka returns

Kaka came off the bench to score his first goal and points of this season, in only his second game since returning from the knee injury which has kept him out thus far. The Brazilian scored the 4th as Real Madrid extended the gap between themselves and third placed Villarreal to 11 points with a 4-2 victory at the Bernabeau.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick and assisted Kaka to score 37pts and take his tally for the season to 376.5, and his value to 46.84. Like Ronaldo, Messi hogged the points in his side's victory, scoring 25 as Barca tonked Deportivo 4-0 at the Rizor. (Total 330, value 45.83, avg 22 from 14 games.)

Ronaldo and Messi aside, the other striking performance of note was Seville's Freddy Kanoute who booted a mighty 27 as the southerners continued their recovery with their 4th straight victory. The Mali man scored twice in a 3-2 victory at Real Sociedad and Seville now lie 10th.

I had focussed my attention this week exclusively on Real Madrid (v Villareal), Mallorca (v Almeria), and Santander (v Gijon). 5 of my 11 came from Real Madrid. Ozil (paid 5.45, now 11.51) and Di Maria (6.11, 11.15) joined Kaka in midfield, and managed a miserly 4 and 0.5 respectively. I handed Benzema a striker's berth and he coughed up a reasonable 7.5 for his 11.56 value. The Frenchman has scored 10+ only twice (1 goal) in 17 appearances. With Higuain out for another 4 months, it seems likely he'll get another crack at the cherry against Almeria away next week. In defence I replaced card prone Carvalho with bargain R.Albiol, who at 2.81 managed -1 point.

Real Mallorca were an excellent resource this week as strikers E. Nsue (14.5) and M Perreira (8.5) and defender Ivan Ramis (11) all netted for me as the islanders battered lowly Almeria 4-1 in Palma to go 8th.

In goal, Racing Santander's Tono scored me a decent 14.5, despite the home side only managing a 1-1 draw against bottom of the table Sporting Gijon. The lad has done well considering I have him at 8.8 (now worth 12.9). Racing defenders Torrejon and the expensive Henrique were less impressive, registering 0.5 each.

Overall, the pick of the keepers was Osasuna's Ricardo (now worth 14.38), the former Manchester United keeper top scoring with 21 as 15th placed Osasuna held 7th placed Getafe at home in a scoreless draw. Espanyol's Carles Kameni remains second most expensive keeper (15.9 behind Valdes 20.38), scoring 18 as the 5th placed catalans thumped Zaragoza 4-0.

In defence, the top players were:

Didac, Espanyol, 15.00
Jose Angel, Sporting, 13.5
Rafa, Getafe, 13.00
Miguel, Valencia, 11.5

None of these guys scored a goal, and Jose Angel didn't even keep a clean sheet.

Jose Reyes

In midfield, former Arsenal forward Jose Reyes top scored with 20 and got his first goal of the season even while his team, 6th placed Atletico Madrid, were hammered 4-1 by the unpredictable Hercules (now 11th). Malaga's Duda deserves a mention with the 4th highest midfield score of 12.5 as he has emerged as something of a mystery. The former Porto man is the highest price midfielder by far at 20.17 (4 more than the nearest contender, Reyes), but has yet to score a goal this season and averages a relaxed 7.7 from 7 games.

Jose Reyes, A.Mad, 20.00
J. De Guzman, Mallorca, 16.00
Javier Martinez, At. Bilbao 16.00
Duda, Malaga, 12.5

Ex Premier league Quincy Owusu Abeye also plays for Malaga and scored 2.5. The former Arsenal, Birmingham and Portsmouth striker has not scored more than 5 since week 6.



Best possible side this week (not including Messi or Ronaldo)?

Kanoute, Sev, 27.00
Luis Garcia, Espanyol, 20.00
Luis Fabiano, Seville, 16.5

Jose Reyes, A.Mad, 20.00
J. De Guzman, Mallorca, 16.00
Javier Martinez, At. Bilbao 16.00
Duda, Malaga, 12.5

Didac, Espanyol, 15.00
Jose Angel, Sporting, 13.5
Rafa, Getafe, 13.00

Ricardo, Osasuna, 21

Total = 174.5


Winning side:

LUNG - 133pts

Ronaldo, Real Mad, 37
Kanoute, Seville, 27
Trezeguet, Hercules, 13.5

Vicente, Valencia, 2.5
Ozil, Real Mad, 4
Alonso, Real Mad, 2.5
Khedeira, Real Mad 0

Ramis, Mallorca, 11
Pique, Barca, 10.5
Carvalho, Real Mad, 1

Ricardo, Osasuna, 21