Week23: Gijon break Barca's record

Sporting Gijon 1-1 Barcelona
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Sporting Gijon 1 - 1 Barcelona

Last night, Gijon did the unthinkable and had the audacity to not lose to Barcelona. The game, which included two exquisite goals, ended Barca's 16 game winning streak. Forzafutbal have a great follow up piece telling us that we should not be all that surprised as Gijon have a wonderful ability to stick such spanners in the works. Of course, before their 3-0 defeat at Bilbao last week, they had previously thrashed Mallorca 4-0 in their own back yard and gave Atletico a surprise defeat courtesy of David Barral (see week 20). It was Barral again who gave Gijon the lead in this game, only for Villa to restore parity 10 minutes before time.

The fantasy stats from the game suggest Gijon truly snuffed out the Barca threat with the champions barely mustering a shot on target. It is a rare occasion where no Barcelona player scores more than 15 pts and a  few negative Fantasy Points records were broken for Barca:

Dropping Pedro a big mistake

• Victor Valdes (-5.5) and Pedro (eulogised by Sid Lowe this weekend) (-1.5) scored negative points for the first time of the season. 

It was the first time since week 15 that Pedro didn't manage a shot on target. Pedro started the game on the bench in the place of new signing Ibrahim Affellay. The dutch winger posted a negative return of -3. Pedro replaced Affellay at half time, but didn't manage any better. Dani Alves also scored a dismal 2.5, his worst score of the season.

All in all, the stats suggest Gijon did something tactically excellent in nullifying Barca's wing attack: something Arsenal will need to look at if they have any hope of overcoming Barca in their upcoming Champions League meetings.

• Messi scored 13 points. His lowest total in a game he's started since week 13.

• Also, despite scoring a goal, David Villa only got 10.5 points, on a return for a player worth 25. He's only scored more than 15 pts once since week 16.

Weel 22 preview: Can Madrid help Madrid?

Can Madrid help Madrid?

Banana skins afoot this weekend. There are several fixtures which should be easy on paper but... but. In form Bilbao should beat Gijon, but Gijon are also in fine form (see last 3 weeks). Villarreal should hand a pasting to Levante, but this is a local derby, anything could happen. Real Madrid must surely get back to winning ways against Sociedad, but Sociedad have been handy away from home recently. And every neutral would like to see Barcelona slip up against Atletico Madrid, if only for a hope the title race, could re-open.

Barcelona v Atletico Madrid

Atletico are wobbly. No reason for Barca not to score 4 or 5. Any of Barca's front three could do the trick. Pedro is on a hot run of form.

At. Bilbao v Sporting Gijon

Both sides in great form, but Bilbao have been particularly strong on the stat scoring front in recent weeks. Llorente and Muniain up front through to Iraoriz in goal should all post good returns. If Gijon win this, it will be another shock.

Real Madrid v Sociedad

Surely Madrid will pick themselves up and get back to winning ways against the Basques. A good chance that Adebayor will start after his goalscoring feat in the cup on Wednesday and he represents excellent value at 8.4 in Fantasy world. Expect lots of shots from Ronaldo as per usual.

Villarreal v Levante

A local derby, but a match of the ilk of Bilbao v Gijon: the home side could easily be in for a shock. Villarreal have no new injury worries and Rossi is on hot, hot form. Sensible money would be on Villarreal and any of their attacking players.

Osasuna v Mallorca

Would expect a home win for Osasuna on the back of last week's triumph over Real. Mallorca however, will have been wounded by their shocking 4-0 turn around at home to Gijon. This match will show whether that was a blip or whether the islanders are on the slide. Osasuna's Ricardo surely a solid pick in gk.

Sevilla's Javi Varas. Great value

Special Bargain of the week:

Seville's J. Varas represents the bargain of the week at 4.46. At home to Malaga, the GK can expect a score well in place of the injured Palop.

Sat, Feb 5 Athl Bilbao v Sporting
Sat, Feb 5 Barcelona v Athl Madrid
Sat, Feb 5 Zaragoza v Racing
Sat, Feb 5 Getafe v Deportivo
Sat, Feb 5 Osasuna v Mallorca
Sat, Feb 5 Villarreal v LEV
Sat, Feb 5 Almería v Espanyol
Sun, Feb 6 Valencia v HER
Sun, Feb 6 Real Mad v RSO
Sun, Feb 6 Sevilla v Malaga

Week 20: Barral of laughs

Gijon goal hero David Barral - on sea

Wins for the top 5 give the illusion of another predictable week in La Liga, but scratch beneath the surface and aberrations soon become apparent. For the second time in a row, neither Messi (19.5 pts) or Ronaldo (8.5pts!) would feature in the top starting 11 of the week; Atletico Madrid lost to relegation threatened Sporting "Hee-Haw" Gijon; and Benzema managed to score a goal!

Barcelona stretched their lead at the top briefly to 7 points on Saturday, yawning to a 3-0 defeat of Racing Santander at the Nou Camp. Iniesta (1goal, 14pts), Messi (1 pen, 1 assist, 19.5 pts) and Pedro (1 goal, 1 assist, 20.5 pts) were the heroes. Pedro has now scored 10+ points 9 weeks in a row! (Messi has managed this 3 weeks running). Adriano, in at full back, exceeded expectations and managed a handsome 9 pts and was 5th top scorer for Barca. Victor Valdes was joint top scoring keeper with 16 pts, suggesting Barca didn't have it all their way. Kennedy Bakircioglü managed 4pts (2 successful crosses and 4 intercepted passes) for the visitors.

Real Madrid strained to a 1-0 home win over Real Mallorca, courtesy of Benzema's 60th minute strike with the Frenchman scoring 15.5 overall. He got a Tackle Won too. Points were spare at the Bernabeau though: Kaka (2pts), who was subbed at half time for Ozil (1pt) and Di Maria (6pt) are proving to be the albatrosses around my fantasy neck: it may be time to shoot them down.



With these losers hogging my midfield, I rewarded my last midfield berth to last week's top scoring midfielder, Villarreal's Cani. Of course though, another prediction was to come to bare as Santi Cazorla (18pts) returned to assume responsibility for the best of the Yellow Submarine's attacking play, laying on two assists for Peppe Rossi as the 3rd placed side triumphed 2-1 over Real Sociedad.  Cani stepped aside, managed 1 measly SOT and a YC to get himself a tedious 3.5 (for an investment of 13). Of course, all in all, this also meant no goals for baby Ruben (4.5), and minimal returns for GK Diego Lopez (3) and Gaspar (3.5) in defence. Curses on Sociedad and their persistant ability to cause problems away from home.

Old (or no) money conquered over new as Valencia romped to a thrilling 4-3 victory over plucky Malaga. Still glad I stayed away from this one though. Goals were scored by Mata, Soldado, Adruiz (14pts) and wunderkind, Ever Banega (12pts) but only the latter two were able to return more points than their value (which leads me to wonder how often players ever do this anyway). Julio "the Beast" Baptista got his first for Malaga and other new signing Martin Demichelis was sent off!





Espanyol kept a grip on 5th place with a 3-1 win at Getafe. More goals from Callejon (again), Sergio Garcia, and Luis Garcia showing they are more than coping without leading scorer Peter Osvaldo.

Athletic Bilbao leapfrogged "the other" Athletic (Madrid) to take 6th spot as the Basques crushed Hercules 3-0. Of course, Llorente scored (but only managed 10 pts) and so did reliable midfield force, Javier Marquez, and the lesser known forward Iker Muniain. Signor Muniain scored for the second game running to take his season total to 2 (from 17 games).

Sevilla continued their surge up the league, bouncing into 8th place, thanks to a 4-1 drubbing of Levante who are now rooted to the bottom of the table. Fabiano's hattrick (putting him top of the weekly scorers chart with 31pts) and a rare goal from forgotten french defender Julien Escude put the league strugglers to the sword. Ivorian playmaker Romaric (valued 5.96 at the start of the week) scored a super 11.5: 1 Assist and 5 Successful crosses being his key stats. However, it must also be noted that Kanoute failed to start, and neither did either of my defensive picks: Caceres and Alexis.



Which, sporting miscellany and regrets brings me to the end of the games featuring my chosen 11.

Aranda, great brace

In other results, Almeria scored an invaluable 3 - 2 win over fellow strugglers Osasuna to get off the foot of the table and go 18th. This game included a couple of braces to produce two of the week's highest scorers in Ulloa (21 pts and 2 goals) for Almeria, and Aranda for Osasuna (22.5 pts, 2 goals)


Real Zaragoza also scored a valuable 1 - 0 over Deportivo. A goal from bargain of the week Boutahar (18pts valued 1.82!!!) keeping Sinama Pongolle's side 2 points clear of the relegation zone.



Goal.com team of the week:

Team of the week:


Luis Fabiano, Sevilla, Forward, 31.50
G. Rossi, Villarreal, Forward, 31.00
J. Rondón, Malaga, Forward, 27.00 

S. Cazorla, Villarreal, Midfielder, 18.00
S. Boutahar, Zaragoza, Midfielder, 18.00
Javier Martínez, Athl Bilbao, Midfielder, 15.00
Xisco Muñoz, LEV, Midfielder, 14.50 

J. Escudé, Sevilla, Defender, 15.00
Marcelo, Real Mad, Defender, 9.50
Adriano, Barcelona, Defender, 9.00 

G. Iraizoz, Athl Bilbao, Goalkeeper, 16.00

Total 204.5


Winning team:

La Moupedia

My team:

Dos Donuts: week20

Week 19: preview

Almería (19th) v Real Mad (2nd) (Sat)

Back in November, Barcelona put 8 past Almeria in a ruthless visit to La Liga' s minnows, and surely it will only be a matter of how many for Real. Mourinho has no new injury worries and it seems he will go with the same front 4 that beat Villarreal with Kaka likely to come off the bench again. It seems worth hanging on to the Brazilian (market 11.78, bought at 10.38) whose value is only going to go up, and the same should apply to Karim Benzema (m 12.81, b 11.69) with Mourinho, sort of backing the Frenchman this week.

Barcelona (1st) v Malaga (16th) (Sun)

And surely another routine win and a record for Barca against the recently moneyed Malaga. The Boquerones have added Julio Baptista, Ignacio Camacho, Sergio Asenjo, Enzo Maresca and Martin Demichelis, but this surely will not be enough to resist Messi et al. Unsurprisingly, in fantasy terms there are no great bargains to be had. Of the front three - Messi (45.83), David Villa (28.14), Rodriguez (21.14) - only the latter looks great value. Villa averages 13 but even when he scored last week, he only got 12.5. In midfield, it is tempting to take a punt on new signing Ibrahim Affellay (4.07), who was on the bench for the past two games and is surely due a first team opportunity soon.



Villarreal (3rd) v Osasuna (15th) (sat)

Surely a home win for the Submarine, who by many accounts gave Real a run for their money, despite losing 4-2 last week. With Ruben starting and scoring in that game in the place of the long term injured Nilmar, this unknown quantity looks set to continue up front with Rossi and looks a bargain at 6.55. In midfield, the attacking options of Cani (10.71), Carzola (15.26, averaging 8.03) or Valero (11.77) appeal. Also, Diego Lopez has to come into the fantasy goal, his price having sank to 11.26 thanks to his conceding 4 at Real. But the yellows can take nothing for granted; Osasuna's Ricardo was the top scoring goalkeeper last week at home to Getafe. Although, this may also say a lot about Osasuna's defensive short comings.

Ruben "Warpath" Villarreal, not to be confused with Ruben, Villarreal

Valencia 4th v Deportivo 13th (Sun)

Valencia have to be clear favourites, cruising into the game on a great run of form, while Deportivo will still be recovering from the 4-0 battering at home to Barca last week. Valencia's Juan Mata scored the only goal last week in their one nil win at Levante and, with the striker penning a new deal this week, looks a safe pick. Although, priced at 18.38, there may be some better bargains around (e.g. Ruben).

Sevilla 10th v Espanyol 5th (Sat)

This is the most closely matched tie of the round with both sides in fantastic form heading into this game. Sevilla have won 4 on the trot and in Kanoute and Fabiano have an in form, dangerous strike force. But, Espanyol have one of the best keepers in the league at the moment in Carles Kameni.

Athl Madrid 6th v Mallorca 8th (Mon)

This should be one of the games of the week but both teams are likely to cancel each other out. Forlan is tempting at 17 but the Uruguayan hasn't scored in La Liga for 6 weeks. Likewise, Aguero (20), is unlikey to have a great time against a decent Mallorca defence.

And the rest...

Saturday

Getafe 7th v Real Sociedad 12th 
Zaragoza 20th v LEV 17th 
Sporting 18th v Hercules 11th 
Athl Bilbao 9th v Racing 14th