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| 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.
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| 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:
My team:
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| Dos Donuts: week20 |
