EURO BITES - Relegation battle heats up while Barca’s rivals falter

After the previous weekend’s horror showing from La Liga’s bottom half sides, not one of they gained three points, this weekend sparked a reaction from the majority as they demonstrated they might just have the ‘cojones’ to get themselves out of trouble.

THE WINNERS

Athletic bully their neighbours into submission but come away with a bloody nose

Earlier this season Eibar took advantage of Athletic Club’s Spanish SuperCup hangover during the second round of La Liga fixtures, bossing their more illustrious rivals and coming away with a 2-0 victory. Borja Baston only come on as a late substitute that day after the damage had already been done, most notably by Saul Berjon, who claimed a goal as well as an assist. For Athletic, their Barcelona-destroyer Aritz Aduriz had a forgettable game, as he didn’t force a save of note from Eibar’s Asier Riesgo. On Saturday, it was quite the different story.

Athletic went into the game with back-to-back away defeats in the La Liga, against Sevilla and Barcelona, whereas Eibar had won four in a row and their aspirations of European football were no longer looking so foolish. It goes without saying that regardless of what happens from here on out, Eibar can be extremely proud of what they’ve achieved this season.

To endure the heartbreak of relegation, lose their manager and then practically their entire squad didn’t fill many fans with optimism. Yet the reprieve handed to them courtesy of Elche’s financial woes has reinvigorated the club to ensure they double their efforts to avoid scrapping at the bottom of the league. That’s why, despite losing 5-2, their players spoke of their disappointment at not being able to keep the winning run going. There was no talk of, “Well, we weren’t expected to get anything today” but genuine disappointment. That’s how far they’ve come this season.

As for Athletic, it was the return to form from their talisman, the evergreen Aduriz, that made the difference. Not forgetting the contribution of the influential Beñat (Etxebarria) in midfield behind him, pulling the strings and finally displaying the form which made him a wanted man when he decided to leave Real Betis. Aduriz picked up from where he left off midweek, scoring in the midweek Copa del Rey loss to Barcelona, by producing two finishes of the highest order. The first was a bicycle kick and the second a wonderful adjustment as the cross came in before powering it home. If Messi, Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo had scored those two goals we’d be seeing newspapers’ front-pages dedicated to them for a week. As for Aduriz, he can’t even get into the Spain squad despite scoring 25 goals already this season.

Rayo Vallecano breeze past an injury-hit Celta Vigo, easing the pressure on Paco Jemez

It’s not been easy for Paco Jemez during his time at Rayo Vallecano. He was under no illusions as to how the club needed to be run when he took the job, knowing full well there wasn’t any money available and everyone would be sold if a decent offer came in. After all, in the last 10 years Rayo have only spent €940,000 on transfers. Not many would be able to work on such a tight budget and maintain not only their place in the division but create sides capable of finishing midtable.

There’s a worry this might be the year Rayo don’t quite avoid the drop. It’s arguably one of the weakest squads Paco has had to work with and they went into the match against Celta Vigo on a nine-game winless streak, six of those defeats. And while defeats for a side with a non-existent budget isn’t unexpected, the leaking of goals was threatening to sink them without a trace. In eight of those nine matches Rayo had conceded at least two goals, including that infamous 10-2 loss against Real Madrid.

However the saving grace for Rayo fans is their ability in front of goal. In those same nine fixtures they’d only failed to score twice. Against Celta they showed just how dangerous they could be, particularly from Roberto Trashorras’ set pieces, and blew Eduardo Berizzo’s men away in a first half blitz. Luck was on their side for Miku’s opening goal but they’ll still need a lot more if they’re to escape from the relegation zone.

Sporting Gijon destroy an uninterested Real Sociedad

On paper it looked like being a cagey affair. Sporting came into the fixture with just one victory in their last nine matches, losing the other eight. Real Sociedad have improved since David Moyes was given his marching orders and while not thrilling to watch, they had produced a decent points return considering the level of opponents they’ve faced. In the end it turned out to be a one-sided massacre.

There were moments when you even winced at how bad some of the Real Sociedad defending was, but Sporting weren’t in a forgiving mood – nor could they afford to be – and punished every error. It took less than 15 seconds for Real to hand Sporting the initiative when Rulli spilled a routine cross into the path of Carlos Carmona to score the easiest goal of his career.

The attitude shown by Abelardo Fernandez’s men put Real to shame and they rightfully smelt blood and continued to push forward, hounding their opponents. At the 10-minute mark Sporting scored again. Carlos Vela must have thought he’d brought Real back into the match with a wonderful solo goal – where has that been from his game this year? – but Antonio Sanabria and Sporting had other ideas, restoring the two-goal lead on the stroke of halftime.

Error after error followed for Real and it was Sanabria who made the scoreline reflect their dominance on the field, picking up his hat trick and bringing his tally for the season up to an impressive nine league goals. Rayo and Granada’s victories at the weekend mean that Sporting remain in the relegation zone but they have a game in hand compared to most above them. They need to be as ruthless against Valencia next week.

Honourable mentions: Luka Modric – he ran the midfield for Real Madrid against Betis, putting in one of his finest outings to date for the club. Antonio Adan – the one man who could perhaps snatch the man of the match crown from Modric was Betis’ keeper Adan. He made seven saves to earn his side a 1-1 draw. Alvaro Negredo – after some really poor finishes in recent weeks, the goal against Deportivo should do him the world of good. Lucas Perez – back on the goal trail, even if the linesman unfairly stopped him from adding to his tally.

THE LOSERS

Atletico still can’t catch the scoring bug while Sevilla took the point they came for

It was billed as the match of the weekend but like most heavyweight boxing fights, it didn’t live up to the hype. Atletico Madrid have carved out a well-deserved reputation as defensive kings but for all their prowess at the back they still haven’t found their shooting boots and it cost them against a stubborn Sevilla side.

If you took away Antoine Griezmann’s goals this season then it wouldn’t make for happy reading at the Calderon as he’s played a large part in them being around the top of the table. Diego Simeone plumped for a rather defensive midfield quartet, identical to the one that started against Las Palmas, as he welcomed Sevilla to Madrid. It was evident from the opening 10-15 minutes that there was very little creativity on the pitch and, probably as Sevilla had hoped, they were drawn into a midfield battle of strong and/or tactical fouls.

Yannick Carrasco was introduced at the break at the expense of new boy Augusto Fernandez but despite Atletico playing against 10 men after Vitolo was sent off for a second bookable offence, they struggled to break down Sevilla. Sergio Rico showed once again why he should be considered as a back-up option for Spain at Euro 2016 with another impressive display between the sticks. He was beaten once but the post came to his rescue.

Emery will have been happy with a point seeing as his Sevilla side are without an away win this season. He decided to started with Fernando Llorente and Sergio Escudero instead of Kevin Gameiro and Michael Krohn-Dehli as he looked to frustrate Atletico Madrid as opposed to beat them. I guess, in that sense, it worked. For the neutrals it deprived us of a decent, open, flowing game. Then again, this is a results-based business.

Deportivo must have broken a few mirrors this Christmas as their bad luck continues

Two out-of-form sides produced the most predictable draw of the weekend but the match itself told a different story as Gary Neville’s Valencia were once again forced to come from behind and snatch a share of the points, even if that flattered his team.

It’s now ten matches without a league win for Valencia and they were second-best for long periods of this game too, against a Deportivo side eager to end their own poor run of form. Neville made the bold call to start young Wilfried Zahibo in midfield but it was his mistake that gave Deportivo the advantage. Luis Alberto raced away from him far too easily before playing in Lucas Perez who got back on the scoresheet after drawing a blank in his previous four matches.

While luck appears to be against Victor Sanchez’s men, Neville can’t complain about his ‘suerte’ since taking over. It’s wrong for certain sections of the fans to expect immediate results considering the circumstances in which Gary was appointed but they are right to expect gradual improvement and it hasn’t happened yet.

Alvaro Negredo popped up with a crucial goal in the dying seconds to hopefully give both himself and the club a boost - both need it - as Valencia look to prove they’re still a side to be feared in La Liga. Champions League hopes are probably beyond Deportivo and Los Che but they need to start turning draws into victories if they want to catch up with the chasing pack.

Celta Vigo are finding it tough to last the pace

It hasn’t been an easy January period for Celta as they lost Augusto Fernandez to Atletico Madrid and Nolito to injury. Most sides would feel the impact of losing such important players but it’s even harder for a team with such a thin squad. Celta are having to dip into their youth academy to make the bench at the moment.

There’s a rush to get new signings Marcelo Diaz and Claudio Beauvue up to speed in order to stop their rotten run of form. While speculation continues to surround the future of Nolito, you sense it’s more likely that he’ll stay this January before perhaps exploring a move next summer with more options at his disposal.

They were well and truly outfought by Rayo Vallecano. They weren’t undone by moments of quality but a bit of bad luck and some poor marking at set pieces. The latter is something they can work on while the former won’t always be against you - although try telling Deportivo fans about that!

Honourable mentions: Espanyol - conceding another late goal has undone a fine performance. Can’t afford to keep doing that. Villarreal - benefitted from Espanyol’s late lapse but need to win these if they want to keep fourth place. Real Sociedad - showed their weakness again, this time against a relegation rival.