Down in the wire in Spain

[Van Basten II]

This weekend was the last one in the Spanish championship, kind of weird that they took so long to complete it while the other main domestic European championships have been completed a good while ago.

Anyway there was a lot of suspense with three teams having still a chance to take the title. Real Madrid and Barcelona were head to head with the same number of points while Sevilla still was in striking distance but needed way too much help.

While having the same number of points the Madrid side had the edge in the tiebraker department, so it meant that Barca had to do better than the Real to get away with the title. Matchup wise Madrid was receiving Mallorca a decent mid-table team while Barca had to go on the road but against future second division weaklings Gymnastic.

To make matters even worse for nervous fans of those teams as it is the tradition, those games were being played simultaneously.

Things started very badly for the Real when at the 16th minute the away side took advantage of a breakdown in the Real defense to take the lead. Then ithey became bleak when it was goals gallore for the Barcelona team with three goals in the first half. It did not help that the visitors were doing a fine job defending their lead.

In the second half, the home side started to play a little better, Robinho had a few chance to put his side on the scoreboard but came out short. Late sub and loaned out Gunner Reyes was able to put one through and the game went from frantic to wild with both teams playing with reckless abandon. However with Madrid smelling blood and the visitors feeling the pressure, you could guess that it was going to be Madrid's night.

About five minutes later Diarra headed a corner kick through the keeper and the Real just like that had gotten back their lead and you knew that there was no way that their opponents would come back from that. For their arch-rivals the trouncing of Gymnastic was all for naught.

Another great memorable evening for Real fans and another bitter night for the Catalan side, this is what the beautiful game will do to you.

Edited June 17, 2007 by Van Basten II