What a strange weekend, the last to be played before the end of December – against the background of Spain’s general election on Sunday, Barcelona playing out the final of the Club World Cup in Japan (instead of doing normal league duty at Sporting de Gijon), and Real Madrid scoring ten times against nine-man Rayo Vallecano but still being whistled at by their supporters. As if that were not enough, the Spanish sports sections of various newspapers speculated on the possibility of Jose Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid. One newspaper ran their article with the headline ‘Mou anda suelto’ which translates more or less as ‘Mou’s roaming free – beware!’
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Spain is a bit different, as they say, and Sunday December 20th may go down in history not as the day when the country’s long-standing two-party political system (since democracy) finally collapsed but rather when Real Madrid scored ten in a single match for the first time in fifty years and at the same time lost their crown as world club champions. Of course, the FIFA Club World Cup is an entertaining distraction for the supporters of the clubs involved, but had River Plate actually managed to defeat Barcelona then even the most loyal of their supporters would have been hard-pressed to consider them the world’s greatest side. It was actually a bad day for River Plate in a symbolic sense too, because Rayo Vallecano are their brother/sister club. Having taken their inspiration from the socio-political scene originally surrounding River Plate Rayo decided to wear the same colours as the Argentine side, back in 1949.
So River lost the final, Rayo conceded ten, and left-wing revolution dropped its flag to half-mast. Boca Juniors would of course dispute River’s exclusive claims to working-class heroism, but Rayo Vallecano, from the authentic Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas, could at least cling to two comforting facts from their day out to the posher Bernabeu. Firstly, it wasn’t their worst defeat in the top flight, having lost 9-0 away to Barcelona in 1978 (they finished that game with eleven men), and secondly, in terms of politics, Pablo Iglesias – the leader of Spain’s hip new party Podemos, did rather well in the polls and has been instrumental in changing the country’s political landscape. And yes, he’s a Rayo fan, of course. He was brought up in the neighbourhood after moving from Soria as a kid. So he supports Numancia as well, but let’s not complicate matters (they lost on Saturday).
Benítez: “We did what we had to do: scored goals and won.” READ: https://t.co/iNnaO9UvOo #RMLiga #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/EU0GbulDDO
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) December 20, 2015
Real Madrid’s record league win was actually 11-2 against poor Elche in 1960, so they came close to equalling it and making one of their most famous supporters happy. Mariano Rajoy, the country’s Prime Minister is a fan, despite being born in Santiago in Galicia. At the time of writing this article, the polls were suggesting that his party, the PP (Partido Popular) had been voted back in, albeit with a much smaller majority. So maybe Rajoy was keeping an eye on the score as the election results were coming in, and might have permitted himself a smile. This was more than the Bernabéu managed however, with the curious sight of people leaving the stadium as Karim Benzema cracked in the tenth goal. Maybe there is no way of dispelling the bad karma that floats around the stadium at the moment, for as long as the unpopular Rafa Benitez remains in charge and the supporters feel that gluttonous displays such as Sunday’s are really scant compensation for last week’s defeat at Villarreal, the exit from the King’s Cup and the general sensation that there is no real harmony between the players and the coach. At least Ancelotti was funny, and Mourinho charismatic. Benitez is about as charismatic as linoleum flooring.
See how the Club World Cup title was celebrated on social networks #Campion5 https://t.co/O8YRPdCRXy pic.twitter.com/I1SiLLoUEy
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 21, 2015
Rayo were actually leading 2-1 after 12 minutes, turning the score around after Danilo had opened for the hosts after only three minutes. The obvious point that they might have gone on to make a real game of it, had Tito not got lost in the red mist trying to assault Toni Kroos, was not lost on the Bernabéu, and when Raul Baena also walked after 30 minutes after a questionable decision by the referee, Cristiano Ronaldo banged in the penalty and the party began. Except that it didn’t. Gareth Bale’s four goals, which on any other occasion would have been hailed as a sign that he was finally worth the money, were practically ignored by the fans. The goals in general were greeted with mild applause, as if their inevitability dampened their significance. Added to this, the Bernabéu has no particular axe to grind with its poorer neighbours, and the pummelling was watched in a rather discomfited silence.
In a sense, Madrid could do nothing right. Had they not gone for the goals they would have been criticised for indolence, but now the ten goals will be seen as abusive to fellow professionals. Meanwhile, over in Japan, all was dancing and partying. Barcelona convincingly defeated their Argentine opponents, with the MSN back together for the final and Leo Messi opening the scoring against his compatriots. It was River Plate, back in the year 2000, who invited Messi for trials from Newell’s, but who decided that they couldn’t afford the hormonal treatment that he needed. Perhaps therefore, it was inevitable that he would open the scoring, fifteen years on. Luis Suarez did the rest (as he’d done in the semi-finals) and River never really looked remotely like they could compete. Perhaps the most significant statistic is that the title hands Andres Iniesta the trophy record for a Spanish player, overtaking his erstwhile colleague Xavi Hernandez. Iniesta now has 29 trophies, consisting of seven league titles, four Champions Leagues, three King’s Cups, three European Super Cups, six Spanish Super Cups, two European Championships, a World Cup, three Club World Cups and a partridge in a pear tree. It does indeed sound like the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Even better for Iniesta and crew was that later in the Spanish evening (I’m sure that the Barcelona players were tucked up in their beds with mugs of hot cocoa) Atlético Madrid lost their eight-game run of consecutive victories by losing rather lamely away to Malaga, for whom Charles scored the only goal in the 86th minute. All that Atlético needed to go top of the table was a result, but instead of spending Christmas staring down at the rest, they will continue to look up, or sideways at Barcelona with whom they still share 35 points, but with a game more played. Oddly, this game was played between the league’s lowest scorers (Malaga now have a paltry 10) and the league’s best defence (Atlético have now conceded eight).
The weekend also saw the Seville derby late on Saturday night, which ended scoreless after a rather violent game marred the city’s explicit intent to show how the rivalry between the Sevilla and Betis fans is now much improved, and that the city is open for business (and tourism). Indeed, the fans did behave themselves, but the players forgot to. Twelve payers were booked by an admittedly over-zealous referee at Betis’ stadium, in a game that was a rehearsal for the two cup games to come. Indeed, the draw for the King’s Cup produced various derbies, with Barcelona paired with Espanyol and Atlético and Rayo thrown into an interesting mix.
Deportivo and Celta are still in the competition, but managed to avoid each other in the draw. Both won at the weekend, and despite Celta’s recent slowdown, Galician football seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance. Deportivo beat Eibar 2-0 without playing particularly well, with the in-form Lucas Pérez scoring again (albeit from the spot). That’s six consecutive games scoring, and there’s no particular mystery behind Lucas’ rise other than the fact that at 27, he’s a late developer. Depor haven’t lost now since late October, and are playing with unexpected brio and confidence. Their neighbours Celta, who made such a great start to the season, won 2-0 away at struggling Granada without their star man Nolito and finish this first period of the league in the final Champions League spot (4th) whilst Depor move up to 6th, five points behind them.
La Liga now takes its traditional break, but re-starts earlier, on December 30 and 31. Until then.
