Table of Contents
A round-up of some of La Liga’s most intriguing storylines across the week, traversing through the good, the bad and something beautiful.
The Good: When football isn’t enough
At the start of April, Elche went down 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano, and Sarabia told the press that he was ‘convinced we will stay up’, citing the collective spirit as his main rationale. It was the traveling journalists from Elche that felt this was the answer of a manager who had run out of them. Since that day, Los Franjiverdes have won three straight games, lifting them out of the relegation zone, and four points clear of the drop with five games to go.
Naturally Sarabia is preaching caution, but wins over Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Real Oviedo, the latter making them the second-most in form team after Barcelona over the last five games. “We’ve improved our set pieces and high pressing. We haven’t changed our core principles, but we’ve focused on certain details that we didn’t work on as much before,” Sarabia told Cadena SER on Monday.
“When football isn’t enough for certain things, there’s Affengruber,” he commented after the win over Atletico, in which Affengruber had grabbed the game by the collar, and dragged it into Elche’s lair, lionisation intended. Affengruber scored the opener, forced a penalty and a red card by pursuing Thiago Almada to edge of his own box, then assisted the winner. “He inspires the team, when you have that animal behind…” melted Sarabia.
Four days later, it was his defensive partner, the 35-year-old Pedro Bigas, that arrowed the ball from 35 yards into the top corner to set in motion their win over Oviedo. Bigas, in his fifth year with Elche, is perhaps the first lieutenant of Sarabia. A veteran defender that belongs to the era before central defenders were judged by their passing, Bigas is the example he can always call on – ‘If he, at his age, can buy into this, you have no excuse’.
The second goal comes from that aforementioned high pressing, the ball won back by Gonzalo Villar, and rolled in off the post by him. Further evidence that Elche, after wandering in the woods of doubt, have finally found the trail to safety again. It was their first away win of the season, and when they returned to the Martinez Valero, fans and players celebrated arm-in-arm. In a week where we’re throwing around the phrase ‘football as it should be’, this too qualifies.
“Sevilla being there [in the relegation battle] is the least expected thing, and I don’t know if they’ll be ready to be in the mud,” Sarabia mused. Elche have shown they have grit and the spirit for it, despite their stylish brand of football. And when that’s not enough, there’s Affengruber.
The Bad: A rough forward line and a smooth backside
With Sevilla covered elsewhere, our burning eye of concern swivels to focus on Espanyol. Back at the start of February, it was pointed out that Manolo Gonzalez was starting to lose his good humour as a result of Espanyol’s run of form. At the end of April, they remain without a win in 16 games, and for the first time since January last season, there is talk in the Catalan capital that Gonzalez is no longer beyond reproach. Their home clash with Levante seemed a good acid test, even if Los Granotas are in strong form under Luis Castro.
Despite dominating the opening hour, Espanyol found themselves unable to unlock the Levante defence. Only four teams have a worse backline this season. Earlier in the year, it felt as if Gonzalez had a briefcase of tools to unpick the challenge in front of them; the pace and trickery of Tyrhys Dolan, the wit of Pere Milla, the agricultural work of Kike Garcia., Roberto Fernandez’s aggression and the razor sharp right-foot of Edu Exposito. None of that machinery is in operation, dust gathering.
Milla, Garcia and Fernandez are Espanyol’s top scorers with six goals apiece in La Liga, accounting for 49% of Los Pericos’ total. Since the winter break, the advent of their gradual descent back into the relegation battle, the trio have just five between them. At the other end, Marko Dmitrovic has not slackened his level, but two clean sheets out of 16 show that this side can no longer proudly display adjectives such as miserly, tenacious or resolute in their LinkedIn biography, the very things that they did have when Gonzalez inspired them to safety last season.
Espanyol remain 13th, but the gap is down to five points with five games to go, and the only side that they face below them is Sevilla, perhaps the one team more desperate than them. Looking at royal rumble of relegation candidates in the bottom half, Espanyol are in the worst run of form, and save for Los Nervionenses, probably face the most frightening mental demons.
The Beautiful: A move that belongs in Barcelona
One of the benefits of this section is that it doesn’t necessarily have to pay much attention to narrative. Jan Virgili’s second La Liga goal will probably fade into obscurity, ultimately holding little consequence for RCD Mallorca or the relegation battle. We are willing to fight the good fight though.
While Spain gorged on replays of Pedri’s perfect pass to Fermin Lopez in Getafe – not that this is begrudged – former Barcelona duo Pablo Torre and Jan Virgili pulled off a move that belonged in Blaugrana. Torre, starting deep, digs out a scything pass that eliminates six Alaves players from the game. Samu Costa provides a helping hand to our talented youngsters, laying the ball into the path of Virgili.
Although his first goal did come a couple of weeks ago, Virgili has little right to step onto the ball with such confidence. In the time he takes three touches to set the shot, Alaves defender Jonny Otto only manages to close a yard of space, only serving to give him a better angle to watch the ball sail into the top corner.
One of those nourishing strikes, a connection sweet enough that Virgili can begin to peel off into a celebration in one smooth movement. It’s a finish you might find in David Villa’s highlights. Torre’s pass is the sort of thing Sergio Busquets is now getting credit for. It’s a goal that from the top echelon of football.
