Spanish La Liga Thread

There will be a derby that's actually worth watching this weekend in La Liga, on Saturday night, it's the first time Betis and Sevilla have played each other in nearly 3 years, unlike "el classico" (which seems to happen 6 times a year). It's a pity that Barca and Real have ruined La Liga - I agree with most of the sentiment Dominic posted earlier, a decade ago Betis-Sevilla would have been one of the most anticipated fixtures in the league, now it just seems like a footnote.
 
Real Betis has always been a team of choice for me in La Liga I think Oliveira was a beast for them. Seville has always been a strong team until they became a club that sold their top players.
 
Seville derby is f'n INTENSE!! I can't wait!!

Great to have Betis back in top flight where they belong!
 
I remember it wasn't too long ago when Juande Ramos was hit by a bottle, certain one of the most fierce derbies in European football.

Betis are a peculiar side, weren't they in the Champions League a few seasons ago?
 
gerd said:
I love Sevilla...
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Hi Gerd, let's see if that changes things a little then! Betis has always been the underdog, and I know your love for underdogs!

In Spain, Betis is a funny team with funny supporters and a very special personality. Out of Sevilla fans, everybody loves Betis.

It comes from long ago. Sevilla always was the club of the big lords and rich people, while Betis had always been the team of people of the street. Sevilla always had more money, so won more than lost against Betis. That forged a special way of living for the Betis club.

"Viva el Betis manque pierda!" it's a famous spanish phrase (Hurray for Betis even if it looses) and resumes the attittude of supporters: have fun even in defeat, joke about it but have the team at your heart whenever you go.

Betis supporters do even create spanish Betis nicknames for the players. When a guy with a complicated balcanic name arrived to the club (something like Belocidacevic, I can't remember), the supporters decided to simply call him "Pepe". So he was playing at the Benito Villamarín and people chanting "Peeeeeepeeeeee".

They're full of that kind of stories and that's one of the reasons a lot of people is keen on Betis more than to Sevilla, that has historically been a very tough team.
 
WEll said drekkard.

@Abou, hahah true! I'd totally forgotten about the bottle incident and Juande Ramos! Wow time flies! Seems like yesterday but it was awhile ago!

As for CL appearance, yeah they were in CL in same group as Liverpool. Arzu, Capi, Ricardo Oliveira, it was a decent team. Think it was like 5-6 years ago though. Shortly after they suffered relegation but are now back where they belong. La Liga isn't same without Betis and Seville derby. The same way Serie A is simply not as good with Sampdoria now in Serie B and no Genoa derby.
 
They once played in the same group as Anderlecht when that team had a catastrpohical campaign, i think their only win was in Seville against Betis, if memmory serves me well, with a Kompany goal.
 
Betis vs Seville, is Boca vs River plate not sure if any beside PLF is familiar w/ South America rivalry . Drekard summarize poor vs rich . I love watching Boca vs River too! just the chants itself is good .
 
I think everybody here knows about the Boca vs. River rivalry bebo. It's one of the world's most famous.

And yeah Edmundo, I'd totally forgotten about that!! One of if not THE worst big money transfer ever!

Also you guys remember a young red hot blazing Joaquin darting his way past defenders in the Betis jersey defending the colours of the club he loves! THAT Joaquin I loved and it culminated nicely for him winning the Copa Del Rey for Betis and doing that Sevillian dance with the flag just before leaving. Since move to Valencia though, he just turned out quite mediocre.
 
Yeah, I always thought Joaquin would become one of the best at his prime. Shame it didn't, I really liked him at Betis and his first seasons at Valencia.
 
There used to be another fantastic Valencia player (i think he was a SMF or a winger) who faded away...anybody knows who i mean. I might be wrong, but i think he had injury problems.
 
you on about Vicente? he plays for brighton now with gus poyet as manager. he was class about 5 years ago.
 
Yeah.

Vicente Rodriguez.

He and Joaquin were two of the most exciting players about a decade ago. Both were very good as youngsters, fast, great skills, down each wing (one right, one left) and yeah Vicente just got worst and worse with each passing year and you're right, lots of injury problems!

He also wasn't mentally the strongest guy and could be kinda timid.

Shame about both of them because even though they had good careers and achieved quite a bit, they never quite reached their potential I think and could've been even better.
 
anyone noticed that llorente's goal was a carbon copy of Zlatan's goal in the Clasico that ended 1-0? just weird.. :JAY:
 
And they beat Villarreal 3-0 at home last week. So great start for Simeone but it's only 2 matches of course.
 
I wasn't so sure about Simeone, but if he finally succeeds at, at least, drawing against Real Madrid, he will be a hero and I will eat my words. How many years without a single point for Atletico in the Madrid derby? 10, 11?

Come on Simeone, lend us a hand!
 
I think it's about time and they should take at least a point.

Falcao with a hat-trick this last weekend and what a beautiful hat-trick! 3 different goals! A master striker! Good to see Atletico finally playing up to potential. Even if it's been only two matches so far! :LOL:
 
PLF said:
And they beat Villarreal 3-0 at home last week. So great start for Simeone but it's only 2 matches of course.
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I think he was in charge for a 0-0 away at Malaga too, three games against teams of a similar quality to Atletico (given 2 were away) and no goals conceeded.
 
Was he? I didn't know that.

But yeah good start. They're scoring goals and keeping clean sheets. And last time Simeone was wearing the Atletico jersey (as a player obviously), they won the league didn't they? Seems more like a dream nowadays but he can definitely shape this into fighting Valencia and Sevilla for CL places on a regular basis as they should be right behind Barca/Real. Hopefully this is the start of Atletico playing as they should be and it's a good time with the new stadium coming next season!
 
PLF said:
Was he? I didn't know that.

But yeah good start. They're scoring goals and keeping clean sheets. And last time Simeone was wearing the Atletico jersey (as a player obviously), they won the league didn't they?
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Yeah they won the double in 1995/6, he won the league with Lazio too in 2000, then went back to Ateltico in 2003 for about 2 years.

gerd said:
Is Courtois still playing under Simeone?
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Yeah he's played all 3 of those games.
 
Yeah I was a little kid back then but that 95/96 season is where Hasselbaink and Vieri were the strikers and scoring right left and center right?

Good team that was! Also remember the tall strong but rather slow but very good servant forward that was named Kiko?! A Spanish International too and a real good guy. If I recall correctly, a few years later, he even offered to play for free for the club for a year. I liked that guy. Nothing special, but a good target man.
 
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