Revista de la Liga with Graham Hunter

* WHAT A TOUGH WEEKEND. SPAIN PAID ITS RESPECTS TO A STRIKER WHO DIED ON THE PITCH, THERE WERE TRIBUTES TO AND TEARS FOR JESUS DE MIGUEL - A STRIKER WHO’D BEEN LIKED WHEREVER HE WENT BUT WHO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY HADN’T PREVIOUSLY HEARD OF.* SPAIN IS A PLACE WHERE CEREMONY, TRADITION, CIVIL BEHAVIOUR, COMMUNITY AND FAMILY ARE ALL HELD TO BE VITAL AND SO - DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE MACHINE ROLLED ON AND BIG ISSUES WERE AT STAKE - THE FLOWERS, THE MINUTE’S SILENCE, THE GAMES PAUSED ON NINE MINUTES ALL OF THOSE MARKED A SADNESS AND A SHOCK AT ‘ONE OF OURS’ BEING TAKEN AWAY… AND YET….AND YET… WHAT I THINK I SAW IN THE FIRST LIGA MATCH WAS SOME PLAYERS AND SOME STAFF, SUBCONSCIOUSLY OR OTHERWISE, ALREADY TRYING TO PLAY ON THE FACT THAT THERE WAS HEIGHTENED FEARS AROUND CLASHES BETWEEN PLAYERS, HEAD KNOCKS….. THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT I SAW AT LEAST. FOOTBALL IS A MULTI-CHARACTER SPORT - LOVING AND GIVING - CYNICAL AND HARD - ALL AT THE SAME TIME.* ANYWAY - WAS THERE A CORROLATION BETWEN THE MOOD OF THE COUNTRY WHEN IT CAME TO FOOTBALL TIME AND THE FACT THAT SO FEW GOALS WERE SCORED. WHO CAN TELL.* BUT IF THERE WAS A PAUCITY OF SCORING THERE WAS SOME OF THE FINEST ASSIST GIVING THAT YOU COULD EVER WISH FOR OR IMAGINE.* BARCELONA BANG THEIR FIST ON THE TABLE, MADRID CONTINUE TO LOOK RESOLUTE AND BRUISING, THE YELLOW SUBMARINE DIDN’T LOSE THEIR ADMIRAL, RACING WERE FIRST TO THE TAPE AT THE ROSALEDA AND LA REAL GOT REAL.BY THE WAY, THIS IS FREE CONTENT WHICH IS SHARED OUTSIDE THE REVISTA FAMILY WITH THE AIM OF CONVINCING SUBSCRIBERS THAT THEY UPGRADE TO BEING SOCIOS - PAID MEMBERS OF THE REVISTA CLAN.PLEASE SUPPORT US, THE LINK FOR HOW TO DO SO IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU ON SCREEN.PLEASE BECOME A SOCIO FOR THREE POUNT FIFTY A MONTH OR THIRTY QUID FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR - WE NEED YOU, WE DEPEND ON YOU AND….DO WE NOT ENTERTAIN YOU?ANYWAY. ……..ON WITH THE SHOW!!ATLETI 1-2 BARÇA3RD FIRSTSIMEONE FERMIN 2* WELL, THERE’S NO ESCAPING IT. JUST LIKE CHOLO AND A HANDFUL OF HIS PLAYERS….I GOT THIS WRONG.* IT SEEMED TO ME THAT ATLETI WERE IN A STATE OF MUSCULAR, SELF-CONFIDENT PREPAREDNESS AND, BOTH IN PARIS AND THEN IN THE CLASICO, THE CHAMPIONS HAD LOOKED….DELICATE* IN THE END BARCELONA DID A ROPE-A-DOPE - TO PINCH MOHAMMED ALI’S FAMOUS TACTIC FROM THE 1974 RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE….. WHICH IS TO SAY THAT THEY WERE ON THE ROPES, THEY WERE LOOKING BEATEN UP, HANSI FLICK’S TEAM WERE CLOSE TO ‘CLINGING ON’ AND IT WAS REALLY ONLY LAMINE’S ABSOLUTE SPIKY COMPETITIVENESS AND WILLINGNESS TO TAKE THE BALL IN ANY SITUATION AND TRY TO TURN THE TIDE WHICH GAVE SIGNS OF LIFE FROM THE BLAUGRANA VISITORS WHO WERE DOWN 1-0 FROM THE TENTH MINUTE AND, BEFORE THEY EQUALISED, MIGHT EVEN HAVE BEEN TWO ……. OR THREE. BEHIND.* BUT, JUST LIKE THE GREATEST BOXER WHO EVER LIVED, PERHAPS THE GREATEST SPORTSMAN IN HISTORY, DEEP DOWN THEY WERE ONLY KIDDING, BIDING THEIR TIME UNTIL IT WAS THE APPOSITE MOMENT TO UNLEASH A HAIL OF BLOWS AND THEN WATCH THEIR OPPONENT WILT.* THAT REALLY IS WHAT ATLETI DID. ALL PISS AND VINEGAR FOR 40 MINUTES, BULLYING THE CHAMPIONS - BUT THEN, AFTER THE 1-1 GOAL, DROPPING THEIR WORK RATE, SITTING TOO DEEP, FAILING TO ROB BARCELONA OF POSSESSION OR EVEN NUDGE THEM INTO ERRORS.* ATLETI, SECOND HALF, WERE TAME ENOUGH FOR DE JONG TO PLAY A SPELL AT RIGHT BACK, FOR GAVI TO FINALLY BE TRUSTED WITH SOME GAME TIME…. TAME ENOUGH FOR THE FACT THAT RAPHINHA WAS A BIT OF A GHOST PRESENCE TO NOT MATTER.* FERMIN’S THE HERO - TWO SPLENDIDLY TAKEN GOALS ON TOP OF A NIGHT WHERE HE HARED AROUND CAUSING TROUBLE, HARASSING MEN IN RED AND WHITE SHIRTS UNTIL THEY WERE FKN SICK OF THE SIGHT OF HIM BUT IT’S WORTH COMMENTING ON, AS YOU COULD SEE FROM MY TWITTER FEED, THAT LAMINE CATCHES THE EYE AGAIN.* HE’S NOW RACKED UP FIVE MATCHES - MADRID, PARIS, ALAVES, VILLA AND ATLETI WHERE HIS INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES HAVE OSCILLATED BETWEN (USING HIS OWN STANDARDS AS THE YARD MARK) FROM C- TO B+ BUT HE’S PRODUCED FOUR GOALS AND TWO ASSISTS INCLUDING SETTING UP THE WINNER IN A STADIUM WHERE, A WEEK YESTERDAY, HE’LL HOPE TO LEAD SPAIN TO A WIN OVER ENGLAND.* THE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT ATLETI INCLUDE - LEARN TO FINISH. LEARN TO BE CLINICAL!!!!!* ALSO: WHERE HAS THE ENERGY DRAINED AWAY TO???* EVEN LLORENTE - MR PERPETUAL MOTION, WAS WADING THROUGH TREACLE HALF WAY THROUGH THE SECOND HALF.* AND, CHOLO, IT’S BEEN EVIDENT FOR WEEKS THAT YOU’VE COLD-SHOULDERED LOOKMAN, THAT’S HE’S LOST YOUR TRUST AND THAT HE’S BOTH FEELING, AND LOOKING, LIKE A LITTLE BOY LOST. WHAT THE F**K CHOLO OLD BEAN.* NOT ONLY IS THE LONDON-BORN NIGERIAN AN ASSET WHICH MIGHT MAKE A TROPHY WINNING DIFFERENCE ACROSS THE LENGTH OF THIS SEASON HE WAS CATNIP AGAINST BARCELONA LAST SEASON - NOT A MINUTE’S PLAYING TIME HERE AGAINST A SIDE WHICH PLAYED FIVE DIFFERENT FULL-BACKS ACROSS THE COURSE OF THE MATCH AND WHERE DE JONG WAS A KEY PRESENCE IN THE SECOND HALF - STILL FINDING PACE AND SHARPNESS AFTER MONTHS OUT INJURED.* BUT NO SHOW FOR THE FLYING NIGERIAN - AND ONLY FOUR SUBS USED BECAUSE CHOLO STUFFED IT UP ABOUT WHEN, AND HOW MANY, REPLACEMENTS TO BRING ON.THREE WAY TITLE RACE …..YEEEESSSS. PROBABLY. BUT THIS WASN’T THE WAY TO PROVE IT ATLETI!!!VALENCIA 0-3 MADRID19TH 2ND ARDA, VALVERDE, MBAPPETHE TOP LINES ARE:* I HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO WATCH THIS FIXTURE SAY GOODBYE TO MESTALLA ———-WITH BAD GRACE, KICKING AND SCREAMING BUT NOT PRODUCING MUCH FOOTBALL ——— WITH A GUY WHO THE INTERCEPTOR AND I BOTH VOTED IN OUR ALL-TIME VALENCIA XI* IT’S HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS HOW EXASPERATED GAIZKA MENDIETA WAS WITH THE POVERTY OF IDEAS, TECHNICAL QUALITY AND FOOTBALL COMPETITIVENESS WHICH HIS FORMER TEAM SHOWED.* OKAY, VALENCIA HUFFED AND PUFFED AND KICKED AND SCRATCHED BUT TWO THINGS EMERGED: THE CHANGE OF COACH HASN’T CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF PLAYERS DOING DAFT, VOLCANIC THINGS AND GETTING RED-CARDED, HASN’T CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF GOOD FOOTBALL TEAMS MANAGING TO PLAY AROUND THEM AND HASN’T, AT LEAST YET, CHANGED THE THREAT OF RELEGATION.* I’M NOT GOING TO SURPRISE THOSE OF YOU WHO’VE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION SINCE, IN AUGUST, ESPN ASKED ME AND COLLEAGUES TO TIP LA LIGA WINNERS AND I SAID: ‘MADRID’. AND THE LACK OF SURPRISE COMES WHEN I ARGUE THAT THIS WAS MORE STERN EVIDENCE OF THEIR TITLE CANDIDACY.* VALENCIA TRIED TO BARK AND BITE MADRID INTO SUBMISSION, OR AT LEAST ERRORS AND THE RESPONSE FROM ARDA, BELLINGHAM, CUCURELLA, MBAPPE AND HUIJSEN WAS TO PUNCH BACK WITH FORCE.* LOS BLANCOS MATCHED FIRE WITH FIRE AND THEN TAUGHT THE YOBBOS A LESSON - MARQUIS OF QUEENSBOROUGH STYLEE. VALVERDE SCORED YET ANOTHER F*****G ROCKET - THE URUGUAYAN NEEDS TO BE SPONSORED BY NASA - ARDA PRODUCED A FOX-IN-THE-BOX FINISH TO ADD TO THEIR ‘FOX OFF’ MESSAGE TO LOS CHE….AND THE PASS THAT THE LITTLE TURK FOUGHT FOR THEN LAID ON INSTINCTIVELY FOR MBAPPE WAS JUST SEX ON LEGS. HONESTLY. THIS IS WHY WE PLAY AND WATCH FOOTBALL.* MILISECOND BRILLIANCE FROM THE MINIATURE MILLENIAL.* MOURINHO AND HIS STAFF HAVE SORTED THIS SQUAD OUT - THE UNGOVERNABLE, THE ANARCHIC SELF INTERESTED MILLIONAIRE ARSEHOLES HAVE BECOME PUGNACIOUS, ALL-FOR-ONE, I’VE GOT YOUR BACK, CENTURIONS WHO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE THEIR QUALITY* ALL THE VARIOUS PROBLEMS OF THE LATE- ANCELOTTI ERA, ALL THE DIVISIONS AND SELF-CENTREDNESS OF THE ALONSO-ARBELOA ERAS - IF THEY WERE LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE EARNED THAT TITLE - MAYBE AFTER ANCELOTTI-ALONSO-ARBELOA ALL THAT WAS NEEDED WAS TO SIGN A COACH WHO’S NAME BEGAN WITH A CONSONANT.* ANYWAY ALL THAT CRAPPY PAST SEEMS NOW TO BE NO MORE THAN A VOWEL MOVEMENT - WARTS HAVE BEEN LASERED OFF, THE EMPORERS ARE WEARING ERMINE NOT PRETEND NEW CLOTHES WHICH EXPOSE THEIR ARROGANT NUDITY.* AND, I’LL DARE TO SAY, ALTHOUGH THE BEST MADRID FOOTBALL RIGHT NOW DOESN’T HIT THE EXCELSIOR SISTINE CHAPEL GLORIES OF BARCELONA WHEN THEY SOAR…. IT’S MORE ROBUST, IT’S EQUALLY CHARACTERFUL, IT’S DANGEROUS FOR OPPONENTS AND…. IT SMELLS LIKE SOMETHINGS COOKING.* LA LIGA AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CANDIDATES. FACT.* OH WAIT A MINUTE….WHAT’S THAT I HEAR YOU CHANTING …… “CONTROVERSY … CONTROVERSY…WE WANT CONTROVERSY…..!”* WELL, THERE WAS A LOAD OF PISH TALKED… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.revistadelaliga.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.revistadelaliga.comTHIS IS ‘THE WEEKEND’S HERE …ALMOST!’ SHORT FREE-PREVIEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS … THE MARROWBONE NOURISHMENT FOR SOCIOS. PEDRO AND I PREVIEW THE KEY ISSUES AND CONCLUDE THAT RODRI’S ABSENCE IS A PROBLEM, THAT MADRID NEED A TURKISH DELIGHT IN ORDER TO HURT THE MESTALLA EFFECT. AND WE TAKE A QUIZZICAL VIEW OF THE DECISIONS WHICH THE ROIG FAMILY DO …OR DON’T….NE…

WEEKEND 11 IN LA LIGA WRAPPED UP AND A SHORT TRANSCRIPT OF THE MADRID SECTION ⬇️(17th) RACING 0-3 MADRID (3rd)GOLES: MBappé, Bellingham, DiomandeRacing truly didn’t lay a glove on Madrid in this completely one-sided contest.But I think there is a point to be made - even with seven months of the season remaining - about the general state of Real Madrid under José Mourinho - beyond the fact that this win ensures that the top of the table is a nice three-way punch-up.For the last two seasons at least, this squad has looked ungovernable.The last year of the great Carlo Ancelotti in charge looked flat, uncompetitive and self-indulgent.The year which was split between Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa was nothing better than a Punch-and-Judy show.Three very different leaders.The first an exceptional man-manager and serial winner.The second a highly technical and intense football coach.And the third - an angular, idiosyncratic man yet somebody who most certainly appears to have coaching talent.But one, continuous player response: ‘We know better!’The players thought they knew better in terms of pitch-positions, playing-styles, level of intensity, attention to detail in video preparation, training ground atmosphere, social lives: everything.The result was that Madrid only played arrestingly and impressively in brief bursts.The rest of the time the team looked disjointed on the pitch, were easy to supersede athletically, and got pushed around domestically and in Europe.Even though when ESPN asked all its writers to tip this season’s champions and I was in the tiny minority of one, perhaps two if my memory is faulty, who thought that Mourinho could lead them to the top of the table and keep them thrre….. there WAS a point in the early part of this term when the combined effect of how well Barcelona was playing and how ragged Madrid’s state of fitness was, when the tip looked as if it would fall far short.There are still seven months to go.This is not me bragging – not for a millisecond.However what I think is worth communicating, now, is a taking of the pulse.Madrid are training and playing with the kind of resolute, unified, confident, happy, snarling hunger which is what champion teams are made of.The level of football quality might still still be a tad intermittent - but you can look at every single footballer and immediately see that they’re silhouette is lean, several of them have shed kilos.The intensity is there athletically, but it is also there in terms of playing for one another.The imperfections which remain, and there are some, are being covered up by a huge ‘all-for one-and-one-for-all’ feeling whenever they take the pitch.I use the word bullying in a non-pejorative sense – but they bully teams. They disrupt them, they harass them, they chase them, they run past them, and within increasing regularity their capable of extraordinary transitions.On several occasions this season they’ve gone from their own penalty box to the other end of the pitch and scored within 14 or 15 seconds. Rivals f*****g hate that….and fear it.On Sunday up in Santander 11 seconds passed from Dean Huijsen being a little isolated in his own defensive left corner to Jude Bellingham scoring the goal which clinched the points.Anyway, my idea is try to make you think about the difference between what we’ve seen from the men in white shirts over the last two-and-a-half seasons to what we’re seeing now.They are contenders – domestically and in Europe. Right now, I reckon, that’s a fact.So it needs spotlighting, it needs a certain degree of praise, and it will need lots of people to reassess what they think of Mourinho and his squad.Of course there were stand-out moments on Sunday afternoon up in Cantabria.First of all the joke penalty. It’s appalling that the referee got this so wrong and then VAR felt that the rules did not allow them to intervene because there was the lightest of contacts between Matteo Prati and Mbappé.This wasn’t a penalty, it wasn’t even close, the Frenchman should’ve been booked for diving – but it stood, he scored and Madrid, at one up were about 80% home.Bellingham‘s thunderous running on to Güler’s assist pass got that second, then the hidden star of the show, Diomande, scored an absolute rocket – he doesn’t seem to score any other kind of goal – and he’s making the absence of Vinicius currently look completely digestible.Arda Güler ‘showed’ again, Alexander Arnold looked fully fit and sharp and important for the first time since he arrived at Madrid. He played well – Courtois made another wonder-save…..just like Lunin did last week in the Belgian’s absence.Everything is clicking.And, just for extra value, there’s a point of dark humour too.Do you remember when after beating Seville at the Bernabéu, Mourinho commented that he could not decide whether Güler, should have been sent off or not because there wasn’t a good TV angle on the alleged offence.The Portuguese added: “if a referee ever favours us then I’ll have absolutely no problem about admitting it in public – but that’s very unlikely because it goes against the trend of how people referee against us!”Post-match, savouring an unpalatable defeat, the Racing manager José Alberto López said: “I seem to remember Mourinho saying that he wouldn’t have any problem admitting when the referee favoured him?”It was left hanging, it was sardonic, it was neatly done, but it was the only body blow that Racing landed on Madrid all afternoon. It’s November but Los Blancos are on the march. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.revistadelaliga.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.revistadelaliga.com

FREE LA LIGA CONTENT ON MONDAYS - BUT DO PLEASE JOIN UP FOR €3:50 A MONTH OR €30 A YEAR This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.revistadelaliga.com/subscribe