The Enthralling La Liga Season Finale

The La Liga title race has shaped up to be thrilling this season with only three points separating the entire top 4.

Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla are the teams featuring in this brutally tight race to the league title. Nonetheless, not one of these sides are fighting for a Champions League place as Real Sociedad in 5th are adrift 20 points.

Barcelona could win the title just by winning all remaining games which they can take advantage of especially when they have lost only once in La Liga in 2021 (twice thanks to Granada on Thursday)!

Spanish Football has been dominated by two teams, and we know who they are so the range of actual competitors is exciting for La Liga fans. Dark horses Sevilla could even snatch the trophy off the top 3 especially when Barcelona and Atlético Madrid are yet to play each other and could easily drop significant points. 

But Sevilla still have the daunting prospect of facing reigning champions Real Madrid again, who they picked up a 1-0 defeat against at home last year. The capabilities, however, are very much present for the Europa League extraordinaries as their prolific Moroccan attacker Youssef En-Nesyri has the same 0.77 goals per 90 minute ratio as the respected Galáctico Karim Benzema. They also defeated Real on consecutive meetings in the year 2018.

Sevilla lifting their first Europa League trophy in 2006. Christophe Karaba, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

As well as the top, we look down to the relegation battle in La Liga where simultaneously a set of sides are duelling for survival. Real Valladolid and Valencia are among the teams that have the potential to be relegated to the secondary tier of Spanish football.

The relegation fight could go down to the wire, with even 8th place Granada able to be relegated, only in extreme circumstances. But, Valencia would be the shock of them all as their emergence to European success would be depleted. Their recent stagnation could mean that their status could be diminished as a result, with Sevilla (the side who they've scored none against over the last three outings) and Barcelona awaiting them.

It will be an excruciating run in for an abundance of La Liga supporters as we see captivating challenges and shocks on the horizon.

Diego Simeone is eager to win his second title at Atlético who lost out to Chelsea in the Champions League. He expresses his feelings on how he can achieve victory in La Liga:

"People ask me what the most important factor will be and it's obvious to me that it will be the mental factor," Simeone told reporters after a second defeat in five league games. The team that manages that emotional balance the best will have the best chance of winning the title."

Atlético raced 10 points clear at the top in January but an unexpected disappointing run of form has seen their lead cut to two points.

"Real and Barça are used to winning the title. We had a big lead this year but we knew Real and Barça were not going to surrender. Now Sevilla are playing very well and we have a very exciting situation," said Simeone. 

"We still depend on ourselves and with five games to go that's crucial. It will all come down to how mentally strong we are and how determined we are in those five games."

The Catalans faced Granada in their previous game in hand at Camp Nou on Thursday where they had the exceptional opportunity to stride to pole position and emphatically assert their authority in this league sprint to the finish line. However, the inaugural victory of Granada at Barça's famous home ground and the capitulation of Barcelona leaves the giants in trophy jeopardy but also leaves this title race still very much all to play for.

It is ultimately anyone's game in the most intriguing league on the continent as we dive into the breathtaking final stage where miracles may or may not come true.

How Will The Post-Wenger Spaniard Successors Fair Against One Another?

Current and former Arsenal managers Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery will contend for a place in the Europa League Final on Thursday.

Villarreal are going to be a tough force to contend with as Mikel Arteta's predecessor Unai Emery has developed a flurry of success at the Spanish club influenced by his talisman striker Gerard Moreno as he seeks redemption.

The sides' UCL finals bout in 2006

However firstly we must mention, in 2006 these sides met in a highly anticipated match in the Champions League semi-final which Arsenal won 1-0 in across two legs. It was the inaugural chance for both teams to pick up a major European trophy but Arsenal consequently faced another Spanish side in the final, Barcelona, who they lost out to thanks to the magic of iconic attackers Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho.

It was the final European night at Highbury and one to remember. Arsenal achieved 10 clean sheets in a row that year and 995 minutes between conceding goals in the Champions League. Despite their dismal performances in their domestic league, they flourished in Europe, beating Real Madrid and Juventus and on that night The Yellow Submarine (Villarreal's nickname inspired by the Beatles) thanks to Kolo Toure.

Kolo Toure celebrating his goal in the UCL Semi-Final vs Villarreal. Arsenal.com

This was the only final Arsenal had ever reached and their chance to assert their dominance that they so clearly bestowed during their invincible season two years prior was wasted.

Emery vs Arteta

Arsenal and Emery had an uneasy relationship with a promising first half leading to a spell of devastating managerial status that ultimately reinforced his sack on 29th November 2019. However, the Spaniard has a remarkable trait upon him in the form of winning Europa League titles on a consecutive and frequent basis.

He has the chance to strike again with his current Spanish club after his 3 successive Europa League wins with Sevilla was prior to spells at PSG and English club Arsenal where he reached the underwhelming final against Chelsea in the 2018/19 campaign.

Arteta and Arsenal really haven't been much better following the departure of the fellow Spaniard. The Gunners sit in a measly 10th place in the Premier League currently and experienced their worst start to the season since 1974.

Arsenal's Spanish Managers:

Unai Emery had considerably more chaotic games with more goals conceded and scored that today's Arsenal side but this seemed to pay off for him in terms of total win percentage.

Even over the course of this campaign, Emery leads on victories after Arsenal splashed out on Thomas Partey, Willian and Gabriel in last summer's transfer window.

The Three Spanish Coaches:

The differing tactics and philosophies are clearly outlined in the matches and both of their respected clubs have opposed style of players. Emery is a conservative coach but relies significantly on midfield superiority, through balls and playing out from back. Arteta however, demands high intensity movement and fluidity, ruthless attacking intent and for a midfielder to drop deeper to receive the ball. 

Pep Guardiola, his friend from La Masia, was Manchester City assistant coach Mikel's mentor and obviously a very good one.

The Spanish managers were all interconnected in some way which Emery revealed: “We spoke a little bit about what I lived in Arsenal, in a positive way, as I experienced. I just told him about what I had lived through, as two working colleagues.

“Of course I knew Arteta before. He is from Donostia (San Sebastian) – just like me. We were practically neighbours so I have a lot of admiration for him as a footballer and now as a coach, working with Guardiola and Arsenal." 

On the eve of their first meeting in opposite dugouts, Arteta revealed he had spoken to Emery before being appointed – with his predecessor later explaining an extra motive for the chat.

“It was a common friend that interceded and he was OK to speak to me, had nothing against it and it was good for me too as I had to leave my home in London,” he said.

“Maybe the house would be interesting for him, so maybe he would be interested to see the house?

“So apart from talking about my job at Arsenal and football I suggested he take over my house, finally I think it was a player who took it in the end."

Emery's comments heading into the semi-final first leg at home: "Well as for the game plan I'm sure Arteta will have given them a personal touch. This is what I tried to do," he told press ahead of the clash. 

"From that point onwards they have top quality players - Ceballos, Odegard, Saka - quick players - Aubameyang , Bukayo, Martinelli. They have very quick players on the side like Bellerin. 

"But they have a very solid defensive structure, they can do a passing structure. It’s going to be a very tough match. A very demanding team Arsenal. They’re going to be very demanding in terms of positional game.

"It’s a very recognisable Arsenal. They have a very marked identity and they show a lot of progress with Arteta."We need to play our passing game ourselves. The minute you let them run they have very speedy players like Pepe with plenty of space. 

"They have lots of individual arguments where they can make a cocktail. We have to be very aware of players like Aubameyang and Lacazette, but they have many different types of players, many different game plans and many ways to execute their game plan on the pitch and we need to be ready for that.

Villareal and Arsenal have been in scintillating Europa League form but the decisive edge of this tie could come down to the superiority of the team's respected attacking pairs. Gerad Moreno and 27-year-old former Barcelona man Paco Alcaer. Moreno has 26 goals which is the same as the established and regarded as world-class Englishman Harry Kane and the later of the pair has an outrageous 91% shot accuracy from all of his 7 European appearances.

The post-Arsene Wenger era men will battle to attempt to crucially squeeze out some inspiration and discipline out of their players in the semi-finals as Emery has a chance to take down the club he was ruthlessly dismissed from and Arteta looks to pick up silvarware to save The Londoners' season and dismantle Emery's unbelievable Europa League streak.

UEFA Futsal Champions League Finals UK Preview

The UEFA Futsal Champions League commences in Zadar this week and you can watch in the UK!

The matches will span from the 28th April until the final on the 3rd May at 7PM BST.

The teams featuring in this prestigious event following their qualification for the finals in February are Inter Movistar, Barça, Kairat Almaty and Sporting who are more prominent within this competition as they share 11 out of the 19 titles that have been up for grabs since the tournament's establishment in 2002.

Additionally, Benfica, Dobovec, KPRF and Ugra Yugorsk will play in this season's edition of the Futsal UCL.

The Champions League for this unique sport is significantly less renowned to the world while its football counterpart, founded in 1955, is one of the biggest and most memorable occurrences to fans each year.

European Futsal competition has just set off comparatively but has brought brilliant success to clubs and their fans as futsal becomes more appreciated by the UEFA organisation.

Spain have been the formidable country, producing impeccable teams and individuals as El Pozo have missed out to Barça and Movistar throughout the years who have participated in 12 out of the 19 finales.

Barcelona celebrating their 3rd Futsal UCL cup win last year. FC Barcelona.com

But, the unprecedented sporting success of Kazakstan has emerged through futsal as now European giant Kairat Almaty, based in the largest city of the country, have won 2 titles in which the most notable victory was against Barcelona in 2015.

It is a more realistic setting for this years finals in Zadar where the health situation remains stable and approved to host compared to the dismal event last year in the contemporary climate.

Speaking on the UEFA Documentary: A year Under Covid-19, Senior Futsal Competitions Manager Laurent Morel said, "We became experts on ventilation and adapted protocols made for football also to futsal."

He also shared an anecdote about the nature and unbelievable prospects that occur in futsal, "Those amateur clubs that have been thrown into travels into Europe to compete, found resources to overcome challenges. A Northern Irish club from Belfast, with Northern Ireland 48th in the rankings and Ukraine (opponents nation) 10th so the result was 28-1 and the guy who scored the goal was so emotional."

Futsal is an unbelievable community sport and we get the privilege in the UK to witness these teams fighting to the death at the grandest stage of them all in this short 5-day period for the coveted triumph.

Tournament Preview:

The tournament finals will be played between the 28th April and the final on Monday the 3rd of May at 7PM BST.

All coverage in the UK will be on BT Sport. Every Futsal UCL game will be showcased including the live final from 7-9pm in the UK on the BT Sport 2 channel.

It will take place in the Croatian City of Zadar and my prediction is yet another final between Spanish sides Inter Movistar and Barça this season however on this meeting I think Barcelona will ultimately prevail as the best in Europe.

Noia Portus Apostoli: The 2nd Division Futsal Side With 600 stadium seats on the Brink of Promotion

 

Barça B and Noia Portus Apostoli faced off as the visitors looked to solidify their advancement to the promotion play off. The Galicians have already mathematically advanced to the play offs in an unforgetful quest to the elite of Spanish futsal.

The away side denied the Blaugrana subsidiary of three points, making it 10 defeats this campaign for Barça's second team, with a 5-3 victory that was identical to the reverse match last month.

Located in the northwest of the country, Noia only have a 600 stadium capacity which is one of the lowest in the first two divisions, reflecting their population of almost 15,000 inhabitants.

The newly emerging futsal team are looking to make unprecedented history, to promote themselves to the top flight. From 2008, the Galicians settled in the Second Division B for nine straight seasons but were promoted in 2017 to the second highest national league category to deplete their agonising monotony.

An extremely remote place for teams to travel but this week Noia trekked themselves to Catalonia where they confronted a youthful Barça B side that sit 6th in the table. They lost all their games in March including against their opponents.

There will be no need for the Spanish Second Division of applying the best result or goal difference rule to decide the league, as Noia are comfortably in pole position and easily exploited the Catalans, committing more to attacking especially when they have only let in 47 goals throughout this season, remarkably the least of any side.

Scoring two consecutive goals to practically end the game in Barcelona, they hold an impeccable margin at the top as they reached half a century of points. Union Africa Ceuti, founded in 1930, are completely out of sight but will be the main contender for Noia especially taking into account that they only picked up a draw from two games against these opponents. 

A picture of Noia celebrating together in front of minute stand after their 3-2 victory against Manzaneres FS to seal promotion playoff, they have accomplished the double sweep also vs Barça B.

The club coaches appeared in a pre-match press interview expressing their main objective, "we need to remain competitive, we are ambitious and demanding, and we have to remain so. We are not in a position to let go, it is important to reach that historic moment (Play Off) in the best possible way. They continued to say, "since the first training of this week no one has slowed down and we are focused. We want to get to the Play Off with good dynamic, and that happens by working every day."

Noia need to hold exceptional equanimity going into the PlayOffs, which will ultimately decide the minuscule club's exciting fate.

Unai Emery and Gerard Moreno's Europa League Masterclass

Unai Emery is on the cusp of a career 4th Europa League trophy at Villarreal as superstar striker Gerard Moreno is in dazzling form.

Emery was a valued manager during his time at Sevilla where he won the competition 3 successive times starting from the 2013/2014 season. A juggernaut of a team at his dispatch allowed him to determine the way to approach each opponent in each game of the Europa League. He made Sevilla the most successful and undisputed team in the history of tournament with 6 wins, double any other side.

Speaking after winning the Europa League in 2015, Argentine midfielder Ever Benega said: “We have a great coach and he is getting the very best out of us – we don’t relax whether we are on the pitch or on the bench. We have really healthy competition for places here."

Leaving the Spanish team, after expressing his desire to leave, Unai fled to European Giants PSG where he enjoyed more immense success with the exception of allowing Barcelona's historic Remontada in 2017 in the Champions League.

Another midfielder in Rabiot expressed his glory on Emery, “This is a coach who really communicates with everyone.“He is asking us our opinion after the sessions, what we liked, what we didn’t like. He asks if you are not too tired after training. “This is really important for the staff to know as they can then adapt (the training sessions). They need to know if we can withstand the workload being asked of us.“Communication is essential, not only in football but in all sports. This is what I find really good about Emery.”

The youth graduate at Real Sociedad, Emery was also a midfielder which reflects his brilliant relationships with these players. He is eager as manager to bond a team and create an unbreakable positive atmosphere.

A return to his homeland was however imminent as clubs in Spain saw the dazzling opportunity to appoint Emery to spark his managerial resurgence following his lacklustre spell at Arsenal. Emery last year was seen as a magnet to European trophies and further progression especially at Spanish clubs demonstrated earlier in his career at Sevilla.

Villarreal were the La Liga side that latched onto the sub-50-year-old manager as Javier Calleja was replaced in the summer of 2020. In his first year at the club, he has already been expressing his attraction to dominance booking a place in the Europa League last 8 with ease.

The club broke their unbeaten streak in 2020 under Emery after 19 matches consecutively without a loss as they march towards their first ever major trophy.

The evolution of The Yellow Submarine (the club's nickname influenced by the Beatles) over recent seasons has been driven by two influencing strikers in the form of American born Giuseppe Rossi and the sensational Gerard Moreno, who is on the same amount of goals in La Liga as the highly-praised Luis Suarez with 19.

The Spaniard possesses excessive goal scoring threat thanks to his shooting precision. Level with the Uruguayan on 0.83 goals per 90 minutes and higher than Suarez and the claimed extraterrestrial Argentinian Lionel Messi on goal conversion rate and shot accuracy.

The Yellow Submarine are striving forward towards a potential European trophy and the looming Champions League qualification under the magician Emery.

Villarreal will compete in the second leg of their Europa League quarter final against Ukranian side Dynamo Kiev on Thursday 15th April at 8pm BST.

The match will happen at Villarreal's home venue Estadio de la Cerámica.

The Spaniards are 1-0 up on aggregate following Gerard Moreno's strike from the penalty spot was the difference maker in last weeks reverse fixture in Ukraine.

Антон Зайцев, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

CarlosRM, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Match Preview: The Latest Instalment of the Futsal El Clásico

Inter Movistar and Barça Futsal meet for the 4th time this season in the Supercopa de España de Futsal on Thursday 15th April.

A continual battle has emerged since the beginning of futsal as these two titans have vied for countless triumphs. Demonstrated clearly earlier in the current campaign, as Inter Movistar assuredly thrashed Barça in their surprising first meeting ever in the final of the Copa de España with the reflective scoreline of 6-1 in late March.

This particular cup that is being fought for this week is distinct from all others as it has evaded Barcelona's trophy cabinet throughout several seasons. The Catalans have only picked up the title in 2013 and in 2019 where on both occasions their advancement to the final was from their success in the Copa Del Rey.

While, Inter Movistar have been the ultimate supremisits in the history of the Supercopa's history, clinching the title 13 times, more than double of any other side.

City Rivalry:

The major Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona have always competed vigorously with each other, depicted by the thrilling El Clásicos we often see in football. The fierce rivalry has evolved in since the breakthrough of the cities' two football clubs.

Real Madrid and Barcelona is dated back to 1902 and has been a spectacle in Europe like no other as we see teams with almost equal quality and ambition face off.

Fans gather from around the world to devote their support in favour of their club and collide in a competitive encounter.

Commentator Ray Hudson expressed his feelings about the iconic El Clásico: "Really it's the quality of football that it comes down to, at a very high tempo pace. The type of artistry that you just don't see anywhere else in the world." He added that, "Obviously it's the greatest game on planet Earth," which accentuates how it is one of the most outstanding matchups in sport as a whole.

Jan S0L0, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

With only 13 wins separating the sides over 117 total games, El Clásico is an extremely rare viewing of an incredibly tight match.

Approximately 600km apart from one another, yet the rivalry is no where near an absence.

The phenomenal game has related to the futsal world. Inter have dominated the futsal scene for decades while Barça are just beginning to establish themselves over the last 20 years. A thrilling contest and almost a replica in terms of intensity and competitiveness as the two leading world futsal teams collide once again.

Match Preview:

Inter Movistar will play Barça Futsal in the Supercopa de España on Thursday 15th April 2021 at 7pm BST .

Where will the final commence?

The venue hosting the finale will be the WiZink Centre (Pabellón Jorge Garbajosa) in Madrid, the home of Inter Movistar.

How To Watch:

You can watch via the Spanish channel Teledeporte or follow live updates starting from 8pm CET, 7pm BST.

Anticipated Line Ups:

Inter Movistar: Herrero, Boyis, Martel, Saldise and Borja.

Barcelona: Dídac, Marcenio, Dyego, Daniel and Ferrao.   

Prediction:

Inter Movistar seem to have been in staggering defensive form over recent weeks which consequently deters me from thinking they are going to lose this final, and I think Barça will close the gap in the result due to their prior knowledge of their rivals from March's match.