The Bootroom: Sunday... and the Lunchtime Liveblog!

Will he be happy or sad by 2pm?

Mornin' folks!

We've settled on a name for our weekend threads, and we're raring to go. Join us in the bootroom for a couple of hours before we liveblog the living crap out of the Liverpool/Villa game that could really make the title race interesting again should Rafa's gang pull out another mammoth result.

After the euphoria of the last fortnight, it's certainly possible.

In the meantime, we've got Wigan/Hull in the battle of burly northern aesthetes (said sarcastically of course), and then at 11, Citeh attempt to wrangle three points from the visiting Mackems.

So get started early, and then pray for some lunchtime entertainment. There might even be a La Liga liveblog later as well, as we desperately look to paginate at every possible opportunity.

Update: Wigan win 1-0 late, Citeh are busy wasting chances after Sunderland's early red card, and we're almost ready for LFC/Villa. Let's get cracking!

Early Fixtures:
Wigan 1, Hull 0 FULL TIME
Manchester City 0, Sunderland 0 (35 mins)


Liverpool v. Aston Villa
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Kuyt, Riera, Torres.
Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Agger, Lucas, Ngog, El Zhar.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Reo-Coker, Cuellar, Davies, Luke Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Heskey, Carew.
Subs: Guzan, Agbonlahor, Delfouneso, Knight, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)

Interesting gamesmanship here. O'Neill starts with the muscular strike pairing of Heskey and Carew, choosing to bench Gabby after his boo'd off performance last week. Will be interesting to see how much of the long ball game they play now that they're starting with two target men.

Meanwhile, Rafa cuts the rotation business and puts out his strongest XI, although it's sorely missing the Super Jew who should be back soon. Xabi Alonso is fit once more, which lifts the midfield immeasurably.

It's time, folks. Anfield is in full song, Keith is watching this in NJ (sorry I couldn't make it out there to watch with the Villa fans! Next time!), and we're all set.

The minute of silence for the late LFC match secretary, Bryce Morrison, is observed perfectly, and Villa kick-off.

1 min: Bright start as Gerrard wins a corner. Aurelio puts it right on Skrtel's head at the near post, and his header is well saved by Friedel, who is also battling the blinding sun in his eyes coming over the top of the stadium. LFC are defending the shadowed half first, and Villa's half is an explosion of sunshine.

3 mins: Better from Villa, as they molest the offside trap well enough. Heskey collects and feeds Milner up top. His strike is deflected behind for a corner, but looked like it was goalbound otherwise. LFC manage to clear. Lively from both teams from the get-go.

4 mins: Wonderful flick on by Torres finds Gerrard in behind Curtis Davies. He cuts inside for a shot, but his touch is poor and Friedel is able to collect. I'm enjoying this so far; both teams playing with pace and purpose, which is how it should be considering how much is on the line today.

6 mins: Wide open stuff so far, end-to-end. Reo-Coker ballses up a tackle on Riera with the winger breathing down his neck in pursuit of a long ball. Free kick for LFC, wide left. Could be a shot on as Gerrard and Aurelio hover.

GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL, and a brilliant set piece! Gerrard puts a glorious ball in from the set piece, Alonso heads it onto the bar, and Dirk Kuyt reacts first to the rebound and drills it home between Friedel's legs. A wonderful start. Get in, lads, and they're not letting up. More attacks come. I am happy. Liverpool 1, Aston Villa 0

9 mins: After LFC go close again with Gerrard at the near post, Villa have a glorious chance to level. A cross from the left finds Gaz Baz all alone in the box, and he shins it well over the bar. He was unmarked and could have controlled it, but alas, it's a wasted effort.

10 mins: LFC open up Villa again, this time down the right with Arbeloa. He hangs onto it too long at the edge of the box and his through-ball for Gerrard ends up out for a goal-kick.

Anfield in full song at the moment, and things are happening so thick and fast I can barely keep up with the typing. This is how the EPL should be.

12 mins: LFC threaten again as Mascherano intercepts a lazy clearance, but he can't do anything with it. Villa break, but Skrtel tidies up neatly at the back as Ashley Young sprinted for the long ball.

I haven't seen my club play like this for quite some time. Funny what a difference three or four games can make.

15 mins: Villa aren't taking this lying down. A lovely bit of play down the right ends with Milner putting a beautiful low cross along the edge of the 6-yard box. Carew is lurking, but Carragher gets there first.

Almost 2-0! A glorious ball to Riera out left, he gets outside Reo-Coker and his deflected cross misses everyone but Gerrard at the far post. Unmarked, he can't control his toe-poke and it screws wide of the post. They need a second, and soon.

17 mins: The pace is slowing a little, but Liverpool are enjoying the better of the midfield, especially with Gerrard, who is all over the pitch at the moment.

Liverpool win a corner off Riera's deflected cross, but Villa do well to force them back to halfway, eventually winning the throw-in as Aurelio knocks it out under pressure from Reo-Coker.

19 mins: Tons of room for Kuyt up the middle, but instead of shooting, he lays off a weak ball wide to Arbeloa and Curtis Davies is there to pick it off.

Milner again with the dangerous cross from the right, but Carew can't get there in time and Reina smothers it dead. Aston Villa are showing some signs of life, making that 2nd goal all the more vital.

20 mins: Liverpool are living dangerously, pouring forward in numbers and giving Villa plenty of room to counter. Reo-Coker is the latest recipient of this space, getting wide right and putting a lovely ball in for Heskey at the far post, but Carragher heads it clear off-balance and LFC breathe again.

Less than a minute later, Petrov forces a nice reaction save from Reina at the near post with his flick-on. Absolutely wonderful game so far.

22 mins: Reina comes out a mile to punch clear another dangerous cross with Heskey and Carew threatening.

Gerrard gets himself a yellow card, lunging in late on Davies who beats the Liverpool captain to the loose ball wide on the right. Seems a bit harsh as it's really the first foul of the match, but on replay, he does get a good chunk of the defender's ankle.

24 mins: Just as Villa appear to be wresting some control of the midfield, Liverpool break down the right. Arbeloa somehow gets the ball past Davies' sliding challenge, and he finds Torres in space at the top of the box. The Spaniard's shot is unusually soft, and Friedel is thankful for that one. Danger over.

25 mins: Did I say something pre-game about the long-ball gameplan? Well, it almost pays off for Villa -- Reo-Coker launches a high, looping free kick into the box, and Carew's flick-on seems destined for the bottom corner, until Reina dives brilliantly to his left at full stretch to paw it out. Ashley Young can't bury the rebound as Reina saves with his legs. Wonderful double-effort from Pepe Reina to keep the score 1-0.

27 mins: Yep, Villa are right back in this one. Normally, going down 1-0 early away from home to a good team is enough to take the wind right out, but they're shown no signs of lying down. Milner is having the game of his life on the right wing, and the aerial battle between Heskey/Carew and Carragher/Skrtel will be fun to watch for the next hour.

29 mins: Torres is having trouble asserting himself up front, failing to control another ball into his feet from Dirk Kuyt. Give it time, Fernando...

Gerrard has room to move forward as Liverpool break, but his through-ball for Torres was a bit too ambitious and it rolls all the way to Friedel. To be honest, I have no clue how that would have worked: Torres and three Villa defenders, and he tries to play him round the back? At least the confidence is there!

31 mins: Milner tries to run through two defenders to no avail, and Liverpool break. Sloppy from Gerrard in the middle, and the move breaks down.

Riera spins Reo-Coker inside and out, but his cross to the far post finds nobody in red. Shame, really.

33 mins: GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL, and what a slice of fried luck that is. Villa, having had the run of the last quarter-hour, fall asleep at the back. Reina's long clearance is allowed to bounce several times, and Riera and Torres both get up the middle in pursuit. Albert Riera, under pressure, fires a stunning first-time volley with his left foot, crashing it off the underside of the bar and leaving Friedel helpless. An absolutely phenomenal goal. Liverpool 2, Aston Villa 0

35 mins: Villa are having a crisis of confidence now after that wonder goal-that-should-never-have-been-allowed-to-happen. Gerrard gets it 20 yards out and fires a lovely shot just wide of the post. Then, seconds later, Friedel bottles his clearance, putting it right at Arbeloa's feet. One-on-one, the right-back takes the unselfish approach and squares it for Torres, but Davies is there to scramble it clear. Could have been 3-0 easily if Arbeloa had taken a shot. Nervy times for Villa.

For those who didn't see the 2nd goal, think Keane's wonder strike against Arsenal, but done from the left-hand side with the left foot. As sweet a first-time shot on the volley as you'll ever see.

38 mins: Villa have a chance to get right back in it via a looping free-kick from the left wing, but it's wasted.

39 mins: PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL
GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL... and this is why you don't play Reo-Coker at right-back. Another gorgeous, searching pass finds Riera in acres of space out wide. He runs right at poor Nigel, who hauls him down clumsily in the box. Clear, obvious shout. Steven Gerrard sends Friedel the wrong way, and we can perhaps, maybe, quite possibly, close the book on this one. The Kop is in fine form with the songbook. Liverpool 3, Aston Villa 0

41 mins: Now, bodies are dropping quickly as Villa are guilty of two late challenges. Luke Young slides through Mascherano and gets a yellow card. He's not happy about it, and neither is Gaz Baz who gets a yellow for mouthing-off at the ref. Then I think Petrov catches Riera late, but it was more accidental. No card.

Villa are unlucky as they've had some great chances in the first half, but full credit to the Reds for taking their few and far-between chances to completely bury this game.

44 mins: Carew does well under pressure from Skrtel to hold up possession and feed Milner wide, but this time the cross is poor and drifts over everyone.

Lovely cross-field pass from Riera finds Kuyt wide right, and he wins a corner off Davies' chest.

45 mins + 1: As the commentators are saying, when should LFC begin to think about goal difference?

Villa float a free kick hopefully into the box, but Reina is there to gather and that's it.

HALF TIME: Liverpool 3, Aston Villa 0
Must admit, that even in my most jingoistic thoughts of my team's fortunes today, I'd never have dreamt up this scenario. Simply brilliant stuff, especially when you consider that Villa controlled the middle 20 minutes from the midfield and had several strong scoring chances. Liverpool, playing on the break for the most part, have been clinical in their finishing and ruthless in the tackle.

I think we can say that the title race is back on, folks.

Life as a Liverpool fan, in the last months:
- Draw 1-1 at home to Citeh, a team with one of the worst away records in the league (oh, and we had to come from behind)
- Lose 2-0 at relegation-threatened Middlesbrough
- Beat Sunderland 2-0
- Beat 4-1 at Old Trafford, our biggest away win over United since 1936
- Beat Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate in the Champions League
- Up 3-0 at half-time to Aston Villa, a team chasing 4th Place.

These are the things we endure. The soap-opera/Disney sports movie-esque season continues.

Thoughts for the second half? If you're Rafa, do you keep pressing, or do you sit back? Villa are clearly capable of goals.

And we're off again. As TFA intoned in the comments, LFC and United are now even on goal difference.

Torres and Gerrard have both been so-so today, and yet we're up 3-0. Don't quite understand it all, really.

Agbonlahor is warming up on the sidelines, and no changes at half-time for either side.

47 mins: Milner, easily Villa's biggest threat so far, tries to get around Aurelio on the wing, but the Brazilian is equal to it and shepherds the ball out for a goal kick.

49 mins: Lovely bit of skill from Kuyt, turning around Davies and sprinting toward goal, where he's eventually tripped by Cuellar. Dangerous position. Free kick on the edge of the box. Xabi and Stevie G hover over it...

GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL, and Gerrard kept his cool there with a lovely finish. After the wall has to be reset several times, Steven Gerrard literally sidefoots it from 18 yards, and Friedel sees it late with no chance to save it. Tucked perfectly inside the post, and the rout is on. For those who shit on Gerrard, note that it's his 20th goal of the season. Not bad for a central midfielder. Liverpool 4, Aston Villa 0

Three games in a row where LFC have reached 4 goals. When will this run end?

To reiterate: that was a sidefooted free-kick from 20-odd yards for a goal. Glorious finish.

53 mins: Heskey does well to beat Carragher to the header from Milner's cross, but it's straight at Reina.

This is setting up to be quite a sleepy second half considering the score. I'm alright with that, considering the chest-tightening anxiety LFC normally cause me. Not in recent weeks though.

57 mins: Another lovely move from Liverpool as the space is everywhere to be exploited. Kuyt sets up on the right wing, meanders in and squares for Alonso, who shoots well wide of the post from the edge of the box.

Sub for Aston Villa: Heskey makes way for Agbonlahor.

60 mins: The pace has understandably slowed. Kuyt almost released Alonso through on goal, but Cuellar was there. Villa attack a bit down the left with Gaz Baz trying his hardest, but Skrtel is in control.

61 mins: Welcome to the game, Gabby. His first action is to foul Skrtel as the two chase a long ball down the right. He's only scored once in his last 16 after the hot start to the season.

What do you think Fergie is thinking at the moment? Think he's finally allowing himself to be worried?

64 mins: PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL
Torres skips behind Reo-Coker and Friedel stands his ground as the striker sprints through on goal. Nowhere for Friedel to go, and Torres tumbles down. Ref gives a red card, very unfairly, but the penalty is legitimate.

Brad Guzan hurries himself into action for his EPL debut, although surely not under the ideal circumstances.

Anfield applauds Friedel as he exits, and rightly so. The law may dictate that a goalie foul is an instant red, but nevertheless, they need some common sense.

GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL Steven Gerrard steps up and sends Guzan the wrong way to complete his hat-trick. Liverpool 5, Aston Villa 0

And promptly, it's subs time, as Lucas replaces Xabi Alonso.

67 mins: Villa win a corner off Carragher, but Gaz Baz squanders the delivery.

To summarize: yes, it was a PK as Friedel definitely impeded Torres, Shouldn't have been a red though, as Friedel merely stood his ground. It's not like he could have vanished into thin air, as the color commentator inferred.

Rough times for Villa. Let's hope Friedel wins an appeal so he can face Manchester United.

69 mins: A lovely run by Riera down the left, cutting it back from the touchline for Lucas, whose low shot is just wide of the post. Guzan would have saved that, I reckon.

While the red card was uncalled-for, make no mistake: this has been a superb performance by Liverpool today. Even with a misfiring Spanish striker, they're 5 goals up on a very good team. Sadly, for momentum's sake, the international break is coming at the absolute wrong time.

The Villa fans, quiet as they may be, do find enough volume to sing "We're going to win 6-5" when Lucas entered proceedings.

73 mins: Skrtel could have made it 6-0 as the corner lands to his feet unmarked at the back post, but his off-target volley shows why he's a defender.

Liverpool begin showing off a bit around the Villa area, which might seem a bit poor in the sportsmanship stakes, but if you're Martin O'Neill, would you rather them try some stepovers or keep pushing for more goals? Riera has been superb down the left, and has nothing but space every time he gets forward.

75 mins: Gerrard can't find Torres with a long, raking ball downfield, but who cares? The home side are up 5-0!

Here comes Daniel Agger, the man who's apparently so pissed about his lack of playing time that he wants to move to Italy. Honestly, with the team playing like this, why leave? Juventus are shit, and LFC are rolling. He replaces Arbeloa. Does this mean Carragher is moving to right-back, the position no-one else wants to play?

77 mins: Torres does well under pressure to hold possession in the Villa area, and after a sharp turn, it bobbles up to Cuellar, who clearly uses his right arm to control the ball before hoofing it downfield. If it was a 0-0 game, I'd be screaming for the penalty, but any more PK decisions, no matter how justified, just seem mean at this point.

78 mins: Villa still pushing forward for something, and they do deserve something from this one, but Mascherano is there to intercept the cut-back.

Gerrard breaks up midfield from Reina's long-throw, but he can't find Torres in traffic. Funny how completely out-of-sync they look today.

Another corner for Villa, but Barry puts it right into Reina's hands at the back post.

Final sub for LFC: David N'gog will have a n'go up front, and Gerrard rightly gets his standing ovation for his performance today.

84 mins: Agger has a run but his through-ball to Torres finds the Spaniard offside. Both teams are just waiting for the whistle at this point. Kuyt shows signs of sustained brightness down the right even late on, but as usual, his touch is as heavy as ever.

Skrtel fouls Agbonlahor some 30 yards out as Gabby stretches his legs, and the ref's whistle brings a hearty cheer from the visiting fans. Villa try some trickery from the free kick instead of shooting, and LFC clear.

86 mins: Ashley Young's not had a good day. This mazy run down the left concludes with an awful shanked cross that booms high over the bar.

SWEET, SWEET PAGINATION. Well done, you commenting superheroes!

88 mins: Gaz Baz wastes another corner, putting it once more in Reina's gloves as if it were guided by magnets.

Martin O'Neill readies a sub, and you have to wonder how Villa will rebound from his one. As they say on the telly, they've not won in their last 8, being knocked out of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup. John Carew, one of the few bright spots for Villa today, is replaced by someone whose name I missed.

Meanwhile, you wonder if they'd have some confidence knowing that they didn't purposefully tank their UEFA Cup run to focus on the league. Looking at recent events, it's safe to say all their ploys have backfired.

90 mins: Please, blow the whistle soon, for everyone's sake. Anfield is singing like they won something. Three minutes of added time to come, and you can bet they will be incident-free. Craig Gardner was the sub for Carew, by the way.

90 mins + 2: Well done, Mr. Gardner, you've earned a silly yellow card. He has a run up the middle but his touch lets him down, and for good measure, he follows through late on Agger after the Dane's clearance.

90 mins + 2: Gabby and Ashley link up down the left, and Young has a crack from distance. It's always drifting somewhat wide, but Reina flops on it just to make sure.

FULL TIME: Liverpool 5, Aston Villa 0
For a game that was so evenly poised after half an hour, what a result for the Reds!

A tough day for Villa in what's fast becoming a tough month. They've given up 4th place to a resurgent Arsenal side, and no matter what they do, whether it be trips to Dubai or MO'N team talks, they've really lost the plot in the league, and games like this one don't help.
When you have such a thin squad with which to compete in the EPL, it's no wonder, but they did boss the tempo for most of the first half and still went in at the whistle down three goals.

Meanwhile, LFC go into the international break with serious momentum. One point back (though United have a game in hand), and goals raining in from all parts of the pitch.

A simply brilliant performance, beyond anyone's wildest predictions (although GeneralGametime did predict LFC would score 5, so well done there), and Ferguson must be feeling rather uneasy. The fortnight away from the league should help them galvanize, but make no mistake: Liverpool just showed that this race is far from dead.


Thanks for playing along everyone; in our greed and hunger for comments, we've outdone ourselves once again. Maybe we'll liveblog again later for some La Liga, or even that MLS evening game, but for now, I must go enjoy the sunshine.

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Are Valencia CF the next AIG/Lehman/Bear/Northern Rock/WaMu/Wachovia/RBS/Anglo Irish Bank/etc....?

As the global economy continues to descend further into the mire, the football world has remained relatively insulated thanks to long term TV deals and billionaire investment (mostly in English clubs). That may all be about to change. Valencia, who are reported to be in debt to the tune of 450 million euros (!!!!), are essentially insolvent and have stopped paying players.

The club is reportedly 15 million euros in arrears to the players, who have taken it out on management by absolutely tanking on the pitch. Valencia lost last weekend to relegation-bound Numancia, haven't won since the beginning of February, and have fallen down to 8th place in La Liga. The new CEO, who was brought in to clean up the mess by the club's chief creditor, told Sky Sports that Valencia would have to consider selling David Villa and David Silva.

"The club has to control spending, grow income and sell assets.

"Selling Silva and Villa? Obviously we will consider that type of action. We have to control costs, and the biggest cost in a football club is maintaining a team."

The proximate cause for the Valencia's problems, as Sid Lowe was talking about on the Guardian Podcast on Monday, is debt taken out to finance the construction of a new stadium (on which work has been halted) to replace La Mestalla, as well as a new training ground. The plan was that the club were going to sell land around the old stadium to pay off the debt. Given the shambolic state of the Spanish property market these days, such a happy outcome is unlikely at best. As Sid notes:

Between 2000 and 2004, Valencia reached two Champions League finals, won two league titles and the Uefa Cup. Then along came Juan Bautista Soler, football's very own Brian Potter. Four years later, Valencia had boasted five sporting directors, three director generals, three medical chiefs, three ostracised footballers, a day in court against their own captain, and no trophies. The club's debt had risen from €125m to over €400m, €17m each had gone on Nikola Zigic, Manuel Fernandes, and Ever Banega and over €30m was spent paying off Claudio Ranieri, Quique Sánchez Flores and Ronald Koeman. But there was always the pelotazo – develop the land upon which the training ground and Mestalla stood. Valencia would sell up, move somewhere better, and make a fortune. "We're going to be the envy of Spain," Soler said.

There was just one tiny flaw in the plan: it was rubbish. The property bubble that propped up the Spanish economy burst; economic crisis hit harder than anywhere else, leaving three million unemployed, two million new homes empty, hundreds of thousands of buildings half-finished, and Spanish football clubs owing the taxman over €600m.

Sid goes on to speculate that Valencia are in real danger of getting relegated, which reeks of what happened to Leeds United, although this implosion would be even swifter. Liverpool and others circling around David Villa - currently injured - would be advised to lowball. As an Arsenal supporter, I thank god that the club didn't decide to build Emirates stadium five years later. Liverpool (a 350 million pound loan coming due in four months) and Manchester United (600 million pounds in total debt, in search of a new shirt sponsor) might not be breathing so easily, however. Too bad none of these clubs can apply for bail out money from the US Treasury.

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Want results? Get Juande.

Nope. No irony in that whatsoever.

Is it just me, or do Real Madrid seem more like a club founded on novelty and entertainment value than actual winning?

I could well be off-base here, but I feel like their recent run of form doesn't have the invincibility that it once did.

They score a lot, concede a lot, and they just got dumped from the Spanish Cup by a team from the third tier of Spanish football.

Now, they appear to be chasing further comedy.

How? By wanting to hire Juande Ramos.


Club president Ramon Calderon's been stirring up trouble in his tenure at Real, slagging off Beckham once he left for Los Angeles (saying he'll amount to nothing more than "an average cinema actor, working in Hollywood), as well as chasing just about every prized footballing possession of every club in Europe. He hounded Fergie about Ronaldo, he went after Kaka, and he tried to unsettle Fabregas. All in all, he's a bit of a dick.

Now, with his team in danger of becoming rather effective and modestly successful under German Bernd Schuster, a guy who brought him a league title and Supercopa trophy last season, Calderon's clearly looking for some more tabloid-grabbing spice with a courtship of Juande Ramos, perhaps the worst manager England has seen for some time. [Ed. Note: I really, really, really love hyperbole]

Of course, with this information coming from The Sun, you can hardly bet the house on it, but the defeat to Real Union in the Cup is clearly hurting behind closed doors, not to mention the inability to stop anyone scoring goals against them (they've let in 16 in 10 games thus far, making them West Brom-esque at the back).

I don't think for one second that Ramos could solve their issues. After all, they're missing Van Nistelrooy for the rest of the year with knee-knack, Raul is slowing down at age 31, and their defense is shambolic.

Still, for the headlines and hilarity, I'd love to see him try.

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La Liga Roundup: Things Fall Apart in Madrid

February has not been kind to La Liga leaders Real Madrid. Coming into Sunday's meeting with crosstown minnows Getafe, los Merengues had dropped two of three league matches this month, and most recently lost to Roma 2-1 in the Champions League. Surely, they could close the month out with a win and maintain their distance over second place Barcelona. Manager Bernd Schuster certainly thought so, saying on Saturday, "I don't think I'll wake up on Monday morning and find Barca are only two points behind us."

Oops. Seriously, watch this video and laugh in the general direction of Madrid.

Here's what happened:

Arjen Robben thought he had put Real in the lead after 65 minutes but as the Real players started to celebrate referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez ruled that captain Raul Gonzalez was offside before he passed to his Dutch team mate.

Getafe quickly took the ensuing free kick and executed a swift counter-attack against their opponents now under-manned defense.

Franceso Casquero broke free and laid the ball off to Manu Del Moral who, in turn, passed to Ikechuckwu Uche and the Nigerian coolly slotted the ball home with his right foot from 10 metres out.

To go from thinking you're up 1-0, and then moments later finding yourself down 0-1, that's heartbreaking stuff - not exactly watching-your-teammate's-leg-snap disheartening, but pretty damn close.

While the 1-0 scoreline held, Barça took care of Levante 5-1, which meant Schuster did indeed wake up Monday morning with their rivals nipping at his heel.

In a way, the Getafe goal serves as a microcosm of Madrid's recent form. At the beginning of February, Real held a comfortable 9-point lead on Barcelona, but while the leaders stumbled, Barcelona has scraped together a nice run of form to make La Liga a two-horse race again.

Across town from Bernabau, Atlético Madrid is in a similar tailspin, having picked up just one point from the last six matches. Sevilla, meanwhile, is on a hot streak, having won 7 of the last 8 and drawn one, against Barcelona. After a 5-0 thrashing of Zaragoza, they are now just two points behind Atlético for fourth place and the final Champions League spot.

Anyhoo, once again, here's Arjen Robben looking really confused:

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The Poor Bastards Probably Want Rafa Back

Crisis? You want to talk about a club in crisis? I'll see Lingering Bursitis' Newcastle United and raise you Valencia C.F.

In the first half of the decade we call The Naughts, Valencia was Spain's other team, winning La Liga twice, reaching the Champions League final twice, and winning the UEFA Cup once. As recently as last year in the Champions League, they knocked out an Inter side that was unstoppable in Serie A (and treated us to the most hilarious fight, ever).

It's all gone to shit since then. Valencia finds itself in 7th place in the Primera Liga table after this weekend's loss to Atletico Madrid. Which doesn't so bad until you look closer and see they're 9 points behind Espanyol for the last Champions League place, while only 7 points separate them from relegation zone. And it's not exactly looking up, considering their last league win came eight matches ago, in November.

With Villareal, Atletico and Espanyol all enjoying resurgence, Valencia isn't even second tier any more. They're just part of a vast middle class that could be relegated just as easily as they could qualify for Europe. And for a club that boasts World Cup veterans like Joaquin, David Villa and Fernando Morientes, mid-table mediocrity isn't enough return on investment.

Happier times

Tribalfootball.com has a nice rundown on the State of Mestalla, so I'll just give you the bullet points - it's not a pretty picture, and we're not talking about new signee Ever Banega playing with his Ashley Young on webcam.:

During the seven-match league winless streak, Valencia got hammered at home by Athletic Bilbao, lost 3-0 to Barcelona, and drew with cellar dwellers Osasuna and Levante (their crosstown rival), and went six matches without scoring a goal in all competitions.

Finished last in its Champions League group, missing out on the consolation UEFA Cup place.

Ronald Koeman, who not coincidentally became manager at the start of the freefall in November, endeared himself to the fans by declaring three long-serving veterans surplus to requirement.

Manuel Fernandes spending a night in jail didn't help matters much either.

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