Valencia squeezed through to the next round of Copa del Ray after drawing 2-2 at home to local side Alcoyano, progressing with a 3-2 aggregate win. The Primera Division side had led through goals by Carlos Marchena and Nikola Zigic but after Victor Curto pulled one back, Alexis' sending off paved the way for Carpio to level the scores on the night.

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Por Nick Panzeri
Pellegrini es un hombre de costumbres. Repite comidas, corbatas, discurso... y ridículos coperos. El ingeniero tiene un problema con este torneo desde que llegó a España. El humillante 4-0 del Real Madrid en Alcorcón que tanto escuece al madridismo, debió parecerle un déjà vu al entrenador chileno. Click to continue reading...

If Villarreal continues their poor run of form, El Madrigal will look similar to this on match nights.

After another underwhelming performance in a 0-2 loss to Real Madrid at El Madrigal on Wednesday evening, Villarreal currently sits in 18th place with only two points from four La Liga matches.

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La liga vuelve entre semana con la cuarta jornada del campeonato. El Barça visita El Sardinero con la intención de seguir esta línea de buen juego y goles que arrasó al Atletico de Madrid. Allí nos espera el cedido Henrique, que intentará causar buena impresión a los pocos que le hemos visto jugar. Click to continue reading...

Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy returned after a long spell on the sidelines to provide an assist and score another in his side's emphatic 5-0 victory over La Liga minnows Xerez. While the focus of the game initially remained on another former Manchester United star, Cristiano Ronaldo who scored twice to make it six goals in his four appearances it was his Dutch teammate who eventually created most of the headlines.

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To say it's been a contrasting start to the season for the two major teams in Madrid would be a massive understatement. On one side, Real are already starting to look like the real deal and currently sit top of the La Liga table with 11 goals and 9 points from their opening three matches.

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via Gettyimages

Ah, que fantástico! David Villa struck twice yesterday to help Valencia to a neat 4-2 win at Valladolid. The other goals came from Juan Mata and David Silvaaaaa.

"My players made a big effort and by the end, they were very exhausted.

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Foto de Globo

Nilmar is walking away from Internacional!!! Yes, the striker will officially be presented as a Villarreal player later tonight at El Madrigal. The striker will also be parading the team's new kit. No eagle is slated to make an appearance, though, so everyone please sit down.

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It wasn't planned as such, but seeing as the club official website have finally confirmed his departure, I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon. And so I'm going to pay tribute to Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor.
For me Adebayor will be remembered not only for his goal against Villarreal at El Madrigal (which was stupendous to say the least). Click to continue reading...

Matias Fernandez set foot on the European pedestal having dazzled those in audience at the Estadio Monumental in Chile, his somewhat youthful age not inhibiting a confidence that reached a sky-high altitude when he ripened into a prominent figure in the ranks of Colo Colo and, in doing so, infiltrating his name into the select handful who are spoken of as South America's budding hopes. Click to continue reading...

Real Madrid have been largely struggling ever since Florentin Perez's Galacticos ceased to exist but last season have been especially disappointing as not only did Real fail to win a single trophy, but their bitter rivals Barcelona won a historic triple and it was clear that the changes are imminent.

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Villarreal general manager Jose Manuel Llaneza has claimed an agreement is in place for Manuel Pellegrini to go to Real Madrid.

Pellegrini announced earlier he had not been contacted by new Real president Florentino Perez about taking charge at the Santiago Bernabeu. However, Llaneza has now stated Pellegrini is set to leave his post and replace Juande Ramos.

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Add this to the long list of reasons why I love Valencia CF.

Reason #124,645: Valencia's players have reached into their pockets to help fans buy tickets to the pivotal, all-important match against Villarreal on Saturday.
You'll remember these being the same players who hadn't received a dime in salary for almost 2 months.

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FC Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola believes the group of players that delivered the club their fifth Spanish Liga and Copa del Rey double would have succeeded with or without him at the helm.

'Keys' to successÂ
After watching his largely second-string side go down 2-1 at RCD Mallorca on Sunday, Guardiola heaped praise on those who secured the Azulgrana's 19th league success.

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Real Madrid falls to Villareal, 2-3 at El Madrigal. It snuffs out their slim chances of overtaking Barca.

Barca are now La Liga champions, two days after being crowned Copa Del Rey champions and on May 27th fight Man Utd for the title of the best team in Europe in the CL final. A chance for a triple crown.

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It's been a busy week in the world of La Liga. Javier Saviola finally realised that he wasn't a required player at Real Madrid, and if he actually wanted to be able to write the word ‘footballer' as his occupation on his arrival card whenever he nicked back to Buenos Aires for a holiday, he would have to go in search of new employers.

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Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o is hoping his team can successfully complete phase two of their treble bid by wrapping up the Primera Division title this weekend.

The Catalan outfit clinched the first silverware of the Pep Guardiola era with a 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final at the Mestalla last night and face Manchester United in the Champions League final in Rome on May 27.

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David Silva has been ruled out for two to three weeks with injury and is likely not to play for Valencia again this season.

The winger had to be taken off the pitch during the win over Real Madrid at the weekend and was replaced in the 56th minute.

The official Valencia website has now confirmed that he has suffered an injury to his right leg and will be absent for two to three weeks.

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After earning a one-all draw away to Villareal midweek, the Gunners will swap El Madrigal for the JJB Stadium today. Arsene Wenger's side will make the 300 mile journey up north to face Steve Bruce's Wigan Athletic, with the aim of taking maximum points and making a late charge for ... Click to continue reading...

After securing a 1-1 draw in the first leg at El Madrigal last week, Arsenal face Villareal in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash. The Gunners go into the match with the slightest of advantages. Emmanuel Adebayor's spectacular overhead kick may prove to be decisive. Since the . Click to continue reading...

El ex barcelonista desveló a las cámaras de Canal+ que el centrocampista del Villarreal le insultó a él y a su familia durante la vuelta de semifinales entre el conjunto gunner y el equipo español. Además, Cesc reconoció que nunca había sufrido un marcaje tan agresivo y no quiso darle la mano al futbolista uruguayo cuando éste se la tendió.

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That to your left is a knife edge (or at least the best image of a knife edge I could find at short notice). And today's Champions League quarterfinal games are on it. Arsenal host Villarreal with a slim away goal advantage. The 1-1 draw at El Madrigal last week means Arsene Wenger's men could go [.. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal return home in the drivers' seat needing only a 0-0 draw against Villarreal to advance to the next stage of the UEFA Champions League. In the first leg match the Gunners were able to hold out for a 1-1 draw at El Madrigal. The side managed by Arsene Wenger were able to even the match [. Click to continue reading...

I previewed the first leg here, so it would be redundant for me to go over the same stuff again, which would be redundant.

As I wrote yesterday, Wenger has come out and stated publicly that our goal is to come out and win this game by getting forward and scoring some goals, which, given the situation, is the only sensible approach.

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Villarreal have been dealt another significant injury blow after Marcos Senna was ruled out of Wednesday's second leg against Arsenal with a left hamstring problem.

The Spanish international picked up the knock in the second half of Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Málaga, limping off ten minutes from time as his side, having already made their three permitted substitutions, were left to play out the match with ten men.

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Morning, it's gonna be a quiet bank holiday blog this morning. There's really not a lot stirring.

No doubt Arsene will be keeping his remaining centre-halves wrapped in cotton wool this week. We know what kind of a position an injury would leave us in so I'm sure vigorous challenges in training will be outlawed.

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A decent Easter for the Gooner Nation so far. Our win at the JJB Stadium against Wigan Athletic was decisive if flattering. An early incident with Kieran Gibbs who could very easily have got a red card for a last man foul, a free-kick cannoning off the inside of the post and out and a bit of a headless chicken rush out of his goal by Lukasz Fabianski could all have seen a very different result from the one we got.

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Numbers seemed down this week in La Liga mostly due to the Easter holiday, but that did not reduce the excitement in the league. Barcelona continue their ways en route to their 19th league title. The Blaugrana Ballet showed offense, yet they were not as sharp when it came time to define the game.

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FC Barcelona defeated lowly Recreativo de Huelva 2-0 at the Camp Nou to stretch their Liga lead over Real Madrid to nine points, on a day when Villarreal's hopes of a top-four finish were dented by Málaga.

Josep Guardiola's team quickly set about their relegation-threatened opponents and were a goal to the good after a minute when Thierry Henry teed up Andrés Iniesta to tap in.

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By Danny WatsonAfter a month out through injury, his spectacular overhead kick in El Madrigal on Tuesday night has underlined the importance of Emmanuel Adebayor to the Arsenal cause. Missing since pulling up with a hamstring strain in the Gunners 0-0 with Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the Togo forward has now returned in time to play a crucial role as Arsenal battle on three fronts. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal v Villareal: Everything to play for Like at Old Trafford on April 7th, there was no winner at the El Madrigal when Villareal hosted Arsene Wenger's Gunners in the Champions League. Captain Marco Senna opened the scoring in the first half with a long range shot only for Adebayor's 66th minute wonder goal to cancel [. Click to continue reading...

Volvió la competición favorita del blog con la disputa de los cuartos de final entre los ocho equipos que han demostrado más regularidad y determinación en los momentos claves del torneo: United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Oporto, Vila-Real, Bayern Munich y Barcelona en busca de sacar un billete para la final de Roma. Click to continue reading...

After a bit of a breather watching the league games, we are back to the international stage of club competitions, and it gets no better than the Champions League. With only eight teams left, the battle is on as each club vies for a place in the last four of the competition.

The first leg of the quarter-finals between Manchester United and Porto was played at Old Trafford, and viewers were left with a familiar feeling reminiscing the time when Mourinho danced down the touchline when his charges drew an impossible encounter in the red half of Manchester.

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Positives and negatives from yesterday's match. We played very badly in the first half, gave up a number of scoring chances, and suffered two key injuries. But the bottom line is that away games in Europe are very, very tough, and a scoring draw is a good result. We certainly looked better than we did in Rome, and it's a positive sign for a young side to come out in the second half, down a goal in a hostile environment, and dominate play to the extent we did.

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Well, that was fun, wasn't it?
I understand Blogger was at the right hand side (as us commoners were watching on TV), so all the action was at the other end. It's always the way, isn't it? Inconsiderate cunts, the lot of them. I feel for Blogger. I really do. And no, I don't *feel* him, you dirty cunts. Click to continue reading...