Neville's first victory

I have never been really fond of Valencia's eagerness to fire managers and hire new ones as a way to success. Since Rafa Benitez in the 2003-2004 season Valencia has done little under a wide array of managers that have included Claudio Ranieri, Ronald Koeman and Unay Emery.
It was a surprise when the ex-Manchester United player Gary Neville was made new manager in December. With Neville never having coached a top team before, it certainly seemed a gamble, and personally I continue to be skeptical. There have been some awful results, from the elimination in the Champions League to the 0-7 humiliation by FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. And only now, more than two months since he took over, Gary Neville got his first victory when they defeated Espanyol 2-1 in la Liga.
Maybe this first victory, coming so late, will be the start of something good. I doubt it though. I fear that this first victory is just an exception under what I don't believe will be a good period for Valencia under Gary Neville.
I hope I am wrong.

Champions and champions

I usually find myself in cool places around the world to watch the FA Cup finals, but this year I found myself in an airplane, and was thus unable to watch a surprising final where Wigan Athletics won a surprising 1-0 victory over Manchester City. Wigan are fighting relegation from the Premier League and this victory is their first FA title ever! Manchester City in the meantime finish a "disappointing" season: second in the Premier League, second in the FA Cup and Champions League would have seemed like a miracle some years ago, but with growth expectations overshadow hope.
Wigan won with hope and no expectations, and must now hope for survival in the Premier League.
But that is what makes English football so great: these things can really happen!
Not so in the Spanish league.
When I finally got home from the airport I watched Espanol and Real Madrid play 1-1 in the Spanish League. This result makes FC Barcelona champions without playing, as Real Madrid can no longer hope to catch up with the Catalonians who will be playing Atletico Madrid later.
No surprises there: not since 2004 has another team than Barcelona or Real Madrid won the league (Valencia), and since then only one team has ended in top-2 (Villarreal in 2008).
Real Madrid can still hope for a title though: next Friday they will be playing Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Atletico are no Wigan, but are still the smaller side against mighty Real Madrid, who will be playing at their home stadium.

European travels

I have been travelling around in Europe for a month, and although with the break, there wasn't much football on my busy programme, I did nevertheless notice some things:
-I was in Barcelona when R.D. Espanyol inaugurated their new stadium by winning a 3-0 victory against Liverpool. I have always felt some sympathy for Español for being the "little guys" in Barcelona, and was happy to see them play well. But it was nevertheless truly sad to hear, barely a week later, that Español's captain, Dani Jarque, passed away due to heart failure during a training session in Italy.
-R.I.P.
-While in Barcelona, I also watched FC Barcelona's trianing match against L.A. Galaxy. Barcelona was far superior, presaging a strong next season, although the victory of 2-1 was arguably too small.
-Great free-kick goal by Beckham! Good that he will be back among the stars in Europe, where he belongs!
-And the Ibrahimovic fever has set in in Barcelona, although the Swedish striker has yet to play a match; his shirt can already be purchased everywhere in the Catalonian city. It will indeed be interesting to see how he unfolds in Barcelona!
-I was also in Austria, a country whose football history I still know very little about. I was only in Vienna, and seeing signs of the two city clubs, Austria and Rapid Vienna, I had to find out about their status, only to find out that Red Bull Salzburg won the league last season. While there, Salzburg in fact qualified to the final qualification round of the Champions League after defeating Dynamo Zagreb 1-2, while Austria Vienna continued to the next round of the Europe League qualification, after defeating Vojdovina 4-2.
-Salzburg is up against Maccabi Haifa FC in the next round.
-I was in Berlin as the Bundesliga season 2009-2010 got underway. The locals of Hertha Berlin, who are still hoping to bring a title to the capital, defeated Hannover 1-0 in the season debut, while defending champions of Wolfburg defeated Stuttgart 2-0.

It was a great trip, but now I am also looking forward to all leagues getting underway for the next season!

Barcelona streak ended

Last Thursday, FC Barcelona was eliminated from the Spanish Copa del Rey after tying 1-1 with Zaragoza in the second match of the Cup round. Zaragoza had won 4-2 in the first match, which was Barcelona's first defeat after 18 consecutive victories.

This weekend, Barcelona lost 1-3 at home on Camp Nou, to Atlético de Madrid - a team which is finally starting to move up where they belong. Had Barcelona won, they would have equalized Real Madrid's record of 15 victories in a row in the Spanish League.

Some people are talking about the invincible Barcelona machine having been stopped, but I doubt this is the case. The team has been hit by injuries and absences. It is certainly not a team on the way out. However, next week they will play a strong Valencia side in Mestalla, and will have to play its best in order not to suffer a second defeat in a row.

On another front, Real Madrid continues its amazing improvement under the new coach Lopez Caro. This weekend, RCD Espanyol was trashed 4-0, and Real Madrid is still undefeated in 2006. This new team means it seriously...

Brøndby in the UEFA Cup

Tonight the Danish Champions of Brøndby will be playing the second match in the UEFA Cup Group stage Group B, against Lokomotiv Moscow, in Moscow. This being the only Danish representation in European football this season, the game carries some weight for Brøndby. Furthermore, the Danish Champions have before had good results in the UEFA Cup.

Brøndby started this season's tournament well, by defeating Maccabi Petach-Tikva (from Israel) 2-0 in the first match. On the other hand, Lokomotiv Moscow has started poorly, only collecting one point in their first two matches. Although it is always difficult to play against Russian teams away, Brøndby's chance lies in the apparent bad period the Muscovites are going through: disappointment in Europe and in the domestic league, which currently is on winter-break. A good result in Moscow will really give Michael Laudrup's boys a head-start in the tournament, and make them very ready to face Espanyol and Palermo, who are the two other teams in the group (and who are facing one another tomorrow night).

Go Brøndby!!!

Getafe number one

Third round in the Spanish league has just ended, and the table looks surprising, in particular after today's result.
Although it might be less and less surprising that the second-rate Real Madrid team lost for the third time this week, 1-0 to a strong Espanyol side in Barcelona, it is more worth noting that the defending champions from FC Barcelona lost 2-1 to Atlético Madrid. Atlético had a terrible last season, and with new purchases, has vowed to do better this season. And with the extraordinary match they displayed against Barcelona, they are certainly a team to watch.
Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña had a great clash in Valencia, which ended 2-2. Both teams are undefeated, but with Deportivo's 7 points, they are on second spot.
The surprising leaders are little-known (outside Spain) Getafe. Defeating Alavés 3-4 away, they are leading ahead of Deportivo on goal difference. It would be interesting to see them stay on the top for a while.