Atletico mean business

Real Sociedad had won their 3 home games to date, Atletico had won 9 on the trot, 6 in the league. It was always going to be a battle in San Sebastian, especially on the first wintry weekend of the season, with the rain tipping down on the North coast.

Atletico took a while to settle. The home team had the better early chances  and undoubtedly have some talented youngsters in Vela, Griezmann and Illarramendi who may be interesting bigger clubs next summer.

But Atletico battled their way into the game and created without ever playing well. With Radamel Falcao throwing himself around they are always a danger, and it almost felt more likely than not that he would score when he stepped up to take a 90th minute costless-kick from 20 yards out, even with no previous evidence of ability in that field.

We’ve seen Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo and Cazorla hit costless-kicks like that when their teams most needed it in recent years, but as the Colombian admitted afterwards it was the first costless-kick he had ever scored, confidence is a huge factor when you're banging them in for fun.

Now he has something else in his locker, he is capable of hitting late and vitally important winners to keep his side in a title race, and, for the moment, that is what Atletico are in.

Can they reach the first weekend of December still 8 points ahead of Real when they go to the Bernabeu? Possibly. Will they still be level with Barca when they go to the Camp Nou two weeks later? Who knows, look this space.

Fabregas is so important to the future of Barca

As Xavi dosifies his minutes (Spanglish footy lingo) in a bid to stay  involved at the highest level as long as possible, we are seeing how important Cesc Fabregas will be for Barca over the coming years. 

Messi got the headlines for his hat-trick, and there was so much to talk about Barca’s 5-4 win at Deportivo on Saturday, but Fabregas produced three fantastic assists, the first for Jordi Alba in the second minute to make sure the game was always going to be out of the home side's reach.

The second and third showed a remarkable, almost telepathic, sense of Messi's movement, who he grew up playing with in Barca's youth sides.

As we see less and less of Xavi dictating things in midfield for Barca we will also see the tweaks and changes to their game that places Fabregas at the centre of everything they do.

Valencia and Athletic Bilbao will improve

While they may not challenge as high up the table this year as their all-time historical 3rd and 4th league positions, these two will neither be struggling in the bottom half, despite inconsistent starts.

There was enough pluses in both teams performance in Valencia's 3-2 win over the Basques on Saturday to back this up. In Aritz Aduriz, back in Bilbao for his third spell, Athletic have a forward who can step up to the plate while the Fernando Llorente fiasco plays itself out.

Aduriz has 6 of his sides 11 goals so far and needs the odd cameo from the ungainly but effective Gaizka Toquero who received a contract extension last week, and a share of goals in midfield from Markel Susaeta, Iker Muniain, Oscar de Marcos and Ander Herrera. Recent performances dictate this will come from a side that has seen its season start badly affected by internal politics.

Since Valencia started the season with an encouraging draw in the Bernabeu they have disappointed and the fans were baying for blood at 1-2 on Saturday before Tino Costa and Nelson Valdez got late goals to turn the result around.

If the home support can be patient and give coach Mauricio Pellegrino some time he can build a side ready to fight again for the 3rd place that Valencia have called their own for the last 4 seasons.

That placing may be difficult this term given Atletico's improvement, but still sitting only 3 points behind Madrid in 4th and 6 behind Malaga in 3rd, the fourth Champions League spot plus progress in this years competition are still very attainable objectives for 'los che'.

Madrid can play any defence they like against half La Liga

Celta Vigo arrived in Madrid with all the talk in the capital about the terrible virus spread by Fifa that had deprived 'los blancos' the services of 3 full-backs. Jose Mourinho decided against experimenting with left-sided B team defender Nacho and plumped for Michael Essien who he knows can do a job against the likes of Celta anywhere on the pitch, filling in for Casillas if necessary.

The debate will continue with bigger European games coming up, maybe it was a good  time to throw in Nacho against Celta, but Mourinho's immediate task is to not let Barca's gap grow by more than 8 points and difficult times call for experienced heads as Madrid ran out easy 2-0 winners and Essien looked comfortable against a blunt Celta attack.

The line tripped out by many a losing coach in the Bernabeu and the Nou Camp is that this is not our league, Madrid and Barca are in their own (add Atletico to that for the time being). Celta have a huge regional derby at home with Deportivo next week, they'll be certainly up for attacking a bit more in that one.

Malaga are the ‘equipo revelación’, again?

With the Premier League and the Bundesliga the favoured destination of any quality Spanish player who can't be shoe horned into Barca or Madrid's bulging squads, it is increasingly difficult to see how any other club, short changed by unfair TV deals, can compete with the big two.

A great example is when Malaga gift wrapped Santi Cazorla off to Arsenal in the Summer, it appeared their season would be a tough one, but Francisco Alarcon Suarez did not agree.

Better known as Isco, he is the latest diminutive Spanish midfielder of the production line and Malaga will soon have to decide whether to cash in or build a team around him.

On Saturday a promising Valladolid, with their own talented youngsters, were making things difficult for 3rd place Malaga at 0-1. That is until Isco took the game by the scruff of its neck and dragged his side to victory with twists, turns, dinks, chips, crosses and a quality equaliser.

Even old-timer Joaquin, who now must be wondering what happened to so much of his promise, got a cheeky winner in a quality match that Valladolid added so much to with a lively performance.

Every year the Spanish press starts talk at this stage about who is the 'equipo revelación' or which team are punching most above their weight. Last season despite Malaga's achievements it was Levante's plucky push that took the honour, this year it must be Malaga who could not have been expected to start so well, oh, and Atletico of course.

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About the author
Dermot  Ledwith
Dermot lives and works in Madrid where he watches far too much football as well as all the other sport he can possibly get away with.