This might not be a vintage Barcelona, but this Girona side are just a little bit special. Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) as they break down a brilliant weekend in La Liga.The first half of the show is dedicated to the first time ever that Girona have beaten Barcelona - and what a way to do it. Míchel's side showed Culers the football they've been desperate to see all season, and even if Barcelona had their chances, Paco explains why Girona were so much better. Then there's the post-mortem for Barcelona and Xavi Hernández - we have a checklist. In the second half of the show, we start with Aitor Ruibal's screamer to earn Real Betis a point against Real Madrid - one that both sides were content with. Real Sociedad gave the Yellow Submarine a bath and Diego Alonso is on borrowed time. Meanwhile Valencia get Bordalás'd. Subscribe for extra content at lllonline.substack.com. Our thoughts go out to the Granada fan that tragically lost their life to a heart attack during their clash with Athletic Club. Descansa en paz.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) to review a significant weekend with a few surprise results.The weekend culminated with a heavyweight clash at Montjuïc as Barça took on Atleti knowing they could be effectively out of the title race had they lost. João Félix – on loan from Atleti – proved to be the match-winner, and how he enjoyed that. Iñaki Peña was also vital with a couple of superb saves to deny Diego Simeone's men.Athletic Club routed Rayo with both Williams brothers on the scoresheet, celebrating Nico's contract renewal.Real Madrid and Girona keep winning at the top. Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) drops in to give us his reaction from the capital. Meanwhile, Girona made hard work of it against Valencia, requiring a late doblete from Cristhian Stuani to complete the remontada.In Part Two we review the rest of the games, including controversy denying Marcelino a fourth win in four, praise for revelatory Las Palmas, and some stalemates which suited nobody.We end by reacting to Spain's tough Euro 2024 group draw.Remember to upgrade your subscription to get access to all of our content. The place to go for that is:  lllonline.substack.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) as they review Matchday 14, game by game.They look into the Marcelino - Morales connection that has brought Villarreal back to life, Umar Sadiq's glorious goal that saw Real Sociedad overpower Sevilla, Rodrygo recovering his best version, Rayo becoming Xavi's worst nightmare and Paco López's untimely departure, among all the other stories of the weekend.Is Antoine Griezmann the best player in the league? Were Sevilla wrong to fire José Luis Mendilibar? Is Barcelona's season on the line this week? All these questions and more are pondered. They also take a moment to remember Terry Venables, who sadly passed away this weekend. 'El Tel' leaves behind a great legacy that will be remembered for years to come. From the La Liga Lowdown team we send out our condolences to his family and friends.Subscribe to our Substack at lllonline.substack.com for access to all our premium content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spain finish their European qualifying group top, with seven wins from eight, but there was nobody celebrating by the end of it. Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) as they reflect on a sombre night for La Roja.Luis de la Fuente called it the most bitter victory he's ever experienced after Spain defeated Georgia 3-1, the only thing anyone was talking about was Gavi. The 19-year-old star came off before the half-hour mark with what is all-but-confirmed a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear. The impact of this is discussed, both for Spain and Barcelona, as it looks like it might keep him ouof the Euros next year. Paco tries to assess De la Fuente's spell up until now - the next time Spain play, de la Fuente will have been in the job over a year.The second half of the show unfortunately has to deal with injuries too: Real Madrid have lost Eduardo Camavinga and Vinícius Junior for multiple months. The upshot is a rather thin set of options for Carlo Ancelotti, who has nine injuries to deal with as things stand. Have Real Betis left Manuel Pellegrini with one too many miracles to work? Their defensive options are analysed. There was some bright news for Barcelona fans, who thumped Real Madrid 5-0 at Montjuïc, which wraps up a chastening show. Upgrade to premium at lllonline.substack.com for more articles and podcasts! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The culmination of Matchday 13 means we are a third of the way through the season, and there are plenty of things to make pre-season predictions look rather silly.Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) review a goal-filled weekend which saw every team score, contributing to 3.66 goals per game, four comebacks from the top five, and familiar heroes coming to the rescue.The Seville Derby may not have been too high on quality, but the narratives stayed strong. All square at the Sánchez-Pizjuán courtesy of Ivan Rakitić.The game of the weekend was on Friday in Bilbao, as Athletic grabbed a late winner in a seven-goal thriller to condemn Celta to yet another defeat.Atleti had to come from behind too, but succeeded in defeating managerless Villarreal to extend their home winning run. Of course Antoine Griezmann was at the heart of things. Marcelino is seemingly all but in the door, and Paco says he should be given the keys to the Submarine hatch.The leaders are still Girona, who once again trailed at Míchel's old stomping ground but turned it around. Their powers of recovery are almost as impressive as their league position.In Part Two we discuss the other two horses in the race, both of whom won but in very contrasting circumstances.Robert Lewandowski made his own scoring return to wake Barça up from their slump while Real Madrid won without Jude Bellingham. Xavi still has plenty of issues to solve, but Madrid appear to have passed this test with flying colours.We round up the remainder of the action before assessing the table as it stands.Be sure to upgrade your Substack subscription at lllonline.substack.com for all the best content for just a fiver a month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Girona es líder and other phrases you might need if you're learning some Spanish football vocabulary. LaLiga delivered in a big way this weekend with all of the big three put through their paces, while La Liga's biggest storyline rolls on. Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) as they gorge on a filling nine-course tasting menu.Part One begins at El Sadar where Míchel's side showed little apprehension about the difficulty of their task when they went down to Osasuna. Why are they so much better this season than last? Why is football cruel, and why should Real Sociedad fans continue to watch it after they were beaten by Barcelona? Our pair discuss the silver linings of their robbery, and the puzzle for Imanol Alguacil. Made all the sweeter for the Catalans by both Madrid giants stumbling in the face of frisky opposition.In Part Two, everyone is moaning. All sides went home in a cantankerous mood from Celta Vigo-Sevilla, and even Pacheta's puppy-dog enthusiasm is wilting in the face of Villarreal's performances. Elsewhere Alavés win a crucial clash at the bottom of the table, Paco López and Javier Aguirre have reason to bring out their inner Benítez too.Make sure to read our written content at lllonline.substack.com, and make sure to upgrade your subscription in order to join us for our second podcast of the week on Thursdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

El Clásico didn't disappoint, with a late twist as the headline acts delivered and gave us plenty to discuss and debate.Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Román De Arquer (@Aeroslavee) as they review the game in depth. Román was in attendance so shares his matchgoing experience, as well as wondering whether Real Madrid deserved to win, or Barça in fact let it slip. We talk tactics, substitutes, key players, and of course, a lot about Jude Bellingham. As always it seems. There is time for discussion of İlkay Gündoğan's post-match comments too, and where it leaves the respective sides for the rest of the season.In Part Two we travel on a whistle-stop tour around the rest of the matches from the weekend, one that saw two thirds of the fixtures decided by stoppage time goals. There were late winners, high-scoring draws, magical goals... and Getafe with another bore draw.For more of this and for access to all of our premium content, upgrade your subscription for a fiver at lllonline.substack.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's hard to ask La Liga for much more this season. Despite one or two sour notes, La Liga is full of juice. Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Paco Polit (pacopolitENG) as they react and assess the weekend's action, as La Liga continues it's entertaining start.Part one begins with the Sergio Ramos derby. Ramos had Real Madrid pulling faces, as Carlo Ancelotti turns to irony. Diego Alonso's Sevilla debut was interesting watch - Jude Bellingham has failed to score or assist in just three games this season, and Real Madrid have dropped points in two of them. Elsewhere, discretion advised if you want to mess with Girona, and Antoine Griezmann shows Rafa Benítez just how rainy it can be in Vigo.Part two begins with the Sunday night partidazo in Barcelona - which was decided by yet another Barcelona youngster. Marc Guiu makes his case for the best ever opening minute of a debut. Villarreal fail to beat Alavés at home, as they sink to their worst start in La Liga ever. Manuel Pellegrini is the latest to get the Papa Bordalás treatement.Subscribe and upgrade now for access to all of our content at lllonline.substack.com.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guten Tag! Spain have qualified for Euro 2024 following back-to-back wins in this October window.Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) discuss the two close encounters, beginning with Thursday night's win over Scotland in Seville.Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) - our Scot living in Spain - was at La Cartuja to witness the match, and shares his thoughts on the match and Luis de la Fuente's tenure so far.We examine the controversy surrounding Scott McTominay's disallowed goal and explain why Spain were able to kick on from that point.In Part Two we analyse Sunday's win in Oslo against a rather disappointing Norway side. There were more debatable decisions here too, with Álvaro Morata at the heart of most of it.We conclude by assessing Spain's likelihood of contending next summer. Subscribe and upgrade now for access to all of our content at lllonline.substack.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some things in life are bad. But not LaLiga. Matchday 9 brought us a colossal amount of goals, drama and narratives.We've had records broken, comebacks, a new coach, a sacking and more. Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) break it all down in this bumper pod before the international break kicks in again.We start with Zaragoza in Granada, not to confuse the geographers. Bryan is the revelation of the season, and in just 17 seconds, he made sure Barça knew about it. If his first was quick, his second was more spectacular, earning him the Spain call up his fans were clamouring for. Barça had to dig deep to get themselves out of another hole. They thought they had won it, but were denied by a controversial offside decision. Lamine Yamal will never forget the game, as he became the youngest goalscorer in LaLiga history.In Madrid, there was more drama, with handballs this time. Paco laments the level of officiating this season, but praises the grittiness of Atlético and the quality of La Real.Another week, another Bellingham showcase, who is challenging journalists to find new superlatives and fresh copy. A thumping win leaves Los Blancos top of the league, with Girona their closest challengers.In Part Two, we look at remaining games and the managerial movements. José Luis Mendilibar was sacked by Sevilla as a late draw at home to Rayo was not enough to fend off the doubters. The vicious cycle is continuing in Seville, and there are similar predicaments for Rafa Benítez at Celta and Pacheta at Villarreal. Celta saved a point against Getafe but Villarreal fell to Las Palmas. All seem to be suffering from seasons "born in a twisted way", opines Paco.What will the coming days bring? A nervous wait for many.Athletic beat Almería, who subsequently appointed former-Athletic coach Gaizka Garitano as the man to try and save them. We discuss this choice and whether or not he can have the luck required.After rounding off the matches, we play out on Lamine Yamal's moment of history.Subscribe to our Substack at lllonline.substack.com for extra content for just the price of a beer per month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.