LaLiga 2023-2024 (First Division)

[Lorric]

I've kept your thread convention @AlanK

Modric has signed a new contract for another year at Real Madrid. This is great news, Bellingham will be able to learn so much from him.

[Jackson Harrison]

I've kept your thread convention @AlanK

Thread convention? Is this some kind of running joke?

[AlanK]

I've kept your thread convention @AlanK

Modric has signed a new contract for another year at Real Madrid. This is great news, Bellingham will be able to learn so much from him.

Thanks, Lorric. I've been busy copying the games of all 38 jornadas from marca.com; haven't had much more time available to make new posts.

[AlanK]

LaLiga 2023-2024 is almost upon us--LaLiga kicks off a week from today, on August 14 at 1930 with Almería-Rayo the first game. This game will be followed by Sevilla-Valencia at 2130.

[AlanK]

Jornada 1 of LaLiga

Fri. 11 Aug.

1930 Almería 0, Rayo 2 Almería narrowly avoided the drop at the end of last season. Rayo ended up not far from an ECL spot. Goal for both: avoid the drop. At 18', Nteka is fouled in the area in the opinion of the ref; Isi Palazón converts at 20'--0-1. At 28', handball penalty by the home team in Rayo's favor; Nteka converts at 28'--0-2 At 34', Dimitrievski saves for Rayo; he does so again at 39'. Halftime and 0-2. 14,837 reported on hand. Second half sees no goals; Rayo, at least for a short time, leads LaLiga

2130--game put back to 2200 because of high heat in Sevilla. Sevilla 1, Valencia in progress. Sevilla had a mediocre season in 2012-2013, but they avoided relegation and won a spot in the CL by winning the EL. Valencia hopes for a season that will let them forget last season. Scoreless at the half. At 60', Diakhaby scores to give Valencia the lead--0-1. At 69', En-Nesyri ties with a header--or was it a shoulder-ball--to tie it 1-1. At 80', Badé of Sevilla sees a red card. At 88', Javi Guerra gives Valencia the lead once again. Will they hold it ELEVEN minutes added time. Valencia holds on; ends the day in second place on GD behind Rayo.

Sat. 12 Aug.

1700 Real Sociedad 1, Girona 1 La Real will hope to be competitive on two fronts: CL and LaLiga. Girona may aspire to more than just avoiding the drop. At 5', Take Kubo gives la Real the lead--1-0. Halftime. At 72', Dovbyk, just in, scores with a wonderful header to tie it for Girona--1-1. Game ends in a tie.

1930 Las Palmas 1, Mallorca 1 Canaries won promotion to LaLiga last season. Mallorca will hope to avoid danger of dropping. At 30', Viera converts a pk awarded to Las Palmas after consultation with VAR--1-0. About 40', Muriqi of Mallorca slams a PK off the crossbar--still 1-0 at the half. At 70', Raíllo heads in to tie for Mallorca--1-1. And that's the final score.

2130 Athletic 0, Real Madrid 2 Athletic missed the last European spot by the skin of their teeth. El Real finished second in La Liga and reached semifinals of the CL. At 28', Rodrygo gives el Real the lead--0-1. At 36', Bellingham scores off a corner--0-2, and this result would lift Real into a first-place tie. Haltime. 48,927 on hand. And 0-2 is the final score.

Sun. 13 Aug.

1700 Celta 0, Osasuna 2 Celta hopes to improve on a mediocre season in 2022-2023. Osasuna looked as though they'd not be allowed to play in the ECL because of incidents of 10 years ago, but they ended up being allowed to play in the ECL. A repeat of last season's successes would be great for them. At 24', Rubén García puts in a rebound to give Osasuna the lead--0-1. Halftime. At 74', Moi Gómez puts in a rebound to make it 0-2. That's the final, which means that Osasuna is tied for first place with Rayo and Real Madrid. Celta shares last place with Athletic and Almería.

1930 Villarreal 1, Betis 2 Both are in the EL, having finished last season fifth and sixth respectively. A priori, this is the Game of the Week. At 20', Ayoze Pérez gives Betis the lead--0-1. And that's the score at the half. At 61', Jorge Cuenca heads in to tie it--1-1. At 95', Willian José scores what looks like a sure winner--1-2. And so it proves to be.

2130 Getafe 0, Barça 0 Getafe will hope to avoid the drop. Barça won first place in LaLiga last season, but had a horrible go of it in the CL group stage. Rough, take no prisoners type of game. Raphinha of Barça sees a red. Barça came close to scoring a couple of times, but luck and David Soria have kept it scoreless--0-0 at the half. And scoreless at the bitter end. Not a pretty sight

Mon. 14 Aug.

1930 Cádiz 1, Alavés 0 Cádiz will be thrilled to avoid the drop. Alavés won promotion from LaLiga2 last season. At 7', Fede San Emeterio heads in to give Cádiz the lead--1-0. Halftime. 19,306 reported on hand in the Nuevo Mirandilla. Cádiz holds on to win; very nice start in LaLiga!

2130 Atlético 3, Granada 1 Atleti finished third last season. Granada topped the Liga2 and thus won a return turn to the top flight. At 45'+4', Morata gives Atleti the lead--1-0 at the half. Atleti needs two more goals to finish the first jornada alone in first place. At 62', Atleti loses the ball and Samu scores to tie it for Granada---1-1. But at 67', Memphis connects with an unstoppable cannon shot--2-1 for Atleti. At 98', Llorente makes it 3-1 and lifts Atleti atop LaLiga.

[Lorric]

I picked the wrong game with Bayern. Bellingham has both goals on debut with Real Madrid.

[AlanK]

I picked the wrong game with Bayern. Bellingham has both goals on debut with Real Madrid.

Erm . . . first Real Madrid goal was by Rodrygo.

[Lorric]

I picked the wrong game with Bayern. Bellingham has both goals on debut with Real Madrid.

Erm . . . first Real Madrid goal was by Rodrygo.

Could've sworn I saw him credited with both goals on the BBC. Can't see how I could've missed two names in the scoring column. Weird.

[matt]

First Getafe game of the season: already two red cards, one for Getafe, one for Barcelona

The bastard Covid stopped Getafe in spring 2020, they were going to chase a Champions League spot, i remember it well, and in february 2020 they eliminated Ajax from the Europa League (Ajax fans are still mad about it, they are not used to the rough style of Getafe).

[AlanK]

Week one is in the books--Here'e THE TOP

1. Atlético-------------3 points; +3-1 Next at Betis.
2/4 Osasuna-----------3 points; +2-0 Hosts Athletic.
2/4 Real Madrid--------3 points; +2-0 At Almería.
2/4 Rayo--------------3 points; +2-0 At Granada.
5/6 Valencia-----------3 points; +2-1 Hosts Las Palmas.
5/6 Betis--------------3 points; +2-1 Hosts Atlético.
7. Cádiz---------------3 points; +1-0 At Barça.

[AlanK]

And here comes week 2

Fri. 18 Aug.

1930 Mallorca 0, Villarreal 1 Mallorca tied away and Villarreal lost at home last weekend. A lackluster first half ends scoreless. At 63', Gerard Moreno puts in a rebound--0-1. And Villarreal makes the goal stand up; 0-1 the final.

2130 Valencia 1, Las Palmas 0 Can Valencia make it two in a row Can the Canaries come back after dropping points at home Scoreless at the half, 41,053 reported on hand. At 73', after review, pk awarded to Valencia. Pepelu converts at 74'--1-0. And that is enough to win it

Sat. 19 Aug.

1700 Real Sociedad 1, Celta 1 La Real could only tie at home and Celta lost at home last weekend. At 22', Take Kubo centers for Barrenetxea to head in--1-0 for la Real. Halftime. 30,354 reported on hand. In added time, Celta has a couple of near misses, and at 94', Mingueza makes no mistake in close to tie it at 1-1. Thus la Real concedes late, as they did last weekend, also at home, to snatch a tie from the jaws of victory--1-1 the final.

1930 Almería 1, Real Madrid 3 Almería lost at home and el Real won on the road last weekend. More of the same Well, Arribas scores with a header at 3', and it's 1-0 for Almería At 19', Bellingham ties it for el Real, although announcers think the goal should have been disallowed--1-1. At 45'+5', Kroos fires a shot into the goal . . . but it's disallowed after consultation with VAR for a previous foul. And it's even at the half. At 60', Bellingham gives Real the lead as he "combs" a header to make it 1-2; assist by Kroos. At 73', Vini seals the win with a great semi-lob--1-3. And that's the final; el Real takes over first place, with six points and +5-1 in goals scored and conceded.

2130 Osasuna 0, Athletic 2 Osasuna started with a win in Vigo; Athletic started with a loss at home to Real Madrid. At 11', Iñaki Williams volleys with his leg to make it 0-1. At 20', Nico Williams assists Guruzeta, who makes it 0-2. And that's how it stands at the half. At 60', Sancet of Athletic sees a second yellow and is sent off. The final score is 0-2 for Athletic, following a red card or two and lots of bad behavior.

Sun. 20 Aug.

1730--changed to 1800 due to heat wave--and now changed to 1900. Girona 3, Getafe 0 Both started with a tie last weekend. Girona's goals were by Herrera at 12' and by Stuani at 56' and 65'.

1930 Barça 2, Cádiz 0 Barça looked out of synch last weekend, while Cádiz won at home. Barça couldn't manage to score until 82', when Pedri broke the ice, assisted by Sergi Roberto; Ferrán Torres made it look respectable with the 2-0 at 94'. Oh, yeah--the game was played in Montjuich, the first of many to be played there by Barça as the home team.

2130 Betis 0, Atlético 0 Betis won at Villarreal while Atleti leads LaLiga after their 3-1 win over Granada in Madrid. Scoreless first half. 51,782 reported on hand. Game ends scoreless.

Mon. 21 Aug.

1900 Alavés 4, Sevilla 3 Both attempt to get well after first-jornada losses. Lots of action in the first half. At 7', Rioja gives Alavés the lead--1-0. Sevilla comes back to lead 1-2 on goals by Abqar in his own net at 15' and by Lamela at 41'. At 44', Duarte evens it for the home team from some distance--2-2 at the half. And the goals continue to roll in: at 54', Kike García makes it 3-2 for Alavés. And Kike García adds another at 59' to make it 4-2. At 97', Rafa Mir scores from way out, and the game will end with the final score 4-3.

2130 Granada 0, Rayo 2 Granada is without a point after Jornada 1; Rayo won in Almería and hopes for more of the same. Scoreless at the half. At 75', Alvaro García breaks the ice--0-1 for Rayo. At 79', Pathé Ciss, just in, makes it 0-2 from inside the area. At 86', Antonio Puertas of Granada sees a red card. Rayo holds on to win and is in second place in LaLiga

[matt]

Sevilla 2023-24: two games, two losses.

That stupid EL final still haunts me

Also the semifinal: how could we let Sevilla win it again?

[Sagy]

Sevilla 2023-24: two games, two losses.

That stupid EL final still haunts me

Also the semifinal: how could we let Sevilla win it again?

Has a team ever been relegated in the same season it played in the UEFA CL GS?

[Greyn]

Sevilla 2023-24: two games, two losses.

That stupid EL final still haunts me

Also the semifinal: how could we let Sevilla win it again?

Has a team ever been relegated in the same season it played in the UEFA CL GS?

No, it has never happened.

In 2006 Juventus reached the last eight of the Champions League and were then relegated but it was a consequence of the Calciopoli scandal

[matt]

Sevilla 2023-24: two games, two losses.

That stupid EL final still haunts me

Also the semifinal: how could we let Sevilla win it again?

Has a team ever been relegated in the same season it played in the UEFA CL GS?

No, but there's always a first time