After a week in which La Liga ‘player power’ left an uneasy taste, let’s start with a positive.
Regular readers of the SBOTOP blog will know of my admiration for Girona – the side which, little over 18 months ago, produced a mind-blowing achievement.
That was when the club, playing in the Spanish top flight for just the fourth time in its history, finished third in La Liga and qualified for European football for the first time in its history.
All this from a side whose stadium capacity is below 15,000 and dwarfed by the majority of its opponents.
Since then, life has been rather more difficult, the club forced to sell many of its best players and only just staying up last term.
Indeed, they have been in the relegation zone for much of this term too but four wins from their last six league games have seen them climb the standings to the degree that they are currently up to ninth place, despite possessing the second worst goal difference in the whole of the Spanish top flight.
Their latest set of La Liga 2026 highlights came on Friday evening when they travelled to fifth placed Espanyol and returned home with the points, courtesy of a penalty late in each half from Vladyslav Vanat.
The loss of creative midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, injured on international duty at the African Cup of Nations, is a blow but Michel’s men are made of stern stuff as they demonstrated at their neighbours and rivals.
The Catalan derby wasn’t without controversy as, after an initial save, home goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović was adjudged to have moved off his line for the first spot-kick.
Vanat converted both the retake and again in stoppage time at the end of the game to earn a third straight victory, lifting them into their highest position in the standings since November 2024.
The contest ended on a sour note when celebrating visiting goalkeeper Paulo Gazaniga was hit by a bottle thrown from the home fans, already angry at what they felt was a questionable decision to award the first penalty.
Girona have now moved level on points with Athletic Bilbao who had a day to forget as they finished with nine men in a 3-2 defeat at Mallorca.
It was a fine victory for the hosts to move away from the edge of the drop zone and there was no denying their hero as Vedat Muriqi netted a hat-trick, the winner coming from the penalty spot just before the visitors received two quick-fire red cards.
As Muriqi became the first Mallorca player to score a hat-trick since Dani Guiza in 2008, Bilbao were incensed by the decision to award the spot-kick and their reaction arguably cost them the game.
While Mallorca were enjoying just their fifth league victory of the campaign, bottom club Real Oviedo’s luckless run continued.
They went down to a 92nd minute Victor Munoz goal at Osasuna which leaves them seven points from safety.
As mentioned just a few weeks ago, one suspects it is going to take quite an improvement if they are to move away from the drop zone.
Valencia were the other big winners of the weekend as Jose Gaya’s goal six minutes from time earned them a 1-0 win at Getafe, who they are now just a point behind, and moved them out of the bottom three.
Two teams striving for continued progress met on Saturday night as Real Betis beat Villarreal.
Aitor Ruibal and Pablo Fornals scored second half goals to seal a 2-0 win for Manuel Pellegrini’s side and inflict just a fourth defeat of the season on the third placed ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Atletico Madrid are now level on points with them after Alexander Sorloth’s header saw off Alaves, who are now in the drop zone, to secure a nervy win.
Meanwhile, Celta Vigo are level on points with Betis after a comprehensive home victory over Rayo Vallecano.
Of course, as far as the title is concerned, our La Liga 2026 betting odds have only two players in town: Real Madrid and Barcelona.
My money had been on the former, 2-0 home winners over Levante on Saturday.
That has all now changed and, without even knowing the score in Sunday night’s encounter between Real Sociedad and Barca, I am changing tack completely.
The sacking of Xabi Alonso after just 28 games in charge speaks of ‘player power’ gone mad and reiterated the fact that true power at the Bernabeu does not reside in the technical area.
Why some of the squad he inherited in the Spanish capital couldn’t – or wouldn’t – get on board is beyond me and, coupled with the appointment of reserve team coach Alvaro Arbeloa, demonstrates an approach I feel will ultimately see them fall short this season.
Although I expect Arbeloa’s promotion to the first-team role to be temporary, I think the damage will be done sooner rather than later.
Barca: over to you.
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