It was a full week in Spain’s La Liga, and once again Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet has the roundup. The story over the last seven days has been the dramatic fall of FC Sevilla and the return to prominence of the Leo Messi-inspired Barcelona. After a shaky start to the season, Barca has won four straight games, scoring 13 goals. Messi, who Ball deems the best player in the world, has scored six of these, while Thierry Henry, showing much better form, has scored four. Also, Ronaldinho has conspicuously missed the last three games, which seems to have opened up more space for Messi to dominate games. So far, Barca doesn’t seem to be missing the two-time World Player of the Year.
Meanwhile Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, who just a week ago was one of the world’s most sought-after coaches, has seen his team slump to four straight defeats, starting with a 3-0 Champions League loss to Arsenal of England. That poor result was followed by a late loss to Barcelona, a 3-2 defeat at home to Espanyol and a 2-0 loss to Real Zaragoza. These are all good teams, mind you, but the results have left the Spanish press questioning his leadership. Ramos points out with a strong hint of irony that last year he was the best in the world, “and now I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Elsewhere, Real Madrid has been mechanically churning out results while looking nothing like the side that dismantled Villarreal, 5-0, earlier this season. The Yellow Submarine, by the way, has won five straight since that defeat, while Valencia has won seven in a row — all by one goal.