La Liga 2022/23 - Matchday 17 - 13-16th January, 2023

[Coma+]

13.01. 15:00

Celta Vigo v. Villarreal

 

14.01. 08:00

Valladolid v.  Rayo Vallecano

 

14.01. 10:15

 Girona v. Sevilla

 

14.01. 12:30

Osasuna v. Mallorca

 

14.01. 15:00

Real Sociedad v.  Ath Bilbao

 

15.01. 08:00

 Getafe v. Espanyol

 

15.01. 10:15

Almeria v. Atl. Madrid

 

16.01. 15:00

Cadiz CF v. Elche

 

[Coma+]

The Super League 2, Betis, and Valencia are off this week for Supercopa duty.  Key matchups this weekend:

Sociedad v. Bilbao in the Basque derby.  Must watch TV.  Real has had the better of this rivalry for a while now... I don't have any stats to go with this statement, it's just a gut feeling.  Would like to see Bilbao pull through.

Cadiz v. Elche in a relegation 6-pointer.  Elche are 11 points from safety and winless.  Cadiz are coming off a surprise (not really) win away at Valencia.  Places 11 through 17 are separated by 5 points so a win for Cadiz could take them mid-table pending other results.

Getafe v. Espanyol in another relegation 6-pointer.  Getafe are a blah team playing blah football and played opossum last week against Sevilla.  Espanyol are fresh off of a draw in the most recent Catalan derby with Girona after conceding yet another late goal and sucking the life out of their stadium.

Girona v. Sevilla.  Man City Junior versus the Argentina reserves.  Sevilla picked up 3 much needed points last week against Getafe and pulled themselves out of the relegation zone on goal difference.  This is another winnable match, although Girona have been punching above their weight in their first season back in La Liga.  I could see a draw here.  

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I thought that English refs were alone in their ineptitude but I have reason to doubt that after the Basque derby.  Multiple bad calls but the one that really irritated me was the penalty awarded to Sociedad for incidental contact in the box that resulted in Yeray being sent off as the last man.  Not only gifting Sociedad a goal but then making it impossible for Athletic to come back by sending the man off.  And all the while VAR did nothing for either decision.  Ruined what was a great game.  Fuck off RFEF.

[Coma+]

And cue the refereeing complaints.  Cadiz has contested the result of their match against Elche.  Elche scored a goal in the ~81 minute that was offside but VAR missed it and allowed the goal to stand.  La Liga acknowledged it and said “errors of the magnitude of yesterday’s match between Cadiz CF and Elche have rarely been seen”.  It remains to be seen whether they'll do anything about it... but I doubt it.

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On 18/01/2023 at 06:36, Coma said:

And cue the refereeing complaints.  Cadiz has contested the result of their match against Elche.  Elche scored a goal in the ~81 minute that was offside but VAR missed it and allowed the goal to stand.  La Liga acknowledged it and said “errors of the magnitude of yesterday’s match between Cadiz CF and Elche have rarely been seen”.  It remains to be seen whether they'll do anything about it... but I doubt it.

So went back and watched the goal in question again and it's a difficult one to see.  The television feed didn't give a good angle and there was no discussion and no delay for the VAR review during the match.  The debate over the offside depends on whether the ball was played off of the defender or off of Gumbau in the build up.  I could see why the goal was allowed to stand, personally.