This years GOLDEN BOOT Award goes to MANCHESTER UTD. Portuguese forward CRISTIANO RONALDO - 31 goals/62 pts. Possibly the best player in the world at this moment.

MALLORCA FORWARD DANI GUIZA WINS SILVER BOOT AWARD 2007-2008

Big season for REAL MALLORCA Spanish forward DANI GUIZA with 27 goals earning him the Spanish League "Pichichi" Title, a Spanish International place & the European "SILVER BOOT" Award, that is, the 2nd best goal scorer in Europe this season. Another Spaniard in the list is FERNANDO TORRES with a 4th place, who plays for LIVERPOOL FC with 24 goals, a position he shares with Spanish Club based & SEVILLA FC player the Brazilian LUIS FABIANO.

Here is the full list with goals & the points corresponding to each goal, which is a weight given according to the League. For example Spanish, Italian & English league has more points per goal than the Dutch League.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Manchester United) 31 goals 62pts
2. Daniel Güiza (SP/Real Mallorca) 27 goals 54pts
3. Klaas Jan Huntelaar (HOL/Ajax Amsterdam) 33 49,5
4. Emmanuel Adebayor (TOG/Arsenal) 24 48
+. Luis Fabiano (BRA/Sevilla FC) 24 48
+. Luca Toni (ITA/Bayern Munich) 24 48
+. Fernando Torres (SP/Liverpool FC) 24 48
8. Alessandro Del Piero (ITA/Juventus Turín) 21 42
9. Karim Benzama (FRA/O. Lyon) 20 40
+. Rhys Griffiths (PDG/Llanelli) 40 40
+. David Trezeguet (FRA/Juventus Turín) 20 40.

REAL MADRID SIGN RACING DEFENDER EZEQUIEL GARAY

REAL MADRID has swooped ahead of FC Barcelona & has signed Argentine 22 year old RACING DE SANTANDER defender EZEQUIEL GARAY for 10 million euros. For the moment the idea is to allow the defender to stay one more year on loan with Racing - they play Uefa next year - before finally joining Real Madrid. If the technical team considers that Garay should join Real next year (& not be loaned) the club would have to pay 1 million euros more to Racing. The Argentine defender is considered one of the potentially great future defenders & Real has got in ahead of many European Clubs, including FC Barcelona.

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LA LIGA 

BEST SPANISH LEAGUE GOAL SCORER & GOALKEEPER 2007-08 SEASON

Here are the winners of the "Pichichi" Title - Top Goalscorer in the Spanish League for 2007-08 - & the "Zamora" Title - the Best Goalkeeper in the Spanish Laegue for 2007-08.

Let’s begin with the "Big Guns", the Highest Goal Scorers:

1. DANI GUIZA ( Real Mallorca) - 27 Goals

2. LUIS FABIANO ( Sevilla FC) - 24 Goals

3. SERGIO AGUERO ( Atletico De Madrid) - 19 Goals

4. RAUL (Real Madrid); DAVID VILLA (Valencia CF)

5. NIHAT (Villareal) & OLIVEIRA (Real Zaragoza) - 18 Goals

The Best Goalkeeper – based on least goals scored against them

1. IKER CASILLAS (Real Madrid) - 36 goals

2. DIEGO LOPEZ ( Villareal) - 40 goals

3. TOÑO (Racing De Santander) - 41 Goals

4. VICTOR VALDES (FC Barcelona) - 43 Goals

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LA LIGA - ROUND 38/2008

Round 38 has just finished & with it the Spanish League 2007 – 2008 a season full of joy & sadness as teams go down to 2º Division. Highlights includes Real Madrid are Champions, the Champions League teams are Villareal, FC Barcelona & At. Madrid, that Racing get into Uefa along with Sevilla FC & 3 teams go to 2º Division are Levante, Real Murcia & Real Zaragoza.

REAL ZARAGOZA lost 3-2 to MALLORCA & have been relegated. The two goals from RICARDO OLIVEIRA were not enough, as Mallorca played better with goals from GUIZA, WEBO & CASTRO. Sad night at Zaragoza, & Mallorca just missed out on Uefa!

The joy was at RACING DE SANTANDER who won a boring & conservative game 1-0 against OSASUNA with a goal in the 85th min by BOLADO. But who cared what type of game it was, Racing qualifies for UEFA next season & they are now celebrating.

SEVILLA FC defeated AT.BILBAO 4-1 & finish 5th plus in a UEFA position for next season. KANOUTE scored twice, along with KEITA & JESUS NAVAS in a fairly easy match. For At.Bilbao their only scorer was ADURIZ with a penalty early in the 3rd min of the game. 

RECREATIVO stays in the 1ºDivision after drawing with VALLADOLID 1-1. Valladolid got ahead first via LLORENTE in the 39th min & Recreativo equalized late via JAVI GUERRERO in the 93rd min. Recreativo are celebrating in a big way!

GETAFE & REAL BETIS played a 1-1 draw with goals from DE MORAL in the 3rd min & NANO in the 69th min with a header that gave Betis the draw. The news here was the farewell of Getafe coach Laudrup.

Great season for modest ALMERIA who finished well the season with a 1-3 away victory over ESPANYOL. Goals for Almeria from MELO (above), CRUSAT & PAUNOVIC. The only goal from Espanyol came from LUIS GARCIA from a penalty in the 58th min. Disappointing final part of the season for Espanyol.

VALENCIA CF finished a nightmare season & its veteran goalkeeper CANIZARES said goodbye with a 3-1 victory over AT.MADRID. The main figure was DAVID VILLA with his two goals, the other for Valencia coming thanks to an own goal by Atletico defender Seitardis. For Atletico SERGIO AGUERGO got a consolation goal after a brilliant individual play. Atletico will play next season Champions League if they get through the prelimary stage.

Excellent season for VILLAREAL who finish 2ºplace on the table & straight into Champions along with Real Madrid. They defeated away 0-2 DEPORTIVO with the goals coming from MATI FERNANDEZ ( above) & GUILLE FRANCO at the end.
Well deserved for Villareal.

Celebrations for fans as the Spanish League Champions REAL MADRID turned on the fireworks & the goals to defeat 5 - 2 last placed LEVANTE.

REAL MADRID were relaxed & played as the script said the night should be with two goals from RUUD VAN NISTELROOY, two goals from defender SERGIO RAMOS & a goal from SNEIJDER from a free kick. The two goals from Levante came thanks to GEIJO who scored twice. Real Madrid Captain RAUL (above) was handed the Spanish 1º Division Champions Cup for the 2007-08 season.

www.spanishfootballsports.blogspot.com

 

Costa driver William Zollo’s first racing trip to the European continent turned out to be a disaster. He was competing in his 270 kph 350 hp Palmer Audi at the Spa Grand Prix Circuit in Belgium.  

After a poor qualifying performance he started the first of three races from 14^th of 22 on the grid.  He quickly passed six other cars to reach 8^th place and then slid off to become imprisoned in a gravel safety trap.  No points.  

In race two he again powered off the track, hit a wall with little damage and bounced back into the middle of the track where he was struck unavoidably by following driver Emma Selway.  No points. 

For the third race, still shaken and with his car no longer in perfect trim he toured round near the end of the field to finish 19^th.  Three points only.  

So, after good early-season races which saw William as leading rookie he has slid to position No. 3. “I am not a happy person” said William “but have only myself to blame”.

William’s next races are at Oulton Park in Cheshire on 27/28 June.

Why, oh why, do we have to be constantly reminded that the Premiership is the best football league in the world? I am more than happy to sit down and debate this with anybody; and over the last few years, I have. By and large, the only people that concur with this view, are the usual suspects whose teams do not figure heavily in the betting odds as to who will be relegated; and those that believe everything that is spouted in the media must be Gospel. Well, I reckon this article could be loosely related to what is commonly known as `the media´, and I am more than happy to inform anyone, who cares to take notice, that it is actually the least interesting league of the four professional leagues that England has to offer.

We’re led to believe that finishing in a Champions League place is deemed as being successful, but come on, it hardly warrants an open-top bus ride! I mean, you don’t actually have a trophy to parade anyway, and the chances of winning the thing are extremely thin. The only people that would consider this an achievement, would be those that will benefit financially. The supporters are certainly not included in that category. In fact, it’s just a further monetary outlay for them. The only silverware anyone can collect at the end of the season, and justifiably celebrate, goes to those who manage to finish top of the pile; and as we all know, there are only four teams that can realistically achieve this final position. That means, at the start of any season, only the same 20% of supporters will ever have a chance of celebrating something at the end, and only 5% with something tangible to show. The rest just go through the motions; most hoping not to get sucked into the relegation places.

With the other three leagues, especially the championship, the top three positions are a damn sight harder to forecast. Add to this that the top three (four in 2nd) will actually achieve something in the end, this means over 12% of the fans will accomplish what they hoped for; promotion. And because it can never be the same teams always hogging the limelight year after year, any teams´ chance of success varies accordingly. I mean, how many of you really thought, at the start of the season, that Stoke City would get promoted. No-one did; least of all the supporters. It came as a shock to most of us. The kind of shock that will not be repeated in the Premiership for the foreseeable future; not while things stay the way they do.

So let’s stop going on about the Premiership in such glowing terms. The richest it may be; but at the end of the season, there are no accolades for the teams with the highest financial outlay. The Premiership, at best, is uninteresting; at worst, a tedious waste of time. It is boringly predictable. We might just as well fast forward from August to May, and have done with it. Am I the only one who feels like this?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go lie down for a while. Three months should do the job.

Rod Tursy.

On the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th May, El Cid hosted our annual J & J 2 wood pairs Open Competition. 30 pairs played over the 3 days in glorious weather. Adrian Lambert worked tirelessly to keep everything running smoothly as well as playing himself. Well done Adrian. I reported a few weeks ago that John Lucas, one half of the J & J, had passed away. His very dear friends Trevor & Coral Wearn from the UK came over as they always do to sort out the Trophies and BBQ. We thank them very much. They have said that they would like the Tournament to continue and rename it the J & J Memorial Trophy. They will also continue to supply the trophies. El Cid has agreed and are very grateful to Trevor & Coral. The eventual winners this year were Roger Wheeler & Paul Whitmee. The Runners up were Ann McKenna & John Rawlings.

   

20 of our Members go to the Spanish National Competitions this week and we wish them all the best of luck I hope the weather improves. On behalf of El Cid we would like to wish all Competitors over the next 2 weeks the very best of luck.

Pat Metcalfe