La Liga Lowdown

We’ve just had the first midweek round of the 2020/21 LaLiga season, so here comes our first midweek matchday recap. We start by discussing Elche's win over Eibar and hear about Eibar’s problems from Basque journalist Beñat Gutiérrez (@beinatguti). There’s also praise for league leaders Getafe, with Geta fan Dom Tancock (@dorsetdom1905) joining the pod to explain what they’re doing so well. Barcel...

The big story this week in Spanish football is Luis Suárez’s transfer from Barcelona to Atlético Madrid. Both sides had huge wins in this weekend’s matchday, so both parties will feel they’ve won this divorce. At least so far... Barcelona-based Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and host Euan McTear (@emctear) get stuck into Barça and Atleti’s wins, especially the great performance of Ansu Fati. There’...

Matchday two of the 2020/21 LaLiga season saw Real Madrid back in action and saw Martin Ødegaard travel back to the Reale Arena. He was on loan there with Real Sociedad last season and then, in his first game back with Real Madrid, he took on the Basque club. The match finished goalless and this week’s episode starts off with host Euan McTear (@emctear) looking at the ins and outs of the result wi...

The 2020/21 LaLiga Santander season has started! So, here comes La Liga Lowdown's matchday one recap, where the main story is Valencia. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) is on hand to explain the club's latest crisis and how they somehow finished matchday one top of the table. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) also speaks to Beñat Gutiérrez (@beinatguti) about Athletic Club's difficult pre-season and opening w...

We're back with the second of our two La Liga Lowdown preview podcasts, ahead of the start of the 2020/21 campaign. After preview podcast one looked at the title race, this time host Euan McTear (@emctear) is joined by Matt Clark (@MattClark_08), Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) to discuss the fight to qualify for Europe and the relegation battle. How good will thi...

A brand new LaLiga Santander season is just around the corner, with the first match to kick off on Friday, September 11th. It's time, then, to look ahead to the new campaign and that's what Euan McTear (@emctear), Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Gregor Chappelle (@gregorchappelle) do in this episode, the first of two preview shows being released by La Liga Lowdown thi...

Here comes a special La Liga Lowdown podcast in the hours after the news on Friday night that Lionel Messi is staying at Barcelona. The transfer saga has ended, but there’s so much to discuss. In this episode, host Euan McTear (@emctear) is joined by Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) to reflect on the winners and losers of the saga, on what Barcelona’s attack will look l...

Sevilla are Europa League champions once again, for a sixth time. In this episode, we look back at their 2019/20 campaign and at how they managed to win this tournament yet again. Gregor Chappelle (@gregorchappelle) looks back to the group stages and to the Round of 32, when Sevilla almost went out to Cluj. Then Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) charts the team’s progress through the Round of 16, the qua...

The 2019/20 season has been completed, so it's time to review the campaign as a whole. We held an LLL Live show just after the season ended, with host Euan McTear (@emctear) joined by Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim). The entire show is available right here in audio-only format, or the full video version can still be viewed on our @LaLigaLowd...

In our final matchday recap of the 2019/20 LaLiga season, we start by hearing from Granada fan Heath Chesters (@HeathGCF), who shared his reaction just moments after his team qualified for Europe for the first time ever. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) then breaks down the entire Europa League race and Valencia’s failure to qualify. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) then explains the drama of the relegation...

Real Madrid are champions of Spain, so that’s where we begin this recap of the 37th matchday of the 2019/20 LaLiga Santander season. We have on-the-whistle reactions from Real Madrid fans Emily Wilson (@wilson_emt), Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim) and Kristofer McCormack (@k_mc06). Then, host Euan McTear (@emctear) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) dissecting the title race in general, focusing on Real...

It’s getting tense in LaLiga, so tense that Lucas Ocampos couldn’t even bear to watch as he took a no-look penalty... In this recap episode, we start by discussing the title race as host Euan McTear (@emctear) speaks to Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim) about Real Madrid’s latest win and to Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) about Barcelona’s latest victory. We also discuss Ocampos and Sevilla with Alex Broth...

In Matchday 35, we had our first confirmed relegation casualty as Espanyol were sent down to the second division for the first time in 27 years. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) discusses the fallout of that, as they went down with a defeat at the home of their arch rivals Barcelona. That Barça win keeps them in the title race, but Real Madrid did win again too and host Euan McTear (@emctear) looks b...

There has been yet another managerial sacking in LaLiga, this time with Alavés firing Asier Garitano as they nervously look over their shoulders at the relegation zone. We discuss that decision with Alavés fan Rob Hextall (@robhextall) in this episode, before Brendy Boyle (@BrendyBoyle) wonders whether Garitano might be ready to now return to Leganés as he looks at the Pepineros’ long-term project...

Real Madrid have moved even further ahead thanks to their win over Getafe this week and thanks to Barcelona’s draw with Atlético Madrid. Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim) discusses the Real Madrid victory, while Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) analyses all the talking points of Barça and Atleti’s draw. And there were many of them. Valencia fan Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and Real Betis fan David Whitworth (...

Real Madrid have extended their lead in LaLiga, opening up a two-point gap over Barcelona. We discuss their win over Espanyol and Karim Benzema’s sublime assist with Espanyol fan Geoff Gillingham (@GeoffGillingham), who also explains what went on with the Abelardo-for-Rufete decision. We also discuss Barcelona’s 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo with Ian Morris of the Celta USA (@CeltaUSA) account on Twitter...

As the world of Spanish football celebrates Bruno Soriano’s return after 1,128 days out with injury, we lead with that heart-warming story in this episode. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) explains just what the Villarreal midfielder went through as he fought to return to the pitch. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee), meanwhile, focuses on the title race and Barcelona and Real Madrid’s respective midweek win...

In this Monday’s recap of matchday 30, we start off by discussing Real Betis’ decision to sack Rubi with Verdiblanco fan and LLL squad member Andrew Miller (@AndrewMillerNBA). Of course, there’s also a lot of focus on the title race as Real Madrid moved ahead of Barcelona. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) discusses Barça’s draw with Sevilla and Gerard Piqué's post-match comments, while Zach Lowy (@Za...

The games are coming thick and fast, so there’s plenty to discuss as we recap matchday 29, the midweek round that ran from Monday to Thursday. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) discusses Real Madrid’s win over Valencia, where Marco Asensio made a super comeback, while Paco also reflects on Levante’s most recent late heroics. Barcelona won too and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) discusses their so-so perfor...

LaLiga is back! Matchday 28 was finally played, as Spanish football returned following the coronavirus pause in action. In this episode, host Euan McTear (@emctear) and various contributors from across Spain analyse the first weekend of live football in three months. The weekend started off with a couple of derbies, so the podcast does too as Gregor Chappelle (@gregorchappelle) discusses Sevilla v...

With LaLiga returning on Thursday, June 11th, we’ve got another La Liga Lowdown season (re)preview episode for you. Following on from our fan voices preview pod , where we spoke to one fan from each of the 20 teams, this time Euan McTear (@emctear), Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) have a more detailed discussion about the main topics in Spanish football right now. With...

LaLiga football is almost back. It returns on June 11th and, a week before the resumption of the 2019/20 season, we’ve put together this La Liga Lowdown episode where we’ve spoke to a fan from each of the 20 teams of Spain’s top division. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) asked each one the same question: How has your team’s season been so far and what are your hopes and expectations for the final 11 ma...

In this episode, the La Liga Lowdown pod squad look at the five most dramatic LaLiga relegation battles of all time, as voted for by listeners. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) leads the countdown, looking at exciting last-day-of-the-season tales. There are contributions from Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100), Panos Kostopoulos (@Panos88K), Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ro...

Once upon a time, Real Valladolid were champions. In this episode of La Liga Lowdown, we look back on the time when the White and Violets won the 1984 Copa de la Liga. It’s an interesting tournament that only lasted four years, but Real Valladolid were one of the teams to win it and Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) explains how. In this podcast, hosted by Euan McTear (@emctear), we also hear from Román...

In this week's episode, we have a countdown of the top 10 British and Irish players to have played in LaLiga. We asked our listeners and followers to vote in a poll and we reveal the results in this episode, counting down the top 10. Star players like David Beckham and Gareth Bale feature, as do some from several decades ago such as Laurie Cunningham or John Aldridge. To tell the stories of these...