La Liga Lowdown

La Liga returned this weekend and it was every bit as fun as you had imagined so join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Thom Harris (@ThomHarris_) as they debrief all the action, with the actual football contradicting the transfer narratives. Barcelona were supposed to destroy everything in their path but nobody had reckoned with quite such a mighty Rayo Vallecano. What went wrong for Barcel...

As the new season dawns, join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) for a full preview of the first round of matches. From Pamplona on Friday night to Seville on Monday, there are ten tantalising fixtures to look forward to. Will reigning champions Real Madrid back up their Super Cup triumph with a winning start to their title defence? Can Barcelona get all their signings re...

The La Liga Lowdown squad are back after the summer break, fit and firing after pre-season training. Join Matt Clark (MattClark_08), Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) and Thom Harris (@ThomHarris_) for a comprehensive preview of the upcoming season, which promises to be another fascinating one. From Laporta's levers to Sevilla's sales, Madrid minus Mbappé to Atleti's quiet revolution, the top end of t...

Join us for the final time this season to reflect on a season packed with storylines, sentiment and special scenes. Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) are on hand to reflect on the 21/22 season. We start by congratulating the European champions and saluting their successful season.  We evaluate the season for all the clubs, from the top to the bottom, and offer up ou...

They think it's all over... It is now! LaLiga came to a dramatic conclusion as the relegation battle took centre stage on Matchday 38. Join hosts Matt Clark (@MattClark08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) as they pick through the debris. There's no other place to start than the shock relegation of Granada. Just a season after making it to the Europa League quarter-finals against Manchester United...

The penultimate round meant concurrent matches and multigoal madness.  Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) to make sense of the chaos. Alavés had relegation confirmed after losing to fellow descenders Levante. Cádiz got a point against the champions but it felt pyrrhic. Mallorca were the big winners of the round, grabbing all three points in stoppage time....

Another midweek Matchday is in the books and for Levante, the final game of the round did spell the end for them, as their relegation was confirmed in a 6-0 thrashing at Real Madrid. Vini Jr scored his first hat-trick, Luka Modrić had a treble of his own, and Karim Benzema equaled Raúl as the club's second-highest goalscorer of all time. That is where hosts Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Lever...

Matchday 35 in LaLiga came hot on the heels of European drama but it was the relegation skirmish which caught the eye this weekend. Join hosts Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) for the comical, the classy and everything in between. Atlético Madrid won their first Madrid derby in LaLiga since 2016 and that's the jumping off point for the pod, as we assess a fairly straigh...

Join our hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) as they (kind of) celebrate Real Madrid being crowned champions of LaLiga for a 35th time. Providing a jubilant view of Los Blancos’ triumph, Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim) took a break from Los Cibeles to tell us how it feels to be champions again. The team discuss the race for the top four spots that nobody wants, and the...

The Copa del Rey final was a thriller at La Cartuja as Real Betis emerged as champions with a victory over Valencia in a penalty shoot-out. To dissect the action, Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) are joined by fans on the ground. First up, Real Betis TV's David Whitworth (@DCWh1tw0rth) joins us to tell us about his experience watching the game and joining the late night...

It's the time of the season where every goal and every result seems to matter more. Join Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) and Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) as they breakdown a frantic and fantastic midweek round of LaLiga. With plenty still to play for, we start at the top and ask when, not if, Real Madrid will be crowned champions. Then it's the race to join them in the top four, with a tense tussle be...

The latest edition of the La Liga Lowdown Matchday Recap is a mixed bag: the title race got a lot less intriguing but everything else did. Join hosts Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) as they deal with the good, the bad and the ugly this week in Spain. Real Madrid got a crucial win as they close in on the La Liga title, so LLL called up Hasan Karim (@TheHasKarim) to e...

Another emphatic weekend of LaLiga action was full of late goals and comeback wins. Join Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) delve into the drama. We start in Valencia and a five-goal thriller between Levante and Barcelona. Despite three penalties, Levante still ended on the losing side late on. They stay seven points from safety with seven games to go. After checking in w...

LaLiga returned after the international break primed for the final stretch of the season and we are here to bring you the best of the action from Matchday 30. Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) as they discuss some big games at both the top and the bottom. We start with a controversial match at Balaídos as Real Madrid needed penalties to return to winning...

The matchday recap is never to be missed and the recap of one particular match is essential this week. There's no other place to start than Barcelona's 4-0 victory over Real Madrid, so join hosts Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) as they try to work out what happened and how. The first half of the show is dedicated mostly to what Sam witnessed at the Santiago Bernabéu...

Only 15 goals in this weekend’s LaLiga action, but there was no shortage of drama and there is no lack of analysis from La Liga Lowdown as Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) discuss the table from top to bottom. Sam was at all three fixtures in Madrid, including Atlético Madrid’s win over Cádiz and José Bordalás’ return to Getafe with Valencia. Principally though, we spea...

Another matchday moves past us and into the annals of history, as does Robert Moreno's spell as manager of Granada. Your hosts Matt Clark (@MattClark08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) try to work out exactly how we got to a point where last season's top seven are exactly in the same place again. Fresh from the Sunday night partidazo between Real Betis and Atlético Madrid, the analysis begins wi...

Arriving at the business end of the season, every point counts and we saw that on display in Matchday 26 as hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) analyse all the action. Sam's refereeing rant leads us into conversation with Football España editor Alan Feehely (@azulfeehely) fresh from his visit to the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán for a historic Gran Derbi as Sevill...

Matchday 25 saw 30 goals, hat-tricks and a derby rout. Join hosts Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) and Matt Clark (MattClark_08) to break it all down.  We start in Bilbao as Athletic Club inflicted an historic result over their Basque neighbours. An ecstatic Beñat Gutiérrez (@beinatguti) salutes that second-half powerhouse performance from Los Leones. We conclude the first half by looking at how...

In this bonus mini-pod, Matt Clark (MattClark_08) is joined by European football expert Richard David Pike (@RichDPike89) to preview the Europa League tie between Real Betis and Zenit St Petersburg. The Russian side are analysed in depth in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and key players, including some familiar names to LaLiga lovers. Richard then offers up a prediction for the outcome of th...

On Superbowl weekend, LaLiga treated us to plenty of chaos of its own. Matt Clark (MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@ruribarlow) are back from Barcelona, so join them as they review a weekend with significant results across the league.  Atleti's matches resemble basketball games of late, and things were no different on Saturday night at the Wanda Metropolitano. Jeremy Beren (@JBBeren) is on...

LaLiga threw up some classic fixtures at both ends of the table this weekend as we edge closer and closer to the business end of the season. Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) is joined by Thom Harris (@ThomHarris_) to analyse all of the action. Thom has stepped in as regular hosts Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) send us their thoughts direct from Barcelona, where they disc...

Just when you thought LaLiga couldn't get any more dramatic, Matchday 22 rocked up with a point to prove. Here to discuss all the action are Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) as they cover a weekend which produced only two home wins. One of those was Atlético Madrid's injury time heroics to beat Valencia, as Carla Fernández (@carlafdez) joins our hosts from Madrid to exp...

The schedule-makers had little regard for the usual decorum this week and LaLiga took that vibe and ran with it at speed. Join hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) as they try to make sense of a LaLiga/Copa del Rey pick and mix. Part one begins with a round-up of the league fixtures; the champagne football is popped open at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. None of the g...

Dust off those January blues and tune in to our recap of Matchday 20 in LaLiga. Hosts Ruairidh Barlow (@RuriBarlow) and Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) take you through a controversial weekend which saw Twitter posts, the leaders keeping up the pace and Levante finally winning a game. The Ciutat de València is where we begin as Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) shares his thoughts on the Granotas coming toget...