La Liga Lowdown

We've just had the final LaLiga matchday of 2019, so here's your final La Liga Lowdown podcast of the year! In this one, we reflect on Sevilla finishing the calendar year in third with Gregor Chappelle (@GregorChappelle), on Villarreal's latest win and Valencia's fighting spirit with Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and on the basement battle between Leganés and Espanyol with Panos Kostopoulos (@Panos88...

It had been a long wait for this Clásico, as we'd had to wait an extra 55 days before finally getting to see Barcelona and Real Madrid go head to head. And, it had been a long time since we'd seen a goalless Clásico, as there hadn't been one since 2002. We discuss what happened at the Camp Nou in this podcast, starting with a discussion between Euan McTear (@emctear) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG)...

In the weekend before El Clásico, both Barcelona and Real Madrid drew to remain level on points. We discuss both of their thrilling draws, analysing Valencia 1-1 Real Madrid with Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and Real Sociedad 2-2 Barcelona with Phil Ball (@PhilBallTweets). We also look in detail at Getafe's excellent form with Matt Clark (@MattClark_08), at Atlético Madrid's impressive performance a...

David Villa's career is coming to an end and, in the week where he played his final league game, we look back at what the Spanish striker achieved. Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) tells the story of Villa's first steps in football. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) reflects on his time at Valencia. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) covers the Barcelona years. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) explains how he helped Atl...

Matchday 16 was an action-packed one, with lots of drama packed into the 10 fixtures. We go through it all in this week's podcast, starting with Alex Fitzpatrick, who was pitchside for Barcelona vs Real Mallorca. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) also reflects on Real Madrid's win over Espanyol with Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee), on the Valencian derby with Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), on Javier Aguirre'...

In this Thursday episode, we look back at the greatness of Ronaldinho and at his Barcelona years. There are so many historic moments to get into. Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) discusses the drama of the transfer itself. Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) offers a reminder of how the first season went. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) looks back on the high points, from the ovation against Real Madrid to the...

The big game of matchday 15 was Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona and it was decided by Lionel Messi on the eve of his widely expected Ballon d'Or coronation. Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) provides a match report from the stadium, before Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) dissects and discusses the match with host Euan McTear (@emctear). There's also analysis of Real Madrid's upturn in form and the return o...

In this episode, we tell the story of the 1980 Copa del Rey final, which was held at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu between Real Madrid's first team and Castilla, the Real Madrid B team. It was a unique situation, one that had never happened before and that has never happened since. Setting the scene, Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) gives a brief history of Castilla. Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100...

Our matchday 14 recap is out and we have insight from Dan Parry (@DanParry_), Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Geoff Gillingham (@GeoffGillingham). In that order. Dan discusses the back-to-back derbies we had in the Basque Country and Navarre over the weekend. Paco explains how the two Valencia-based teams did. Román analyses Barcelona's narrow win at bottom-placed Leg...

Who said international breaks are boring? The past few days have been packed with drama in Spain as Robert Moreno was replaced by Luis Enrique as Spain coach. We discuss what's gone on, why it's gone on and who it's gone on with, with Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) and with host Euan McTear (@emctear). We also answer our followers' mailbag questions in part two, discu...

Santi Cazorla has been through a lot, but he's back where it all began. Sort of... In this episode, we tell the Santi Cazorla story, going from his childhood to his emergence in LaLiga to his triumphs with Spain to his time with Arsenal to the injuries. And then the happy ending of his return to the top table of Spanish football. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) is joined by Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG)...

The Seville derby honours went to Sevilla as they won away at Real Betis in the biggest game of the 13th round of the 2019/20 LaLiga season. There were many more fascinating storylines too and we dive into all of them in this recap podcast. Kristofer McCormack (@K_mc06) analyses Real Madrid's latest big win. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) is impressed with the way Valencia have responded to an injury...

There's a Seville derby coming up on Sunday, November 10th, so what better time than now to ask what makes this fixture so special? In this podcast we hear from Betis fan David Whitworth (@DCWh1tw0rth) of Radio Betis and Sevilla fan Chris Lail (@ChrisLail) of @MonchisMen to hear their favourite derby memories. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee), Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) and Sam Leveridge (@samleverid...

The 12th round of the 2019/20 LaLiga season is in the books and we review all the main talking points here. Saturday was a great day for the Valencian Community and less so for the Catalan teams as Levante beat Barcelona and as Valencia defeated Espanyol. We have Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) to discuss all of that at the beginning of the show. We also reflect on the...

In this Friday edition of La Liga Lowdown, we recap the midweek round as Barcelona moved back to the top of the table thanks to some Lionel Messi magic. He is well and truly back, as explained by Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee). There's a lot more to discuss too. Host Euan McTear speaks about Real Madrid's big win, Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) analyses Alavés and Atlético Madrid's sharing of the spoil...

Barça who? Real Mad-what? There was ultimately no Clásico this weekend, but LaLiga still produced nine entertaining matches and countless storylines. We go through them all in this week's La Liga Lowdown podcast, starting with the new table-toppers Granada. We also discuss Real Betis' woes with David Whitworth (@DCWh1tw0rth), Real Valladolid's good run of form with Martin Devlin (@MartiRVCF), the...

João Félix became one of the star players in world football in the space of just a few months. The Benfica academy graduate rose to prominence at the beginning of 2019 and earned a huge transfer to Atlético Madrid in the summer. In this podcast, we look at the story so far for the 19-year-old and at what his future could look like. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) hears from Cristiano Oliveira (@10CO10...

Barcelona have moved to the top of the LaLiga table, thanks to their win in Eibar and Real Madrid's defeat at Real Mallorca. Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100) was there on the island for this momentous game and discusses the famous result. We also take a look at the big Atlético vs Valencia match with Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), at Athletic Club's latest stumble with Dan Parry (@DanParry_) and at...

Spain have qualified for Euro 2020, but they went about it the hard way. Two 1-1 draws away at Norway and Sweden mean they'll be taking part in next summer's tournament and it's clear that Robert Moreno has a lot of work to do before then. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) is joined by Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) to discuss the Spain team, from Fabián Ruiz being brillian...

We asked you, our followers, to vote for your ideal 23-man Spain squad for next summer's Euro 2020 tournament... and here are this results in this podcast! Host Euan McTear (@emctear) walks through the 23 players who made the cut - three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four forwards. For each player, there is analysis from journalists from the various leagues where these player...

The big teams have risen to the top of the LaLiga table, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid now occupying the top three spots. We discuss Real Madrid and Barça's latest victories, as well as Atlético's latest setback. We analyse Luis Suárez's good form with Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee), we get tactical when discussing Celta Vigo's win with Ian Morris (@CeltaUSA) and we wonder if fati...

Joaquín is a legend. He's in his 20th season of professional football and, in this week's La Liga Lowdown Thursday episode, we look back at his entire career. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) discusses his rise through the ranks at Real Betis. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) reflects on his strange transfer to Valencia and time at Mestalla. Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) talks about Joaquín's involvement i...

The seventh round of the 2019/20 LaLiga season is in the books and we've had the first big match between title rivals of the season as Real Madrid visited Atlético. There weren't any goals in that one, as the goals were saved for Sevilla vs Real Sociedad. We discuss those two matches and so much more. Host Euan McTear (@emctear) reflects on his trip to the Basque Country to see Eibar and Athletic...

The first midweek round of the 2019/20 LaLiga season was held across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and the La Liga Lowdown squad was all over it. In this podcast, get the lowdown from across the country on the top storylines of matchday six. We've got David Whitworth (@DCWh1tw0rth) on Real Betis, Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100) on Real Mallorca, Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) on Real Ma...

Athletic Club and Real Madrid are the new leaders of LaLiga Santander on 11 points and we look at their victories over Alavés and Sevilla, as well as discussing Granada's hugely impressive victory over a Barcelona side that just cannot win away from home. We discuss that special Granada night with a man who was there, Heath Chesters (@HeathGCF). We talk Real Madrid with Kristofer McCormack (K_mc06...