La Liga Lowdown

One of the most shocking stories in the history of Spanish football is the Butcher of Bilbao story. This was the nickname that was given to Athletic Club defender Andoni Goikoetxea, who broke Diego Maradona's leg, snapping it like a piece of wood as the Argentine would later describe it. This wasn't the only incident to this story, though. As Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) explains in this podcast,...

Here's La Liga Lowdown's matchday recap after Clásico weekend. Zinedine Zidane was bold and his Real Madrid team beat Barcelona 2-0 to go back to the top of the LaLiga table. We discuss the match in depth in part one of this podcast, as host Euan McTear (@emctear) speaks to Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee). Also coming up in this podcast, Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100) provides the lowdown on Get...

To start off this matchday recap, we discuss the Martin Braithwaite saga and all the ramifications of it. With Javier Martín (@kikomartin), we discuss how the striker's move to Barcelona has hurt Leganés and how Lega fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to 10-man Celta Vigo at the weekend. With Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge), we then discuss Braithwaite's Barcelona debut and Messi's master class in B...

In this episode, we take a look back to 1992, when the Olympic Games came to Barcelona and Spain. The Spanish squad won the football tournament, the only time they've claimed gold at the Olympics. We hear from Matt Clark (@MattClark_08), who picks out the most interesting names from the squad. We hear from Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG), who explains how Spain reached the final and how they did so in...

We start off this week's matchday recap with host Euan McTear (@emctear) discussing what he saw at the Bernabéu as Real Madrid were held to a 2-2 with Celta Vigo, complete with post-match comments from the back-from-injury Eden Hazard. The other team in the title race is Barcelona and they got the better of Getafe, winning 2-1. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) is on hand to analyse that one. There's...

Did we have a preview of the 2020 Copa del Rey final in matchday 23? Maybe... Whether it ends up being repeated in the Copa del Rey final or not, we analyse Real Sociedad vs Athletic Club with Dan Parry (@DanParry_) to start off this week's recap podcast, while host Euan McTear (@emctear) looks at the weekend's other Basque derby between Alavés and Eibar, where he saw Scotsman Oliver Burke score t...

Getafe have had a remarkable three and a half years under José Bordalás. Their coach arrived when they were second bottom of the second division and he led them to the Europa League and to the point where they're now a genuine contender for Champions League qualification. So, how did they do it? That's what we discuss in this midweek podcast. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) sets the scene by explaining...

The relegation battle has been sparked into life by a wonderful last-gasp winner from Leganés' Óscar Rodríguez as they defeated Real Sociedad 2-1 on Sunday. To start this week's episode, we discuss that game with Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge), while we also reflect on the relegation six-pointer between Real Mallorca and Real Valladolid with Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100). There's also discussi...

Sevilla made history by winning the Europa League three times in a row and, in this podcast, the La Liga Lowdown crew tell that story. It started in 2013/14 and Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) explains the impact Unai Emery had and reflects on the epic semi-final against Valencia, which ended up sending Sevilla to Turin to defeat Benfica on penalties. Then they also won it in 2014/15 and 2015/16, in Wa...

We have a new leader at the top of the LaLiga table after the results of matchday 21, with Real Madrid winning at Real Valladolid 1-0 and with Barcelona falling to a 2-0 loss at Valencia. Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) analyses that match and the two teams' styles of play, while there's also discussion of Atlético Madrid with Brendy Boyle (@BrendyBoyle) and of the pressure Diego Simeone is under. Else...

This midweek podcast from La Liga Lowdown is all about Barcelona and Spain legend Carles Puyol. We tell his story, from his childhood to his playing days to his life after retirement. Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) kicks the podcast off by detailing how Puyol went from playing as a goalkeeper as a kid to making his Barcelona first-team debut at right-back. Richard Fitzpatrick (@Richard_Fitz) then p...

Barcelona changed their coach, but they didn't change their goalscorer. Once again, it was Lionel Messi who led them to victory, but their 1-0 win over Granada was a very different kind of performance under new boss Quique Setién and we break it down with Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee). Plus, host Euan McTear (@emctear) was in Mallorca this weekend to see Real Mallorca defeat Valencia 4-1 and he sp...

In this week's midweek podcast, we take a look at the Martin Ødegaard story so far. We've got Alex Fitzpatrick (@Mallorcalex100) on his origins in Norway. We've got Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) on his arrival at Castilla, Real Madrid's B team. We've got Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) on his loan spells in the Netherlands. We've got Dan Parry (@DanParry_) on his time so far at Real Sociedad. And we...

It was a bit of a different weekend this weekend. A very different weekend, in fact. There was no LaLiga, but there was the Supercopa for Valencia, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid and the Copa del Rey for everyone else. Well, apart from Alavés. Sorry Alavés... Looking at the Supercopa, Valencia fan Cesar Benoit (@amunti), Barcelona fan Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee), Atlético Madrid fan...

We asked you, our listeners and followers, to vote in a survey to decide your top XI from the first half of the 2019/20 LaLiga season and the results are in. In this special podcast, we reveal each player who made the XI one by one, with analysis on their first half of the season from the journalists and fans in the know. It's all hosted by Euan McTear (@emctear) and the contributions come from Ro...

The first matchday of 2020 was a thrilling one, and potentially an important one for the LaLiga title race. Barcelona dropped points in the Catalan derby against Espanyol as they conceded a late equaliser to Wu Lei and Román de Arquer (@Aeroslavee) shares his thoughts on that match. Real Madrid moved level on points with Barcelona thanks to their victory over Getafe and Emily Wilson (@wilson_emt)...

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...