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		<title>ESPNFC.com - laliga</title>
		<link>http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga</link>
		<description>ESPNFC.com presents laliga</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<copyright><![CDATA[Copyright &copy; ESPN Internet Ventures]]></copyright>
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			<title><![CDATA[Atletico grit trumps pouty Madrid in Copa final]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:33 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/461]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The only thing which will be quivering more than the woodwork at the Bernabeu will be Jose Mourinho with indignation.  For a bad loser at the best of times, this defeat, Real Madrid's first to Atletico Madrid in 14 years, means that if he leaves this imperious club at this juncture, he'll have won in three years -- after the investment of hundreds of millions of euros -- the same number of trophies, three -- as Atletico's Diego Simeone, who inherited a relegation-menaced club 17 months ago. Who's the Special One in reality .]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Plucky Levante caught in ugly investigation]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 14 May 2013 19:49:52 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/453]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Just a few short months ago I was standing a few hundred metres away from where Levante plays: the Ciutat de Valencia stadium.  Juan Francisco Garcia -- or Juanfran, to use his working name -- was showing me the three-minute sprint he used to have to make from his front door to his school when he'd overslept and then, the shaded street corner where he'd enjoyed his first kiss. The church where he'd been christened was less than the distance of a firm throw-in away and the stadium where his grandfather had taken him as a kid to see his first Levante game would have taken a man on crutches barely four minutes to reach.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[453]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[What should we make of Barcelona's La Liga title? ]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 11 May 2013 17:24:43 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter ]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/444]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The past few weeks have been full of Barcelona's players and staff emphasising that any feeling that the title victory isn't all that impressive, that it doesn't need to be properly celebrated or appreciated is false.  They have taken turns, Andres Iniesta, Jordi Roura, Gerard Pique and a handful of other voices, to dispel the idea that because the second half of the season hasn't been nearly as impressive as the first, and because the Champions League semifinal was humiliating, the initial work is in any way undermined.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[444]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Real Madrid must be at its best to beat United]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:46:55 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/432]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Despite the absolute superiority they have demonstrated over FC Barcelona in the past two matches, the suspicion remains that Real Madrid will have to produce their best performance of the season to eliminate Manchester United from the Champions League on Tuesday night.  Capable of it? Fit for purpose? Yes.  However, it's very far from guaranteed. One of Madrid's greatest problems this season has been hitting and then maintaining its top form. Fitness has been an issue. The alertness of mind and crispness of passing that stems from being on top of your game physically has ebbed and flowed.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[432]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[If Mourinho's leaving, let the Copa be a coup de grace]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:50:17 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/419]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Times have been so turbulent at the home of the Spanish champions of late that only the foolhardy would say "definitely," but there is sufficient indication that Spain may be about to see its final Camp Nou Clasico with Jose Mourinho in charge of Real Madrid.  Even after the crowd booing his name, the guerrilla warfare between him and a section of the Madrid media, an apparent tit-for-tat feud with Sergio Ramos, the dropping of Iker Casillas and an eight-stone weakling defence of a brilliantly won Spanish championship last year, Mourinho is such a will-of-the-wisp that there are a couple of scenarios (however unlikely) in which he wriggles free from this straightjacket of his own making and retains the throne next season.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[419]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Barcelona's wide revolution]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:12:26 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/408]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Part of the fun of watching FC Barcelona over the last four and a half years has been watching them tinkering with the norms of football tactics and formations.  For their fans, and for neutrals who simply enjoy watching individual or group displays of extreme technique applied at high speed, there has been plenty to make you addicted.  For those neutrals who crave a good story (team wants trophy, team overcomes struggles, team lifts trophy, roll credits) there has been drama -- Rome in 2009, victory and defeat in Copa finals at the Mestalla, Clasicos galore, Wembley and those two extraordinary semifinal ties against Chelsea.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Muddled responsibility at Madrid, Barca ignoring Villa]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 06 Feb 2013 06:34:46 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/396]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[It seems pretty well established that the phrase 'Victory has one hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan' emanates from the Italian Renaissance but was made popular in modern culture by U.S. President Jack Kennedy in 1961 following the Bay of Pigs disaster.  Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho paraphrased it after his team, the Spanish champions, slumped to a spineless 1-0 defeat at Granada a couple of days ago, saying, with dripping sarcasm, that "when we win you say it's the players who auto-manage and when we lose it's my fault -- so this defeat is my responsibility".]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[396]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Wounded and dangerous, Real Madrid face Barca in Copa del Rey Clasico ]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:55:09 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter ]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/377]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Oxford Dictionary defines a sporting handicap as "a disadvantage imposed on a superior competitor in sports such as golf, horse racing, and competitive sailing in order to make the chances more equal."   Going in to Wednesday's Clasico, the fourth of the season, Real Madrid lie 15 points behind the league leaders, have lost seven games in all competitions and have been dogged by controversy pretty much since August.   Barcelona: record-breakers, league leaders, three defeats all season and possessing a striker who has 43 goals since August.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[377]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Memo to United: Something wicked this way comes ]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:48:42 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter ]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/362]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Back when Real Madrid needlessly dropped two Champions League points at Manchester City in November, Jose Mourinho was at his jaunty 'best' for the post-match television cameras in England.  "Every time I have won the Champions League I've finished second in the group" was how he brushed aside concerned questions about Los Blancos' failure to convert patent superiority into a win.  At the time what jarred a little was his blatant disregard for the maxim that "there's no 'I' in team." But on the basis of the remarkable, devastating show his team laid on at Valencia last weekend, Mourinho may just be beginning to regret that Madrid finished behind Borussia Dortmund in Group D.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[362]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Pep picks Munich]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:32:39 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/336]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Just ahead of Wednesday's historic announcement that it had signed Pep Guardiola for the next three seasons, the Bayern Munich website carried an interview with its towering striker Mario Gomez. In it he talked about the Bavarian club's preparations, training, tactical work and consistency of passing during the winter break. "Everything's going like clockwork," he said.  And that, if you want Guardiola's decision analysed in microcosm, is the principal reason Bayern Munich beat AC Milan, Manchester City, Chelsea and Roma -- also, potentially, Manchester United depending on circumstances -- to the Catalan's signature.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Spanish football sets the standard]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:19:00 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/326]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[What a night for Spanish football.   I've long held that despite the 'up and at 'em', thud and blunder of the Premier League, the pockets of quality in English football and the tremendous fan culture there, La Liga is far and away the best pound for pound league anywhere in the world.  - Messi wins fourth Ballon d'Or - Tomas: Messi golden again  Perfect, no chance. Flawless, no way.  But head and shoulders above any other championship, specifically because of the domination by players of exquisite skill, technique, intelligence, diligence, flair and fun.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[326]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Five Spanish stories for 2013]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:25:00 PST]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Graham Hunter]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/311]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[New year, new challenges. The football will be exquisite, and there's a good chance that more European trophies will reside in Spain come May. But what will be the key storylines in 2013? Here are five. Not necessarily the top five, but a handful that not everyone is talking about when perhaps they should be.  Just one more hoop to jump through  At first glance it may seem a little churlish, but Spain, at least from the purist point of view, have one outstanding task at hand.  Perhaps it's a little contradictory for it to be me calling out for 'more please' from Vicente del Bosque and his squad given how easily riled I am when the boors and the ignoramuses criticise La Roja's style of football or even whisper the 'b' word (Boring, but don't be using it in my earshot).]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[311]]></guid>
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