La Liga can often provide the perfect blend of the majestic and the absurd for football fans. In this sense Cristiano Ronaldo is the epitome of the division. One minute petulant and devious, the next sublime and majestic. And so it was that this weekend in La Liga came to highlight the contrast.
It began on Saturday with the beautiful of Barcelona and Villarreal, two teams that have gained plaudits for their dazzling, attacking football this season.
For Villarreal, it was a chance to get their season back on track, following a surprise defeat last weekend, with a win over Real Mallorca. Santi Cazorla gave the Yellow Submarine a great start with a goal after just 11 minutes but as the home side pushed for a second, Mallorca hit back through Jonathan De Guzman on 27 minutes.
Villarreal soon found themselves back in front though, with Giuseppe Rossi scoring from the penalty spot seven minutes later. And the win was secured six minutes into the second half via Nilmar, as Villarreal kept hold of third place.
Barcelona meanwhile travelled to their cross town neighbours Espanyol on Saturday, in one of the biggest games of the weekend.
However, Pedro and David Villa struck a brace apiece as Barcelona brushed aside Espanyol 5-1 in the Catalan derby at Cornella. Thus providing a shattering end to their city rivals' perfect home record in the league this season.
Pedro and Xavi gave Pep Guardiola's side a healthy lead at half-time, before the Tenerife-born winger struck again in the second half. Dani Osvaldo got one back for Espanyol after that, but Barca always looked in control and David Villa added two more late on for the visitors. As in the Classico two weeks ago, Barca’s play had proved too much for their great rivals.
The defeat allowed a slightly less beautiful Valencia side to move into fourth, though the win was in truth ugly, with Los Che coming from behind to defeat newly promoted Real Sociedad.
Sociedad took the lead through a Xabi Prieto penalty on 23 minutes before Tino Costa levelled with a free kick for Valencia on the stroke of half time. The winner came in second half stoppage time as Aritz Aduriz capitalised on an ugly clearance from Sociedad keeper Claudio Bravo, gifting the visitors the win.
Saturday also saw the beast of La Liga, with Deportivo La Coruna facing Sporting Gijon. A lack lustre game saw Depor take the lead through defender Aythami Oliva on 13 minutes. With both sides enjoying just a handful of wins over the last year, it was little surprise to see Gijon draw level through Diego Castro Gimenez in the 89th minute, in a result which minimally helped both side’s survival chances.
Elsewhere, Igor Gabilondo was on song for Athletic Bilbao who overcame strugglers Levante in Valencia. Gabilondo scored a sublime free kick after nine minutes. And though Levante did level through Felipe Caicedo eleven minutes later, the second half saw Gabilondo lay on a another sublime pass for Javi Martinez to score and lift Bilbao to eighth.
Sunday offered up the same mix of the beautiful and the beastly in La Liga, though on this occasion the results were slightly surprising. Getafe and Atletico Madrid had both suffered defeats in mid week European action but provided stirring wins in La Liga.
Atletico’s task was made easier by an ugly and lacklustre Malaga who crumbled to a 3-0 defeat. Tiago opened the scoring after 22 minutes for the visitors. Atletico pushed for more goals, but had to wait until just after the hour mark for two more, with Alvaro Dominguez and then Tiago again adding to a comprehensive victory which saw the visitors move to sixth in the league.
Getafe meanwhile grabbed three goals against Almeria, though not before giving the home side a two goal head start. Kalu Uche and Leonardo Ulloa had put Almeria two goals up in the first 25 minutes before Manu del Moral pulled a goal back four minutes later. The second half saw Miku equalise just after the break before Derek Boateng scored the winner with an outrageous back heel with 20 minutes remaining.
And yet whilst La Liga was offering the sublime and the beautiful to some fans, for others, it was a case of the truly beastly.
Osasuna and Real Zaragoza played out a goalless draw that offered little in the way of entertainment to the watching support. And yet few could have anticipated that with Real Madrid hosting Sevilla at the Bernabeu, things would get worse. A lot worse.
Madrid took to the field for arguably the most uninspired of wins in the Mourinho reign. A tetchy encounter saw a total of 12 players booked, with Madrid seeing nine yellow cards. This eventually culminated in the dismissal of Ricardo Carvalho just after the hour mark. And just when the game appeared to be heading for a similar deadlock, Angel Di Maria appeared with a moment of brilliance, thirteen minutes from time, to give the home side the points.
Mouhamadou Dabo then saw red for Sevilla in stoppage time, as Madrid kept the pressure up on Barcelona, despite highlighting a concerning lack of style for any fan of the seemingly Spanish brand of football.
It may only be a gap of two points, but to borrow another popular fairy tale, it would be hard to argue against neutrals opposing the ugly sister of Madrid, in favour of the beautiful Princess of Barcelona.