A compilation of some of the most interesting La Liga stories of the week, we go through the good, the bad and the good.
Good: Raphinha is back – the Voodoo child (a bit of a comeback)
There is something Raphinha is doing in this Barcelona team. He may not be the most beautiful of Barcelona’s many talented footballers, or the most rounded, but he is undoubtedly one of the two or three ingredients they can do without. No matter how much Hansi Flick talks about pressing, or encourages some of his best players to breathe in the ears of the opposition, Raphinha has a way of making this Barcelona team move that no one else does.
As if to illustrate this point, when Barcelona finally began to find grooves in Newcastle United’s machine, when Jacob Ramsey sent a blind pass into his box, Raphinha was already flying over the ball to punish the mistake. Three days ago, Raphinha was handed Sevilla’s worst hat-tricks, two penalties and a deflected shot, but it was indicative of the further development he was showing.
Fierce, sometimes eccentric, always fiery, he seems to be able to pull his teammates into the positions Flick wants them to be in. Something about his tenacity, his charisma, has a magnetic pull on this Barcelona. Against Newcastle, Raphinha scored the first, took the second, won the third penalty, assisted the fourth, assisted the fifth and scored the sixth. Eight important contributions in the space of four days. Raphinha puts the moves to the music, and next, makes sense of Barcelona with the highest expected drop (xD) in European football.
Bad: End of season – Eskerrik Asko, Ernesto Valverde
Rest assured that this article comes despite Ernesto Valverde’s announcement that he will be leaving Athletic Club this summer. On Saturday, Athletic Club lost 3-0 to Girona. Goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga made some smart saves, but the defeat was neither surprising nor deserved. Michel Sanchez was able to rebuild his side on the fly, and the Athletic difference is a little painful, he stuck to the ineffective press, and an attack that no one really enjoys.
Athletic Club has three wins in 2026 in La Liga, and it started with the victory over Atletico Madrid in San Mames on December 6, a period that includes 11 games. The truth is, Athletic was not in good shape before it. This week Elche went down to the relegation zone, doing well that those victories came against the hard-promoted teams, Levante and Real Oviedo.
The hope must be that with this conclusion now in sight, the mindset can change, and Athletic can finally wake up to the fact that they are just three points away from a possible European place. Before it started, the season was threatening to be the end of Valverde’s cycle, and only remnants remain of the best Athletic side of the 21st century between 2023 and 2025. This is just the natural life cycle of a football manager. The task now, of Athletic as a club, and as a team, is to ensure that Ernesto Valverde’s 10-game funeral march must be a celebration of life, not mourning.
Good: ‘No, Arda, no’
Pulling back the curtain, after Nicolas Pepe’s 97th minute equalizer against Alaves in a wet Mendizorrotza, it was all set to be our best moment of the week. There is something seductive about the stark contrast between relief and grief, which may not reflect well on us.
0,1% de probabilidad de gol.
99.9% of the money.💥 The distance is 68.6 meters @10ardaguler.@real Madrid | LALIGA Highlights pic.twitter.com/cliIX29Ke67
— LALIGA (@LaLiga) March 19, 2026
Only Arda Guler steals the show with a selfish policy that does not accept debate on this issue. He was just 68.6 meters away from the post when he drove over the head of Matias Dituro, who sat convincingly into the empty net. It has all the hallmarks of genius. The execution is something – Guler tried this three times, hit the bar once, and was not far off the other time. Pass your mind to other scorers with similar strikes. Xabi Alonso had something interesting about it, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, it’s not possible for many players to try it, because it’s a ridiculously low percentage.
🔴 When Arda Güler decided to take a shot from 68 meters, Arbeloa’s first reaction was, ‘No Arda, no!’pic.twitter.com/3xHsJJOLQr
— Universal News (@universalnewsx) March 17, 2026
Forgive us for being a little skeptical about La Liga and Microsoft’s goal percentages at times, but in this instance, 0.1% sounds accurate. Now Guler has one third of the conversation. “It’s worth the price of the ticket, maybe two or three times, to see what he did,” commented Alvaro Arbeloa after the match. “No, Arda, no,” was his first reaction when he shot. Maybe he was thinking of poor Dituro, obviously not in Elche’s goal.
