Málaga are the unlikeliest of Champions League challengers, following a summer of discontent during which they were forced to sell some of their best players, including Santi Cazorla and Salomón Rondón, while others had to be persuaded not to take legal action against the club for unpaid wages. But tonight is the biggest game in the club’s history, a last-16 meeting at FC Porto. The two-legged knockout tie is given all the more prominence given that this could be the only European action Málaga experience for up to four years regardless of where they end up in the liga table at the end of the season, after UEFA declared the Andalusian side will be banned from European competition due to … [Read more...] about La Liga: Pellegrini engineers Málaga’s miracle run
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Ladies and gentlemen, the next prime minister of Spain…?
Should María Dolores de Cospedal weather the latest corruption allegations to hit the Popular Party (PP), there’s every likelihood she will progress from being its secretary general and premier of the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha to replacing Mariano Rajoy in the top post and go on to become Spain’s first female prime minister. Cospedal’s rise has been rapid. Born in 1965, she grew up in Castilla-La Mancha, training as a government lawyer after finishing university, and joining the Labour Ministry in 1997 after José Maria Aznar ushered in the first PP administration the previous year. During the PP’s two terms in office she moved up the ladder, making it to under-secretary … [Read more...] about Ladies and gentlemen, the next prime minister of Spain…?
Tales for Tapas: Turning points
Bowing to a campaign that gathered one-and-a-half million signatures, the People’s Party this week dropped its opposition to a debate on legislation intended to mitigate the social and financial impact of home evictions. The parliamentary initiative follows a rise in suicides associated with mortgage foreclosures – a shocking barometer of the human cost of economic austerity. Under the new measures, social housing would be made available to families that have been evicted, and mortgages would be cancelled when homes are handed over to the bank. Some argue that market forces will restore prosperity as long as they are allowed to work and that remedial social programmes are no more than … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Turning points
It’s Goya time
Perhaps fearful of another black-and-white silent film garnering a top prize for the second year running, Hollywood excluded Blancanieves from the Best Foreign Film category, but Pablo Berger’s overly long 1920s-set bullfighting take on the Snow White tale looks set to sweep the board at this year’s Goya Awards on February 17 in the Spanish capital. The film has been nominated in 18 categories, including picture, director, original screenplay, and editing. Six members of the cast are also in the running for prizes, including leads Maribel Verdú and Daniel Giménez Cacho, as well as newcomer Macarena García for her winsome portrayal of Snow White. Unit 7, from director Alberto Rodríguez, … [Read more...] about It’s Goya time
La Liga: Mourinho eyes Manchester United clash and Madrid exit
In 2004, with a manic run down the Old Trafford touchline to celebrate knocking Manchester United out of the UEFA Champions League, José Mourinho announced himself to the world. It was to be the start of a new era for him and “The Special One” was born a few months later when Porto clinched the title and Chelsea came calling. Tomorrow, Mourinho faces Manchester United again, first at the Santiago Bernabéu and then at The Theatre of Dreams in the return leg of the last-16 tie and it could mark a new era in his career, the beginning of the end at Real Madrid. Ahead of the game, Los Merengues hosted Sevilla on Saturday night looking to put memories of their paltry performance at Granada … [Read more...] about La Liga: Mourinho eyes Manchester United clash and Madrid exit
Spain’s King Juan Carlos seeks to stem the opprobrium
Not so long ago, the boos that echoed around Vitoria’s Buesa Arena on the arrival of King Juan Carlos for the basketball Copa del Rey final at the weekend would have surprised many Spaniards and scandalised quite a few others. Such an open display of hostility towards the monarch would have been almost unthinkable. And yet on Sunday, when the booing was so loud that the playing of the national anthem ahead of the game between Barcelona and Valencia was cut short, it no longer seemed all that surprising or shocking, such is the sliding esteem of the Spanish royal family. The most defining moment of the reign of Juan Carlos now looks so far away it could be from another era. In 1981, the … [Read more...] about Spain’s King Juan Carlos seeks to stem the opprobrium
Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
“I didn’t get into politics because I wanted applause or money … I got into politics because I wanted to change things.” So said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday as he gave his first proper public response to allegations published by El País that he was among many politicians who took under-the-table payments from a longstanding Partido Popular (PP) slush fund. But it doesn’t take a cynic to observe that very little has changed during Rajoy’s first year of government, despite his fighting talk at the weekend. As if to remind us of the fact, today he travels to Germany to meet Angela Merkel and discuss yet again the woes of the Spanish economy, on the same day that new … [Read more...] about Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
Has Spain’s economic contraction become self-perpetuating?
Spain’s political leaders are in cheerful mood at the moment. According to the country’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, the Spanish economy will return to growth in the second half of 2013. “The perception of the Spanish economy has improved and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months,” he told his audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Earth-shattering it will not be, but grow it will, he insisted. Perhaps, he suggested, the economy will be stationary in the third quarter, with very slight growth in the fourth. And quite possibly he is right. The core of the problem is whether any faltering growth emerging in the last three months of the year will be sustained … [Read more...] about Has Spain’s economic contraction become self-perpetuating?
La Liga: Rayo Vallecano defy the odds to keep riding high
They are not the first, second, or arguably, even the third team in Madrid, but they are already in position for a Europa League place and currently sit one point away from the Champions League spots. It is an even more impressive feat given that this is a club in administration, a team that was almost relegated to segunda on the final day of last season and that lost both its manager in the summer and a total of 13 players including their star, Michu, who is currently lighting up the Premier League. Rayo Vallecano are defying all expectations. While Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid sit in second and third respectively, the other team from the capital are just a point behind Málaga in … [Read more...] about La Liga: Rayo Vallecano defy the odds to keep riding high
Berardo brings Buddha to Lisbon
According to a recent article in The Art Newspaper, Portuguese entrepreneur and financier José Berardo has commissioned additions inspired by the Bamiyan Valley Buddhas for his Buddha Eden Garden, north of Lisbon. Six thousand tons of stone sculptures carved by sculptors based in Shijiazhuang, China, have been commissioned for the park (that being the approximate weight of the Bamiyan Buddhas) and the creation of the garden itself was prompted by the destruction of the Buddhas in central Afghanistan in 2001. The garden contains a number of large-scale Asian sculptures scattered over 35 hectares at the Quinta dos Loridos, Bombarral, including terracotta warriors based on those that guarded … [Read more...] about Berardo brings Buddha to Lisbon