Posted by Stephen Kuzner

By Stephen Kuzner - WFD Fan Correspondent

Right now, Real Madrid appear unstoppable. After eight games, they have 20 of 24 points, are undefeated, scored 22 goals for an average of 2.75 a game, and conceded only 4 goals for a 0.5 average. A slightly better start and they'd be perfect. They aren't just destroying teams. They are demoralizing them. We are witnessing one the greatest counter-attacks in a long time. This is the point of the season where Madrid start playing, in order, the same teams that Barcelona has already played. Barcelona beat Racing 0-3 on the road a few games ago. Madrid's 6-1 trouncing of Racing Santander not only topped Barcelona's win, but Ronaldo topped it himself with 4 goals. Let the games of one-up mans-ship begin. If the Madridistas were complaining about dullness a few weeks ago, they aren't now. Still, let's not get too carried away just yet. As great as Madrid has looked, they've played #9 Mallorca, #11 Osasuna, #16 Real Sociedad, #5 Espanyol, #13 Levante, #19 Deportivo La Coruña, #17 Málaga, and #19 Racing Santander. If you are counting, that is six of eight games against teams on the bottom half of the table. For now, we'll say they have finished warming-up for next few rounds against Hercules, Atlético Madrid, Sporting Gijon, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, and Valencia.

Villarreal continued to impress with a 2-0 victory over Atlético Madrid. The Yellow Submarine are unbeaten in seven games and off to their best-ever start in the Primera Division. Giuseppe Rossi scored his fifth goal of the season. I'd like to think about what the U.S. National team would look like with Giuseppe Rossi at the top of the attack with support from Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Maurice Edu, and Jermaine Jones. It would be great if Bob Bradley could pry the New Jersey native from Italy.

Barcelona chugged-along with a 0-2 victory over Real Zaragoza at the La Romareda. Last year, Lionel Messi had a hat-trick in this one. This year he had just a brace. Wayne Hudson said it best, "Lionel Messi can enter a revolving door behind you and exit ahead of you". Barcelona is winning, but not winning convincingly. Finishing in front of goal is just not happening; particularly, David Villa will need to start putting more chances in goal. It's as if Barca and Madrid have switched places in terms of karma. Sevilla this week at the Camp Nou is a vital game for the Blaugranes.

Speaking of Sevilla FC, their 4-3 win over Athletic Bilbao was billed as the match to see and it lived-up to the billing. Luis Fabiano was finally back to his usual self with a brace. Ndri Romaric's long-ball to Fabiano that he chipped over Gorka Iraizoz was the goal of the week. The 1st half saw Sevilla constantly attacking. What Bilbao can take from the loss is being down 3-0, and then scoring 3 goals in the final 26 minutes. What will sting is that Sevilla scored twice on penalties one of which came-out of a highly-disputed tussle in the penalty box.

Rounding-out the rest, Valencia came back to reality with a loss 1-2 to Mallorca. They looked unusually poor against Mallocra's pressure. Espanyol beat Levante 2-1 and are exceeding all expectations early-on by sitting at #5 on the table. Almeria drew 1-1 with Hercules, Paraguayan international Hector Valdes netting his 4th goal of the season. Getafe gained 3 points to #7 on the table with a 3-0 win over Sporting Gijon. Osasuna defeated Málaga 3-0 and Deportivo La Coruña continued their poor form losing to Real Sociedad 3-0. Round #8 of La Liga was highlighted by Madrid's dominance and a large number of penalty-kicks.



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