The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful from La Liga: The ultimate Sarabian night

A round-up of some of La Liga’s most intriguing storylines across the week, traversing through the good, the bad and something beautiful.

The Good – A slice of Sarabian nights

Before Sunday night, Rayo Vallecano had conceded just 16 goals in 16 games, and even after it, they still have the joint-best defensive record of anyone below 7th. Hence why Elche’s 4-0 demolition of Rayo at the Martinez Valero, sodden with rain, was the dessert that their excellent first half of the campaign deserved. Hector Fort, who displayed all the verve of a young Santi Cazorla while opening the scoring, has been on a transformation of his own under Eder Sarabia, and his goal contained all the hallmarks of this Elche, which their fans can dote over when describing their early success.

It’s a very pretty table for an Elche fan to admire over Christmas, who sit 9th on 22 points, seven clear of the drop. Fort’s gradual introduction to the season was typical of any number of players who were drifting a little until they pitched up at Elche, and found plenty of direction from the irate Eder Sarabia on the touchline. Their second, a monument to the belief coursing through the side. When Pedro Bigas was relegated at the age of 33 with this Elche side, it would be natural for him to doubt whether he would taste the sweetness of Primera football again.

“Un gol que resume el equipo que queremos ser”

Palabra de @edersa10 #ElcheRayo #LALIGAHighlights pic.twitter.com/J8MiKRkyzO

— Elche Club de Fútbol (@elchecf) December 23, 2025

Caressing the ball around from the back, the old dog has been applauded silly by the Martinez Valero for his new tricks all season. Laying the track for Elche to seal the match, Bigas burst through the middle of the pitch from centre-back, controlling a pass on the run perfectly, rounding Augusto Batalla and squaring for another redemption song, Alvaro Rodriguez, to finish. Bigas, at 35 is playing the best football of his career, getting the most out of his talents. Three minutes later, Rayo were washed away. Arguably the most organised press in La Liga was constantly a second too slow, as Elche swept the ball to and fro across the pitch, just five passes left German Valera with an open goal after winning it back near the edge of their box. Elche felt the passes and the timing, never rushed, never selfish. Their biggest and most impressive win, to cap off a 2026 that has Elche flying.

The Bad – A disaster that must not become a trademark

Twice in two weeks, Real Sociedad held a lead at half-time against a side in the relegation zone. Twice, they would go on to pass up the simplest of opportunities to double that lead. Even still, La Real were comfortable, controlling the course of the game, and on course for three points. At the very least against Girona, Viktor Tsygankov was required to come up with two goals of excellent quality. Levante’s stoppage time penalty, from a badly defended corner, took on the feel of a slow-motion explosion, where in tragic fashion, our protagonist is blissfully unaware of the urgency of the situation, nor the consequences.

Fortunately, La Real are not dead yet. But new manager Pellegrino Matarazzo has a lot of the Bee Gees to listen to if he is to rescucitate this side. The Txuri-Urdin lie just two points clear of the drop, and have lost three of their last four Liga games; they also came back from two down to level with Villarreal, before conceding a stoppage time loser to Alberto Moleiro, just seven minutes later. Be it mentality, quality or strategy, this side is constantly short in some regard, despite having a squad full of good players. ‘We’ve made fools of ourselves’, said Igor Zubeldia after their loss to Girona. Fool us once, Txuri-Urdin…

The Beautiful – The Oblaktopus is a wonderfully intelligent creature

There is a good chance that this section becomes the home of the many great goals thumped, stroked and sliced in – with apologies to Carlos Romero this week. How many players sidefoot a volley in from 25 yards? Our heart was pulled at by Don Jan Oblak – known to his goalkeeping fraternity as the Oblaktopus – this week though.

Esto es una barbaridad catedralicia #LaLigaHighlights pic.twitter.com/JCruNyTLQR

— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) December 21, 2025

When the ball came back the direction of Axel Witsel, he didn’t really react to what might have been a tap-in past Oblak on the floor. The only conceivable reason being that when he thumped the ball on target from close range, he didn’t really consider the possibility that it could come back his way. In less than a second, the giant Slovenian inverted his spine to hit full stretch and reach behind to somehow throw the ball back out of the net before it passed the goal-line, a super-hero save. It kept Atetico on level terms, but that was an anecdotal part of a move that deserved a bigger stage, spotlights, a magic hat and a 52 camera angles. Koke Resurreccion scored a beautiful goal, but Oblak’s save was the highlight of Atletico’s 3-0 win. Somewhere, an Atletico Madrid fan has decided that ‘I want to be a goalkeeper’, just like Oblak.

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