Bravo!

It's not a long list. In fact, I think you can count on one hand the number of goalkeepers who have been called to duty up front and have delivered. OK, that's is probably an exagerration. Plenty of goalkeepers have been designated by their coaches to take a penalty kick and have come through. Fair enough. But not that many have either scored during the run of play or from a set piece.

Jose Luis Chilavert, the former Zaragoza keeper who made his mark with Velez in the Argentinean league, boasts a whopping 62 goals scored in his career. Often the Paraguayan was called on to take penalty kicks and free kicks and he did so with aplomb. 'Chila' will forever go down as the most prolific goalscoring keeper in soccer history most likely.

Another keeper who comes to mind is Andres Palop who scored on a header in stoppage time for Sevilla back in 2007 to beat Shakhtar Donetsk in a UEFA Cup knockout round match. Palop was mobbed by teammates afterwards and rightly so. Without it, Sevilla never goes on to win its second consecutive UEFA Cup when they defeated fellow Spanish club Espanyol in PKs... thanks to Palop.

Well, in El Infierno, we had our own moment of goalkeeper goalscoring madness when Real Sociedad's Claudio Bravo stepped up to take a free kick just outside the area against Gimnastic de Tarragona. With Anoeta chanting his name, the Chilean netminder delivered. Bravo's effort went through the Nastic wall and drew enough of a deflection to wrong-foot the Nastic keeper and hit the back of the net. The stadium went nuts, his teammates piled on him and Bravo got some of the top billing on all the weekend highlight shows.

Heck, Bravo was so impressed with his own striking ability that he admitted himself the next day that he turned on the television just so he could watch his own highlight. Hey, if a goalkeeper scores a goal, he has every reason to brag a little! What gave him even more pleasure was the reception he got from his teammates who were thrilled. One, because the goal earne dthem the win giving Sociedad another three points and inching closer to a return to the Primera and two, because, well, goalies just aren't suppose to score... or are they?


On to the Quiniela!

Not exactly a bad effort last week. Started off 3-0 but only ended up winning 5 games. Most puzzling result had to have been Girona's 0-3 win at Rayo. Troubling times seem to be surfacing in Vallecas.

Girona - R. Sociedad 2
Gimnástic - Huesca X
Murcia - Numancia X
Las Palmas - Salamanca X
Elche - Levante X
Cádiz - Hércules 2
Villarreal B - Recreativo 1
Betis - Albacete 1
Castellón - Cartagena 2
Real Unión - Rayo 1
Celta - Córdoba X

Clasificacion:

1. Hércules - 47
2. R. Sociedad - 47
3. Cartagena - 43
4. Levante - 39
5. Numancia - 39
6. Villarreal B - 36
7. Betis - 35
8. Elche - 34
9. Gimnástic - 35
10. Córdoba - 32
11. Rayo - 31
12. Salamanca - 30
13. Huesca - 29
14. Recreativo - 29
15. Las Palmas - 28
16. Albacete - 27
17. Celta - 26
18. Girona - 26
19. Cádiz - 24
20. Murcia - 23
21. Real Unión - 21
22. Castellón - 19