The roads in these rows have already touched both ends of the Spanish map. On the sixteenth of August the away day was Racing Santander, up on the north coast in Cantabria, where it finished two-two. On the seventeenth of September the away day was Málaga, at La Rosaleda, down on the southern coast, where it finished three-one to the visitors. North coast to south coast in a month: two trips at opposite ends of the map.
Between and around those trips, September has been relentless. The fourteenth of September: Real Betis at the Estadio de la Cerámica, one-two. The seventeenth: La Rosaleda, three-one. The twentieth: Levante at the Cerámica again, three-one. Three matches in seven days — home, down the map and back, home — and two wins to show for it. That is the sort of week that quietly decides how a squad looks in November, and the three-one on the twentieth came six days after the Betis defeat.
The away days before that belong in the same picture, because they were not all grim. There was a three-one away at Elche in January. There was a one-nil away at Levante in February, and a two-one away at Athletic Club in April, up on the north coast again. This is a club that travels the length of Spain as a matter of routine — the map runs from Cantabria in the north to Málaga in the south and back — and comes home to the one ground these rows are careful to name.
The home ground keeps its name in the file, which is more than most of these records manage: the Estadio de la Cerámica is the venue named for both September home games. Two home rows, two named venues, and a one-two defeat and a three-one win either side of the Málaga trip. Small mercies in the archive, and a good week's work either side of a long drive.
By the numbers — La Liga: 9th · 7 played · 2-2-3 · 13-12 · 8 pts · form LLLWW. All data from ScoreCrowd's match records, retrieved 24 September 2026. The line above is La Liga only.
Last season's rows reward a read, because the shape of this team is in them. The spring at home was genuinely good: five-one over Levante on the second of May, three-one over Real Sociedad on the twentieth of March, two-one over Elche before that, two-one over Valencia in February. And the winters away were where it frayed — nil-two at Real Betis in January, one-two at Getafe in February, and, on the twenty-eighth of February, one-four away at FC Barcelona. The FC Barcelona rows here are the worst days in them: nil-two at home in December and that one-four in February. Every club file has opponents it would rather not read about twice.
Real Betis deserve their own grim line here too. Twice in these rows, twice beaten: nil-two away in January, and one-two at the Cerámica on the fourteenth of September. Some fixtures just sit wrong.
One thing the rows make plain: this is league football all the way down. The competitions list says La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and Club Friendlies 3 — the league is what these rows know, and one country has already taken a season's worth of motorway out of it. The European nights on that list tell their own story elsewhere.
So the month has already gone the length of the country twice. The map has done its work. Now the fixtures can settle down long enough for the football to catch up.