The midweek La Liga matchday brought changes in the top of La Liga. Athletic Club, although still undefeated, lost points, by drawing against bottom side Leganes and Real Madrid took advantage. Besides having a new leader, Atletico Madrid also rose to second place after defeating Mallorca at home.
This all takes even more interest considering both Madrid rivals are separated by just two points and they will face each other on Saturday evening.
Barcelona continues their series of consecutive home wins – when the games are away, well the story is different. Meanwhile, Real Betis starts to show signs of improvement.
All this and much more, in the La Liga round-up.
Real Madrid gives a samba lesson to Osasuna
Osasuna was, on pair with Athletic Club Bilbao and Real Madrid, one of the 3 undefeated sides in the league. Well, by matchday 6 they had to face ‘Los Blancos’ and their streak finally ended.
Real Madrid dominated the match, with Luka Jovic having an occasion to score his first official goal for ‘Los Blancos’. However, it was Vinicius Junior who opened the deadlock, at the 36 minutes. The Brazilian youngster made an amazing curled shot, that still deflected in Raul Navas, but it’s still, nonetheless, a ‘banger’.
In the second half, Jovic had another opportunity wasted and it was another Brazilian who showed how it is done. Rodrygo was subbed in for Vinicius in the 71 minutes and a minute after he scored Real Madrid’s second goal.
The Brazilian youngster concluded an amazing solo play through the wing and broke David Beckham’s record for the fastest debut goal in Real Madrid history. 95 seconds was the time he needed, while Beckham scored after 124 minutes.
With a 2-0 victory, flavored by ‘samba’, Real Madrid jumps into the first place, switching with Athletic Club Bilbao. ‘Los Blancos’ are still undefeated in the league but will have a tough duel with Atletico Madrid on the weekend.
Meanwhile, Osasuna dropped to 12th.
Another home game, another win for Barcelona
Barcelona is having a shaky start of the season, with two defeats and 1 draw, but the story is different in home games. In 3 games played in Camp Nou, they have a perfect record, with 12 goals scored and 5 conceded.
The victim this time was Villarreal, and it did not take much time for the ‘Blaugrana’ to break the ‘Yellow Submarine’s’ defense. Antoine Griezzman answered to the critics by scoring after a cross from Leo Messi.
The moment of the evening would be reserved for later, though, as Arthur Melo scored an absolute thunderbolt strike, quite far from the box. A quarter into the game and Villarreal trailing by 2-0.
It seemed like an easy game for Barcelona, but soon it would complicate. First Leo Messi got injured once again and had to be substituted after the break. And, shortly before the halftime whistle, Santi Cazorla brought a thunderstrike of his own to make the game 2-1.
The second time did not have many chances, although Ter Stegen would make an important save to deny Villarreal the equalizer.
With this result, Barcelona is still 5th and has to address their away form. Especially since they will have another fixture far from home, against Getafe, next weekend.
Atletico gets back to victories in Mallorca
A defeat and a draw in the last two La Liga games showed the flaws of Atletico’s rebranded side. They visited Mallorca this Wednesday, desperate to get back into the winning route.
They opened the score with 26 minutes on the clock, with Diego Costa nodding in a corner kick from Koke. Atletico had two more crucial goal chances in the first half, denied by the bar and Mallorca’s keeper.
Mallorca had their own chance to equalize after the interval, when Real Madrid loaned player, Kubo, shot the ball into the post. Atletico would double their advantage anyway, with Joao Felix controlling the ball in the area and a fortunate deflection sending it in (2-0).
Atletico’s victory would be spotless if it wasn’t for Morata’s red card. The Spanish striker was sent off with just 8 minutes on the pitch after he saw two yellow cards for an altercation with Salva Sevilla, Mallorca’s midfielder. An attitude that left Atletico playing with 10-men.
Atletico is now second and has a chance of getting into first place if they manage to beat neighbors Real Madrid next weekend. The game will be at the Wanda Metropolitano, Saturday evening.
Athletic Club Bilbao disappoints against Leganes
Last week, Athletic Club got the lead of the La Liga table and they had a chance to consolidate it even more. They faced Leganes this Wednesday, who are bottom of the table, and they disappointed, allowing a draw.
Leganes actually had the first opportunities of the evening, after two unsuccessful attempts of Guido Carrillo. It was Athletic who broke the deadlock in the second half, though, with Raul Garcia converting a penalty kick.
Still, Leganes fought back and would get the equalizer a few minutes later. Sublime execution of a free kick by Oscar Rodriguez and 1-1 in the scoreboard.
Athletic could have got a second penalty though when a Leganes defender touched the ball with his hand on the box. However, both the referee and the VAR decided not to sanction it.
The team from Bilbao drops to 3rd place, although a win in the weekend and a draw in the Madrid derby can take them back to the lead.
Entertaining match splits points between Valencia and Getafe
The surprise package of last season, Getafe, traveled to Mestalla to face Valencia, in what was a fairly contested strike. Valencia, despite their victorious Champions League group debut, still seems not being able to find their form back, after their board decided to sack Marcelino Toral.
They found themselves behind with just 1 minute played. Jaime Mata appeared in the left post of Cillessen and scored his 3rd goal of the season.
Valencia would equalize after the game reached half hour, with a bicycle kick from Maxi Gomez. The Uruguayan entered to replace the injured Kevin Gameiro and showed he is ready to be a starter. However, Getafe’s keeper could have reacted better.
Just 4 minutes later, Maxi Gomez would make his second, after a cross from Dani Parejo. Valencia would score the 3rd before halftime, South Korean Lee Kang-in being the author of the goal.
Getafe would react in the second half, reducing to 3-2 by Jason Remeseiro. Not even 3 minutes later, they would make it 3-3, with Angel Rodriguez scoring for the second game in a row. The inexperience of left-back Thierry Correia shows up in both goals conceded.
Finally, there was still a referee controversy, with Cucurella touching the ball with his arm in the box, but the VAR decided to not award a penalty to Valencia. 3-3, Valencia is 13th and Getafe is 10th.
Betis shows dominance over Levante
Last Summer spending spree of Betis brought Borja Iglesias and Nabil Fekir to Sevilla, but neither of the record signings had great impact so far. Fekir got injured and Borja was still waiting to score his first goal for his new club. Two consecutive draws did not help the case and Betis needed a win.
They hosted Levante this Tuesday and the game did not look into their direction when Hernani put the visitors ahead with 7 minutes in the game.
It took Betis until the last minute of the first half to score the equalizer. Loren Moron with a tap-in, after a rebound in the post.
As the second half started, another one for Moron. A brace and the youngster from Marbella having now 5 goals in 5 games for Betis. The beautiful work from Joaquin, before the goal, is also noteworthy.
Betis would confirm the win, with the first goal for signing Borja Iglesias. Hat-trick of assists for Joaquin, who combined with Canales, before serving the teammate to make it 3-1.
The Green and White from Sevilla are not 9th, with Levante being 11th.
Granada draw against Valladolid but stay in top 4
11 points in 6 games is not a bad record for a team who just got promoted. Granada had just beaten Barcelona last weekend and now they traveled to Valladolid to face the local club.
Oscar Plano put the hosts in front, after an assist from Toni Villa. Granada had to come from behind, but they only did so at the end of the first half. Victor Diaz fed Carlos Fernandez, who just had to confirm the goal.
Granada would put themselves ahead, but the referee would disallow the goal for allegedly Domingos Duarte being offside and disturbing the keeper. In the other side, Rui Silva denied Enes Unal to what would be Valladolid’s winning goal.
1-1 and Granada are 4th, with 1 more point than Barcelona. Real Valladolid is 14th.
Eibar makes comeback and Sevilla gets second loss in a row
This Thursday there was still some action happening in La Liga schedule, with Eibar hosting Sevilla. The Andalusians had just lost in the weekend for the first time this season, against Real Madrid and they wanted to bounce back in their visit to Eibar.
Sevilla started the game well, with Ocampos scoring after 11 minutes. Some minutes later, Oliver Torres would double their lead, with the Summer signing scoring his first goal in La Liga this season.
Everything would turn sour in the second half. Orellana converted a penalty making it 1-2 and shortly after a misunderstanding between Sevilla’s defender and goalkeeper, left Pedro Leon open to score the equalizer.
Still, it got worse as Jose Angel converted a free-kick to put the Basque team ahead. 3-2, with an impressive comeback and Sevilla, get their second defeat in a row.
Sevilla is now 7th and Eibar is 16th.
Basque derby gives victory to Real Sociedad
In the Anoeta, Real Sociedad hosted another team from the Basque region, Alaves, and tried to continue their positive wave of results.
Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoreboard in the 16 minutes, after a delicious nutmeg and assist from Martin Odegaard. Later, Oyarzabal would assist Willian Jose, who scored for the second match in a row.
Oyarzaba would make it a brace, converting a penalty kick. 3-0 was the final result, with Real Sociedad confirming their positive form. They are second in the league, tied in points with Atletico Madrid, but with higher goal difference. Alaves is 17th.
Santi Mina rescues a point for Celta against Espanyol
In the remaining match, Celta hosted Espanyol in Vigo and they split the points.
Adria Pedrosa put Espanyol in front at the beginning of second half, but Santi Mina with a header made it 1-1 in the last minute of extra time.
Celta is 15th and Espanyol 18th.
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