It was an action packed weekend of football in the Spanish top division as Real Madrid overcame Barcelona in a much anticipated El Clásico that didn’t disappoint. The entertaining Celta Vigo lost out in the most eye catching scoreline of the weekend and in form Villareal dropped points for the first time in a while.
An impressive Real Madrid side perfectly executed their game plan against a Barcelona side who seemed painfully unwilling to change their style until it was too late. Karim Benzema gave Real the lead with an exquisite backheel from a Lucas Vasquez cross as Barcelona struggled to create many clear cut chances. Much of Barcelona’s play took place with some neat passes around the Real penalty area but with little to show for it. The decision to play with no focal point in attack, seemed a strange one given Barca must have known how Real were going to set up, looking to launch counter attacks. With Antoine Greizmann and Martin Brathwaite on the bench it was not long before Barca were effectively out of the game when Toni Kroos’ freekick was deflected twice before ending up in the back of Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s net. Oscar Mingueza did pull a goal back for Barca (shinning one home with half an hour left) and Barca upped the ante late on with Lionel Messi hitting the back post directly from a corner and youngster Ilaix Moriba rattling the bar with the last kick of the game but Real just about held firm.
The previous evening saw Huesca and their new manager beat Elche fairly comfortably with goals from Rafa Mir and Sandro Ramirez overcoming Elche’s lone strike from Denis Vavro.
Cadiz then performed the perfect smash and grab effort against Getafe, enjoying less posession, a terrible passing accuracy and less than half the attempts on goal managed by their opponents. A David Timor own goal proved the difference for Cadiz.
Athletic Bilbao will rue some dreadful final third play as they drew 0-0 at home with Deportivo Alaves who had two goals ruled out en route to picking up their first points for 5 games.
Eibar went down by one goal to Levante’s only shot on target but will feel like they should have got at least a point from a game which saw them register 10 shots to their opponents 6. Jorge de Frutos’ goal came shortly before the break.
Villareal were stunned by Osasuna in what was an open game where once again the losing team will be kicking themselves with the end result. Gerard Moreno had scored or assisted Villareal’s last 24 goals so it was no surprise that with him rested to the bench they failed to create too many chances. With his introduction, Villareal started to carve out more chances but ended up going behind to a brilliant volley from Jon Moncayola after an hour. Soon after however, Dani Parejo found Moreno in the box who squared for Dani Garcia to turn into his own net, Villareal’s wait for a goal not produced by Moreno would go on. Shortly after, Ante Budemir powered a header past Sergio Asenjo to give Osasuna a much needed lead. In the dying moments of the game Osasuna keeper Sergio Herrera pulled out two unbelievable saves to deny certain goals. Villareal will have one eye on closing out their Europa leg tie against Dinamo Zagreb midweek.
Real Sociedad then threw away a two goal halftime lead to draw with Valencia. The first action of the game went Valencia’s way as they were awarded a penalty for a hand ball but Carlos Soler missed the chance from the spot, his second miss of the season. Ander Guevara punished Valencia for the missed penalty just two minutes later from the edge of the box and Alexander Isak doubled Erreala’s lead just before the break. A Daniel Wass penalty cut the deficit in half before a perfect cross from Goncalo Guedes was nodded in by Gabriel Paulista to share the points.
Granada came from behind to beat Real Valledolid to give themselves a boost before attempting to overturn a two goal deficit against Manchester United this week. A Fabian Orellana penalty was cancelled out by veteran striker Jorge Molina in the 78th minute before the winner was tucked home by left-back Quini.
Real Betis held Atletico Madrid in an entertaining game where both sides went at each other from the opening stages. Yannick Carasco calmly finished after four minutes only for Cristian Tello to reply just 15 minutes later for Betis. In an open game Atleti will rue having Luis Suarez and Moussa Démbélé injured as Joao Félix went down hurt too. This game has by no means ended Atleti’s title hopes but with Real now top and Barca looking imperious (apart from Saturday night’s result) it will be an impressive feat to take it to the final day.
Celta Vigo and Sevilla then played out the match of the weekend on Monday night as they shared seven goals in a frantic game punctuated by thrilling counter attacks and shambolic defending. French u-21 star Jules Koundé muscled home a header after just 7 minutes from a Sevilla corner and it didn’t take Celta long to reply as Koundé then needlessly tripped Santi Mina in the area, Iago Aspas converting the penalty with aplomb. Some ragged defending and a signature Celta counter attack saw Aspas race clear and slot his team into the lead after 23 minutes only to see the game level ten minutes later as Fernando’s distance strike was deflected passed Villar in the Celta net. Not to worry for fans becoming bored with 9 minutes without a goal, Denis Suarez fed Braiz Mendez who calmly lobbed over the Bóno in the Sevilla goal to see Celta lead 3-2 at the break. Questions must once again be asked of the defending that allowed Ivan Rakitic to score unmarked to tie the game up from the middle of the area, the same must be said for the winner, poor defending allowing Papu Gomez through on goal to calmly curl the ball in from the edge of the box.
The title race really is on with Real going top and Barca breaking their recent run, with Barca and Atleti to soon play one another, you sense this could become Real’s title to lose. Barca will be hurting after their poor champions league showing so will be itching to get their hands on some silverware this season.
All. To. Play. For,
Michael Vince on Sport 