La Liga Matchday 8 Review: Real Madrid Knock Racing Santander For Six

Valencia and Atletico Madrid’s early season optimism has been dampened in recent weeks, with both falling to defeat on matchday 8. Valencia lacked their characteristic fluency and with Juan Mata and Aduriz starting on the bench, they were made to pay by an organised Mallorca team. Michael Laudrup’s side had their extravagant Uruguayan Gonzalo Castro to thank, scoring the two goals, one a dodgy penalty which only the referee spotted. Roberto Soldado hit back with a penalty of his own, but Valencia were ultimately made to pay for Unai Emery’s team rotations, that are made all the more mystifying when you consider their midweek match is a cup tie against third tier Logrones.

Atletico Madrid were left seething at some ridiculous refereeing from Ramirez Dominguez as they had three stonewall penalties turned down by the man in black. Villarreal were let off the hook on more than one occasion, the most ridiculous of which saw the ref blow for half-time instead of calling a blatant penalty. The Atleti players were left apoplectic and Quique Sanchez Flores was eventually sent to the stands after frustration got the better of him. Villarreal certainly didn’t let the good fortune go to waste as an early strike from Cani and a peach of a goal by Guiseppe Rossi sees the Yellow Submarine remain in second place, one point behind Real Madrid.