La Liga, Week 24: 10-man Real Madrid win, Barca scrapes by Granada

Levante answered back with a penalty of their own in the 29th minute when fullback Christian Lell pushed over by Chory Castro. Michel buried the penalty, evening the match at 1-1. Karabelas, who was booked on the Sociedad penalty, picked up a second yellow card in the 57th minute but the home side were unable to find the winner despite playing over 30 minutes with the man advantage.

Ten men? No problem for Valencia. Los Che lost Tino Costa in the 28th minute but still rolled to a 2-0 victory over Malloca. Costa was shown a straight red card after a bad foul on Jose Nunes. Valencia were cautious for the rest of the half and took advantage of some defensive mistakes in the second half to earn the win.

Mesut Özil was a man on a mission from the opening whistle creating two fantastic chances for his teammates. They couldn’t take advantage of the first, but the second yielded an opening goal in the 3rd minute. Kaka led the way on a break and found Özil on the right side with a short pass. The German midfielder pulled the ball back across the box, to far for Kaka to get, but in the perfect spot for Morata who side-footed a shot into the back of the net. Not a bad to way to begin your first career league start.

Alejandro Dominguez had an excellent chance to pull Rayo back in the 8th minute, stealing the ball in the midfield and racing down the right side past Pepe. Unfortunately for Ray, Dominguez’s shot rolled just wide of the far post.

So which Madrid team will we see this week, fresh off a hard fought draw against Manchester United? With five players either injured or suspended, Mourinho might be a little thin on options but there are still good options. In all likliehood it will come down to whether or not this Madrid team is all in mentally.

Rayo will be hoping for the more lackadaisical version of Madrid as they attempt to hold on to a European spot. Rayo have one six out of their last eight league matches but that’s counterbalanced by nine straight defeats against Los Blancos. They’ve also not won at the Bernabéu since 1996. At this point a draw was bould a big deal, a win would be not only huge but somewhat historic.

Getafe remains comfortably perched in the mid-table with a 3-1 victory over Celta Vigo. Celta couldn’t have pulled themselves out of the drop zone with a win but instead of being one point from safety, they remain four points back. All four goals were scored in the first half with Adrián Colunga doing the damage after a turnover in the midfield by Gustavo Cabral.

Augusto Fernández pulled Celta even in the 20th minute but the resurgence was short-lived. In the 34th minute, Colunga’s bid for a second goal was cleared off the line by Celta, but Diego Castro was in the right spot and put in the rebound, giving Getafe back the lead. Federico Fernandez scored the final goal of the match in the 42nd minute, heading in a cross after being left unmarked at the near post.

Granada have Barcelona a good fight in their first meeting of the season at the Camp Nou, coming within three minutes of a scoreless draw. Barca will probably be looking to put their opponents to bed a little faster this time.

Granada injuries and suspensions

Malaga will take another crack at getting the first win at home in 2013 as they host struggling Atheltic Bilbao at La Rosadela. That little fact makes Malaga managing to keep their tenuous hold on fourth place even more impressive but at some point they’ll need to start winning home games if they want to stay there.

Manuel Pellegrini has been busy in the press reminding his team to not overlook Athletic and to keep focused. Good advice considering that Athletic are still a dangerous side despite their awful overall performance this season.