The opening week in La Liga concluded today with three games, two of which featured second half comebacks. Here’s a recap of the action.
La Liga Monday: Villarreal fights back for a win in their top flight return
Villarreal twice fought back from a goal deficit to earn a dramatic opening match victory over Almeria. Rayo Vallecano easily dispatched Elche, while Celta Vigo blew a two-goal lead to Espanyol.
Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Elche
Elche’s first match in the top flight of Spanish football went well for 40 minutes but they were undone by two goals in four minutes as Rayo Vallecano eased to victory. Alberto Bueno had a massive day for Rayo scoring two goals and assisting on a third scored by Alberto Perea.
Considering that Rayo are not expected to be one of the stronger sides in La Liga this season, it’s a foreboding start for the newly promoted Elche.
Almeria 3-2 Villarreal
The Yellow Submarine’s return to La Liga was an eventful one as they needed goals from Giovani dos Santos and Jonathan Pereira in the final 10 minutes to avoid a disappointing defeat against fellow promoted side Almeria.
Almeria took the lead twice in the match, the first time in the 39th minute when Rodri converted a Rafita cross completely against the run of place. The lead held up until the 65th minute when aSebastian Dubarbier own-goal pulled Villarreal even for the first time. Rodri struck again in the 74th minute what appeared to be the match winner, but it wasn’t to be.
New signing Dos Santos evened the match at 2-2 in the 83rd minute and three minutes later Pereira hammered a shot past Suarez Esteban, giving Villarreal the full three points.
Celta Vigo 2-2 Espanyol
Goals from Álex López and Charles staked Celta Vigo to a 2-0 lead early in the second half but their defense couldn’t hold as Espanyol fought back to earn a draw.Víctor Sánchez scored in the 53rd minute to begin the Espanyol comeback and Thievy evened the score in the 75th minute.
Despite the result, Celta’s new signing Charles looked promising though they’ll need to do better about holding on to a lead if they want to stay out of the relegation fight.
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