While La Liga was focused on El Clásico, there are three others teams in the race for the title right now. Sevilla, Valencia and Atlético all earned the three points this weekend. Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona on Saturday and Valencia welcomed new owner Peter Lim with a 3-1 win. The day after El Clásico did not disappoint, with Sevilla making an epic comeback to win the three points at home against Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid beating Getafe 0-1 away from the Calderón.
La Liga scores, Week 9: Sevilla make epic comeback, Atlético win at Getafe
David Ramos
Finally a win for Athletic Bilbao. They were looking so bad in La Liga until now, including several losses in the Champions League as well, but they managed to beat Almería away without even deserving it. The Andalusian side had the better chances, but Etxeita’s goal in the 56th minute off a good assist by Aduriz gave Valverde and his coaching staff some room.
Real Madrid 3-1 FC Barcelona / Full report
Los Blancos came back from a 0-1 deficit and ended up deserving the win. Neymar converted Barcelona's very first chance in the fourth minute, and his team looked to be in control until Cristiano Ronaldo equalized from the spot after a clear handball by Piqué. The second half was all white, with Pepe notching the second goal off a corner kick and Benzema clinching the first Clásico of the season for Real Madrid shortly after. In other news, Suárez made his FC Barcelona debut and Andrés Iniesta left the game injured.
Valencia 3-1 Elche
This was Peter Lim’s first game as Valencia CF’s owner. The Singaporean entrepreneur saw his team earning a convincing 3-1 win against Elche. Mustafi and Parejo put Valencia up 2-0 before the 20-minute mark, and things got even worse for Elche after an own goal in the 63rd minute. They notched up their only goal in added time.
Córdoba 1-1 Real Sociedad
Córdoba’s first game without former coach Chapi Ferrer ended up in a much-needed 1-1 draw against a better Real Sociedad team. Sociedad were in total control of the match after their 22nd-minute goal, but Xisco savaged a draw for the host side.
Eibar 1-1 Granada
Granada stopped their four-game losing streak with an away draw against Eibar, who are a recently promoted team earning lots of points so far. If they keep playing this way, Eibar will soon secure a place in next year’s Liga BBVA even with the lowest budget in the competition. This match was really close and could have gone either way, so the 1-1 draw seems fair for both coaches Joaquín Caparrós and Gaizka Garitano.
Málaga 4-0 Rayo Vallecano
Paco Jémez’s Rayo could not do anything against Málaga after Samuel Garcia scored their opening goal just six minutes into the game. As always, Rayo had most of the possession, but that is not always effective, and that was shown in this game. Málaga just needed 43 more minutes to make it 4-0. Still, Rayo’s decent streak over the last few weeks gives them some room to work with even after such a big defeat.
Deportivo were very lucky to get one point out of this match. Espanyol had 16 shots in comparison to Depor’s 5. Still, it was a boring contest between two sides that settled for a draw as soon as they realised they had to risk a bit too much to get the win.
Sevilla 2-1 Villarreal
This one was the weekend's most exciting match apart from El Clásico. Both teams played with a 4-4-2 formation that voided the opposition's effort to dominate and control the game. It was a very close and hard-fought contest, with Villarreal playing through counterattacks a bit more than Sevilla, who were playing at home. Then, Luciano Vietto scored what appeared to be the winning goal for Villarreal in the 79th minute, but Unai Emery's Sevilla clawed back for a point just two minutes before the end of regulation. But that wasn't enough, as the home side earned the three points from the penalty spot in added time. Sevilla are now co-leading the Liga BBVA with FC Barcelona.
Getafe 0-1 Atlético de Madrid / Full report
Sloppy win by Atlético de Madrid. Mandzukic opened the game up for Los Rojiblancos in the 40th minute and Getafe defender Alexis pretty much sealed Atleti’s win by getting sent off in the 56th. Getafe tried to at least get a draw, but Simeone’s men grabbed the away win with some quality defensive plays in the final minutes of the game.
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