Casual fans across the world were all hoping that nothing crazy would happen in La Liga this weekend to allow ‘El Clasico’ to remain as a direct battle for first place. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona recorded 2-0 victories to set up another epic showdown on the 22nd. Elsewhere, Valencia had a solid victory that would see them jump to third with an Atletico draw at Espanyol.
Let’s get to the games:
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Valencia | 2 | (17-6-4) |
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Deportivo La Coruña | 0 | (6-7-14) |
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Action kicked off with the always-entertaining Valencia this week who would face off with struggling Deportivo. The first half would start off as a technical battle with a lot of jostling going on in the midfield. The second half would be when we would see the stronger team rise to the top as Valencia would win a penalty kick and convert it for the first goal in the 61st minute thanks to Dani Parejo. The second goal would come off the boot of the young phenom Paco Alcacer for his 6th goal of the year. The win would see Valencia take hold of third place as Atletico would still have to play against Espanyol later on.
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Espanyol | 0 | (9-6-12) |
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Atlético Madrid | 0 | (17-5-5) |
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Atletico Madrid have run into a spell of poor form recently with only 1 win in their last 4 games. The poor play has come at one of the worst times as they are preparing to play the second leg of the Champions League this week. The match vs. Espanyol lacked creativity and direction from Atletico who looked uninspired at times. Atletico Madrid defender Miranda would make things worse with a red card in the 45th minute. In the end, this was an uneventful draw.
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Eibar | 0 | (7-6-14) |
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Barcelona | 2 | (21-2-4) |
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Eibar entered into this game knowing that their only hope at taking away some points would be if the Barcelona players had their mind already on next week’s game. This was not the case in this one as Barcelona would show the gulf in class between the two teams throughout the game. Lionel Messi was the man in form today with a goal in the first half thanks to a penalty. Messi would strike again in the 54th minute by scoring on a header. The bad news for Real Madrid is that you know Messi is in excellent form when he is scoring headed goals. Eibar would come close to opening the game up again in the 76th and the 88th as Piovaccari headed the post, but it would end up being not enough to trouble the Blaugrana.
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Rayo Vallecano | 3 | (10-2-15) |
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Granada | 1 | (4-10-13) |
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Rayo vs Granada would be a truly entertaining match as we would see Granada giving their all to muster up some points for their relegation battle. Granada would score first in the 8th minute with a goal from Cordoba. Unfortunately for Granada, Rayo would find a way to make things click later on with a brace from the in form Alberto Bueno and another goal coming from Embarba in the 90th.
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Celta Vigo | 1 | (8-8-11) |
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Athletic Bilbao | 2 | (10-6-11) |
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Fresh off a huge win over Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao would be full of confidence ahead of this match. They would show their confidence with a strong first half with goals from Aduriz and San Jose; who were the deadly duo that took down Real last week. Joaquin Larrivey would score a goal for Celta in the second half to make things interesting but ultimately Bilbao were sound enough on defense to take home the three points.
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Almería | 0 | (6-7-14) |
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Villarreal | 0 | (14-7-6) |
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The inconsistency of Villarreal continued in this draw against Almeria. There were some close chances to break the deadlock but in the end the point would prove valuable to Almeria as they are the only team in the relegation race to come away with any points this round of La Liga.
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Málaga | 2 | (13-5-9) |
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Córdoba | 0 | (3-9-15) |
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Cordoba have been having a really rough time as of late with only 3 wins on the entire season. However, Malaga felt no pity for them as they would easily win this one with a score of 2-0. The goals would come from Juanmi and Amrabat in the second half.
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Sevilla FC | 3 | (16-4-7) |
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Elche | 0 | (7-6-14) |
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Sevilla were looking good from the very start against the struggling Elche squad who were trying to take advantage of all the earlier results of the week and gain some points in the relegation race. Unfortunately, Sevilla were on a completely different level in this match and would prove it with the score line. The goals would come from Carlos Bacca who scored one from play and one as a penalty and the third clean up goal came from Kevin Gameiro.
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Real Madrid | 2 | (21-1-5) |
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Levante | 0 | (6-7-14) |
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Real Madrid would show some huge signs of life in this match against Levante. The team looked hungry and focused throughout the match and would be led by two goals from Gareth Bale. The first goal would come off of a Cristiano Ronaldo missed attempt and the second would come off of a deflection on Ronaldo’s shot. There was some controversy after the game that Cristiano was angry about Gareth Bale scoring the 2 goals while Ronaldo was goaless. The media is having a frenzy with any potential story leading up to the Clasico so be ready to hear all about it.
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Getafe | 0 | (8-5-14) |
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Real Sociedad | 1 | (8-9-10) |
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Only one goal and real talking point coming from this match was from Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez. The match itself was a pretty even affair but the loss was a pretty big blow for Getafe who could have gained some serious breathing room in the relegation battle.