With LaLiga back in full swing, the title race is hotting up and as you’d expect, that dominates our review of the weekend action.
By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert
Villarreal beat Madrid on a historic day for Los Blancos
Three Frenchman, two Brazilians, two Germans, a Croat, a Belgian, an Austrian and a Uruguayan lined up for Real Madrid at Villarreal in LaLiga on Saturday. It was the first time in the club’s almost 121 years of history that there had been a starting XI in an official match featuring no Spanish players. And if that was not exactly good publicity for Los Blancos, worse was to follow: they lost – and deservedly too.
Villarreal and Madrid had drawn their previous five meetings at the Estadio de la Ceramica in LaLiga, so the champions already knew it would be tough. And there was an early scare for Los Blancos as Francis Coquelin flicked an audacious back-heeled effort against the post after five minutes. Quique Setién’s side then took the lead just over a minute into the second half as Ferland Mendy carelessly gave the ball away in his own half, Dani Parejo found Gerard Moreno and the striker squared for Yéremy Pino to fire home. Mendy almost got back to make amends, but could not block the ball on the line as it hit him on its way in.
Two absurd penalty decisions at either end followed after that. Madrid levelled from the spot through Karim Benzema after the ball had brushed Juan Foyth’s arm in the box, only for Moreno to quickly cancel out the Frenchman’s effort as David Alaba was penalised when the ball hit him on the ground. At least they had one each.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois went forward as the visitors sought a late leveller deep into added time, but Villarreal came away with the ball and Moreno missed an empty net from way out. On the sidelines, Setién held his head but it was all over and his side earned a win which should keep him in the job for a while after recent pressure.
“We played an extraordinary match against an extraordinary opponent,” Setién said. And he also praised Pepe Reina after the 40-year-old goalkeeper started following Geronimo Rulli’s move to Ajax on Friday. “Pepe is doing phenomenally well,” he said. “It’s the perfect combination: a veteran like him and a youngster who has just arrived but has already played for the first team [Denmark under-21 keeper Filip Jorgensen].”
Villarreal are up to sixth, level on points with fifth-placed Atletico, but Madrid missed a chance to move above Barcelona at the top of the table. “We made mistakes,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “We have to read situations better.” And on the penalties, he added: “I wouldn’t have given either of them.”
Incidentally, Madrid did finish with two Spanish players on the pitch after Luis Vázquez and Marco Asensio came on as substitutes. But it made little difference in the end on a day of unwanted headlines for Los Blancos.
Advantage Barcelona after top level clash
Unlike Madrid, Barcelona came out on top in a tough away match of their own at the weekend. Xavi’s side beat Atlético Madrid 1-0 at the Metropolitano on Sunday thanks to Ousmane Dembélé’s 22nd-minute goal, which was created by a moment of magic from Pedri as the midfielder waltzed past a number of opponents before finding Gavi, who in turn squared for the French winger to fire home. Atleti’s players appealed for a foul by Gavi, but there was not enough in it to deny the goal.
Neither team were at their best after that in a game of few clear-cut chances, but Atlético probably had enough to deserve a draw as José Giménez headed inches wide, Antoine Griezmann forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a fine save and the French forward was denied in added time by a vital block from Ronald Araújo on his goal line.
Dembélé hit the side netting in the second half and Barça also saw a Ferran Torres effort ruled out for offside. The former Valencia winger was later sent off in added time along with Atlético’s Stefan Savić for a contest which would not have looked out of place in the wrestling ring.
But Barça wrestled away the three points and move three clear of Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga. “Today, without playing well, we took the three points,” Xavi said. “We suffered. This win is a big boost to our morale. We have struck a blow and shown that we are candidates for the league title.”
They should be. With 13 wins from 16 and 41 points out of a possible 48, this has been an impressive season so far for Barça in LaLiga. And this win came without Robert Lewandowski, missing through suspension.
For Atlético, though, it was another opportunity missed as the Rojiblancos were unable to convert any of their 20 shots on the night. Diego Simeone’s side drop back out of the top four and the Argentine said: “The reality is that we lost, even though it’s true we did enough to merit a different result. I think we did more good things than bad things. But we were missing the most important thing of all: the three points.”
Atlético are a point behind fourth-placed Real Betis, who won 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano. Real Sociedad are four points above the Andalusians in third after a 2-0 victory at Almería, which featured a goal from David Silva on the occasion of his 37th birthday.
And at the other end of the table, Sevilla secured a 2-1 win at home to Getafe on Sunday to finally move out of the bottom three, although Jorge Sampaoli’s side are ahead of 18th-placed Cadíz – surprise 1-0 winners at Valencia on Friday – on goal difference alone. Meanwhile, bottom club Elche are still without a win after 16 games. They lost 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo (Iago Aspas was the match-winner, naturally) on Friday.
(Images from IMAGO)
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