Barcelona fans got what they hoped for this weekend by gaining two points on league leaders Real Madrid. Barcelona was able to take advantage of their match-up with Granada while Real would only muster up a draw vs Villarreal. Elsewhere, Valencia would also take advantage of Atletico Madrid’s draw to close in to within 1 point from the 3rd place spot. Also, it was a very “Bueno” day for Rayo Vallecano’s Alberto Bueno who would score not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times at home vs Levante.
Let’s get to the games:
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Espanyol | 1 | (9-5-11) |
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Córdoba | 0 | (3-9-13) |
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We start off with Espanyol looking to bounce back from their defeat last Friday at the hands of Getafe. Luckily for the home side, the match was against bottom-of-the-table side Córdoba who have lost their last 5 games in La Liga. Córdoba did play well in this match, recording 55% possession and tallying more shots on goal than their opposition. However, the decisive blow came in the 43rd minute when Caicedo set up Abraham for the only goal of the match.
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Granada | 1 | (3-10-12) |
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Barcelona | 3 | (19-2-4) |
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Barcelona came into this game knowing they had to redeem themselves after last week’s loss to Malaga. The ‘Blaugrana’ had to like their chances vs Granada and may have underestimated them in this match as the game was closer than the scoreline suggested. Luis Suarez looked determined from the start to get his side the win after an amazing performance and 2 goals in Tuesday’s Champions League clash vs Manchester City. The Suarez magic started in the 24th when one of his attempts on goal was deflected by a Granada defender right into the path of Ivan Rakitic who scored his fourth goal of the campaign. Rakitic would return the favor for Luis Suarez by completing a 1-2 give and go with him which allowed Suarez to score the second goal of the game in the 48th minute. Granada hung in there and were able to score 5 minutes later on a penalty kick from Fran Rico which made the contest become closer than Barcelona had hoped for. Ultimately, Luis Suarez struck again as he found himself doing all the work to get one on one with Granada’s keeper Oier and unselfishly passing the ball to Lionel Messi for one of the easiest tap-in goals of his career. The game finished 3-1 and left Barcelona 1 point behind Real Madrid for the time-being.
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Rayo Vallecano | 4 | (9-2-14) |
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Levante | 2 | (5-7-13) |
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Rayo Vallecano hosting Levante would turn out to be a goal fest and a game that some strikers can only dream of for Rayo’s Alberto Bueno. The scoring started with Levante’s Victor Casadesus in the 13th and then with four goals from Bueno in the span of 15 minutes. His goals came in all kind of forms as his first was a header, second involved him dribbling the keeper, third came on a volley and fourth came off of a deflection from the keeper. Levante would go on to score a consolation goal in the 85th from Kalu Uche, but it clearly wasn’t enough for Mr. Bueno and Rayo.
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Almería | 0 | (6-6-13) |
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Deportivo La Coruña | 0 | (6-7-12) |
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The Almeria-Deportivo game was very important to both sides as the winner would be able to gain some breathing room from the relegation zone. Unfortunately, the game turned out to be a stinker with not too much action and no winner. In the end, both sides seemed content to earn a point after seeing the teams below them lose earlier on in the weekend.
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Málaga | 3 | (12-5-8) |
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Getafe | 2 | (7-5-13) |
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Malaga and their in-form striker Juanmi came into this game with plenty of confidence after their shocking win at the Camp Nou last week, and would look to continue their form vs Getafe. And as expected, Juanmi was the first to get on the score sheet with a goal in the 10th minute of play. The goal was a powerful header coming off the cross of Rosales. The excitement in the game would come to a halt for the remainder of the first half but then kick up again in the second with an equalizer from Alvaro Vazquez. Two minutes later would see Malaga back on top with a goal from Darder and then another goal from Horta in the 68th. Alvaro Vazquez would try to bring his team back into it with another goal late on; but it was not enough for the struggling Getafe side.
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Valencia | 2 | (16-5-4) |
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Real Sociedad | 0 | (6-9-10) |
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Valencia would look to continue their dream season against Real Sociedad in the first match of Sunday in La Liga. Valencia came into this game winners of their last 3 and Real Sociedad came into the game with some confidence after the 4-3 thriller vs Sevilla last week. David Moyes seemed to have his squad playing some excellent soccer throughout the first half but the second half would turn out to be a different story. Valencia forward Pablo Piatti would score a brace in the second half that would put this game to bed. In the end, a huge three points for Valencia who are looking to catch Atletico Madrid in 3rd place.
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Eibar | 0 | (7-6-12) |
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Athletic Bilbao | 1 | (8-6-11) |
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After a truly disappointing exit from the Europa League at the hands of Torino on Thursday, Athletic Bilbao would look to take out their frustrations on Eibar. The game was very evenly contested throughout the match and the breakthrough would come off the head of Carlos Gurpegi in the 36th minute to ultimately decide the match.
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Sevilla FC | 0 | (14-4-7) |
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Atlético Madrid | 0 | (17-3-5) |
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There was a bit of a letdown in what was deemed to be one of the most potentially exciting matches of the week between 5th place Sevilla and 3rd place Atletico Madrid. Atleti came into this game off of a win in La Liga last week but a troublesome 1-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. Sevilla put out their best starting 11 while Diego Simeone went with having Antoine Griezmann be the only striker in the lineup leaving Mario Mandzukic and Fernando Torres on the bench. The game play was of good quality with Sevilla looking the better side for long stretches of the match. In the end both teams would have to walk away with a point and a nil-nil draw.
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Real Madrid | 1 | (20-1-4) |
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Villarreal | 1 | (13-6-6) |
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You need to be pretty bold to not start your full team at the Santiago Bernabeu and expect to come away with any points nowadays, but that’s exactly what Marcelino did today against Real Madrid. The decision to rest some players like leading scorer Luciano Vietto, Victor Ruiz and Musacchio came due to a brutal recent schedule for Villarreal and an important Copa del Rey semifinal game vs Barcelona coming up on Wednesday. Dani Carvajal had a phenomenal game in this one continuing his good run of form by clearing a shot off the goal line that would have gave Villarreal the early lead. The goals came in the second half when CR7 was dragged down by Eric Bailly in the penalty box. Ronaldo went on to convert the penalty kick and perform his trademark goal celebration for the home crowd. Villarreal would go on to score in the 64th minute with Vietto’s replacement Gerard Moreno.
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Celta Vigo | 1 | (8-7-9) |
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Elche | 1 | (6-5-13) |
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After making light work out of Deportivo last week, Celta would look to do the same against Elche who were desperate for any points they could get being in the 17th spot looking to jump up to 15th with a win. If you recall, Celta won the first meeting between these two with a 90th minute goal from Nolito in a hotly contested match. The second meeting would be very similar as both teams seemed evenly matched throughout the first half. In the second half, speculated transfer market target Michael Krohn-Dehli would knock the ball into the back of the net off of a pass from Johnny Castro. Elche were desperate for a goal and would get their equalizer on a penalty kick conversion from Lomban in the 88th.