A shocking weekend it has been in La Liga BBVA as we saw two teams in the top five drop three points and one team falling behind first place as another one got closer according to William Hill Online Betting. Real Madrid seems to be getting back in form but aren’t quite the team they have been and Barcelona shocked the Camp Nou with a surprising result. Atletico Madrid and Valencia got closer to the tile run while Sevilla’s match gave an amazing 7 goal result. Let’s find out how this weekend ended up in La Liga.
Real Madrid vs Elche
Real Madrid seems to be slowly getting back in form and are showing the world that they are still the same team we all saw in the second half of the 2014 year. Sitting in first place with 60 points in the table, Real Madrid went out to beat Elche on Sunday night and win they did thanks to two goals by Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been struggling since his comeback from the two game ban.
Karim Benzema had a chance to get Real Madrid in the lead in the 40th minute in which the fans and everyone viewing at home saw him score a beautiful bicycle kick past goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń. But as Gareth Bale crossed it inside the box for Benzema to receive, the assistant referee called an offsides in which Benzema was an inch or so off the defensive line but the replay will have you debating whether Karim was offsides or not.
In the 51st minute, there was a controversial call in which Gareth Bale had possession of the ball and Aaron Niguez came across and took Bale out in a really hard tackle. The play looks at it should have been an arguable red card but the ref gave Niguez a yellow card instead.
Five minutes later, Real Madrid saw themselves in the scoreboard. Ronaldo tried to pull it back but instead put it through Cristian Herrera’s legs to see the ball bounce David Lomban. The ball then hit Tyton and Benzema recovered the rebound just outside the goal line to put it in the box and make it a 1-0 lead for his team.
In the 70th minute, Isco sneaked the cross just before the ball went outside the line and Cristiano Ronaldo kissed the ball with his head and got the second goal of the match. This also gave Ronaldo his first goal in five matches and goal 281 of his career.
Real Madrid was able to take the three points from this match in a 2-0 score and sit comfortable in first place, four points ahead of Real Madrid and 7 ahead of Atletico Madrid. Though the absence of James Rodriguez and Sergio Ramos were missed, Real Madrid still played in great form and hope to continue. The Man of the match goes out to Cristiano Ronaldo who put in a beautiful header to get his team up 2-0 and also providing Benzema with the assist. Elche will face Celta de Vigo next Monday while Real Madrid faces Villarreal on Sunday.
FC Barcelona vs Malaga
Barcelona was all that sport websites and television stations could talk about in the world of soccer for the past month. They were a team that looked unbeatable and were looking to break a record of consecutive wins as well but then Malaga happened and the 11 consecutive wins streak ended on Saturday morning as Barcelona lost to Malaga 1-0 thanks to an error by Dani Alves.
It took 8 minutes for Malaga to score thanks to right back defender Dani Alves on a stupid and horrific back pass he tried to give to goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who was yards away from him. Instead of clearing the ball, he allowed this mistake to happen. Goalkeeper Carlos Kameni kicked a long ball and Dani Alves received the rebound. Like mentioned before, instead of clearing the ball, Alves tried to pass it to Bravo but he tapped it and Juanmi got the rebound. Bravo thought about coming out and as he did he missed the ball and Juanmi got past him and scored the only goal of the match.
Dani Alves looked back in disbelief but there was nothing Barcelona could do as they struggled to get a goal in the net or get past Malaga and lost 1-0 at Camp Nou. Juanmi gets the man of the match for his remarkable ability to go against Bravo, Alves and get the ball behind the net. Barcelona played bad and if they play the way they did on sunday against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, they might give away the first match of two they will be playing.
Malaga faces Getafe on Saturday while Barcelona faces Manchester City on Tuesday and Granada CF on Saturday for la Liga. Barcelona sits in second place after the loss with 56 points and four points behind Real Madrid.
Atletico Madrid vs Almeria
Another great match in which we saw Atletico Madrid get much closer to first place thanks to a loss by Barcelona on Saturday afternoon. With a 3-0 win against Almeria, Atletico sits in third place, three points ahead of Valencia and three points behind Barcelona.
Antoine Griezmann continues in great form for the Madrid team while Mario Mandzukic was able to get a goal thanks to a penalty given to Atleti. In the 11th minute, Gabi crossed the ball inside the box and as Diego Godin jumped for the ball, Mauro dos Santos somehow fouled Godin inside the box and Atleti was given the penalty. Mario Mandzukic stepped up to take it and buried it without a problem to put Atletico up 1-0.
In the 19 minute, it was the Frenchman, Griezmann, who got Atletico Madrid up 2-0. Fran Velez made a bad pass in which instead of passing it to his teammate, he passed it to Mandzukic. Manduzkic then passed it to Griezmann who was all alone and was able to curl it past Julian Cuesta.
Ten minutes later it was Griezmann who put up Atletico 3-0 in the first half. Arda Turan crossed it inside the box. Mandzukic headed it to Griezmann, who brought the ball down with his chest made a 180 turn and got it past Cuesta to get his second goal of the game.
Atletico got the win thanks to the three goals in the first half. The man of the match goes out to Mario Mandzukic. Even though Antoine got two goals, it did not happen without the help of Mario who gave him both assists and Mandzukic was also able to find the net. Almeria faces Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday while Atletico Madrid faces Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night for the Champions League and Sevilla on Sunday for La Liga.
Valencia vs Cordoba
Valencia put up a great game against Cordoba in which they also took the three points and now sit five points ahead of Sevilla in La Liga table and in fourth place, three points behind Atletico Madrid. Thanks to Sevilla losing to Real Sociedad on Sunday, Valencia can keep pulling them selves further from Sevilla if they continue to win their matches and not drop any points.
In the 38 minute, Andre Gomes put Valencia up 1-0. Rodrigo de Paul was the assister in which he crossed the ball inside the box and Andre Gomes without letting the ball touch the ground, kissed the ball with the tip of his shoe and got it past the goal keeper to get his team in the lead.
In the 74th minute, Cordoba got even in the game thanks to a penalty given to the team. Nabil Ghilas stepped it up for his team and was able to secure the goal into the net from 12 yards and past goalkeeper Diego Alves to make it 1-1 with 16 minutes to go.
In the 81 minute, Pablo Piatti got the second goal for Valencia and was able to get the win for his team as well. Sofiane Feghouli crossed it inside the box and Alvaro Negredo head it to Piatti who was in the middle of the box and though Piatti his it bad with the inside of his shoe, the ball bounced just enough to go past Juan Carlos and for the game winning goal.
Valencia was able to go home feeling great about their performance and getting the three points they needed to get closer to the title run. Pablo Piatti gets the man of the match as he was able to get a rough second goal for Valencia and win the match for his team. Cordoba faces Espanyol on Friday while Valencia faces Real Sociedad on Sunday to continue on their run.
Other La Liga Fixtures:
Getafe 2-1 Espanyol
Deportivo La Coruña 0-2 Celta de Vigo
Real Sociedad 4-3 Sevilla
Athetlic Bilbao 1-0 Rayo Vallecano
Villarreal 1-0 Eibar
Levante 2-1 Granada CF
Featured Photo: Yahoo.com