Barcelona stayed top of the La Liga table on Saturday thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Real Mallorca. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring before Lamine Yamal and Marc Bernal added two more.
The two 18 year olds have a combined age a year less than the evergreen Lewi, and this was Bernal’s first goal for the Blaugrana as he becomes the latest teenage sensation to roll off the Catalan’s production line. Barca moved four points clear at the top of the Primera Division, though the gap may be trimmed down if Real Madrid can get a result away to Valencia on Sunday night.
Mallorca stay in a relegation battle but they did cause Barcelona a few problems early on as Jan Virgili gave centre back Jules Kounde a torrid time. But the visitors didn’t breach the Barca defence while, at the other end of the pitch the hosts were clinical. When Marcus Rashford’s effort was blocked and ricocheted into the path of Lewandowski, the prolific Pole was as lethal as ever.
The second half saw Hansi Flick’s men take control of the game and when Lamine Yamal fired in his tenth goal of the campaign, from all of 25 yards, the visitors were sunk and there was still time for Barcelona to grab a third. The hosts broke out of defence quickly and at the end of a lightning attack Bernal slotted home his goal in a moment he will never forget.
The SBOTOP La Liga 2026 betting odds say Barcelona remain on track to defend their title.
Antony stuns Atleti
After a patchy run of form Real Betis made it back to back wins on Sunday, following up a hard earned victory over Valencia with one of the results of the weekend, beating Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid as Brazil winger Antony scored a first half cracker, and Los Verdiblancos fought hard to grab a priceless three points. The win cements Betis in fifth place and puts a little pressure on fourth placed Villarreal, though the Yellow Submarine now has Atleti in their sights with three points to make up and two games in hand.
Cedric Bakambu tested Atleti keeper Jan Oblak with an early effort but it was the Betis stopper Alvaro Valles who was the busier, keeping out a shot from Julian Alvarez and a header from Jose Maria Gimenez. And Valles’ heroics were rewarded when Antony took a pass from Abde Ezzalzouli before rifling a shot from outside the penalty area low into the corner, giving Oblak no chance. It was a moment of quality from Antony, who signed this season from Manchester United after impressing on loan last term.
Simeone reacted at half time by bringing on Alexander Sorloth to replace Alvarez and, soon enough, the Norwegian centre forward rose high to meet a cross from Antoine Griezmann but Valles kept out his effort with strong hands. Moments later the two combined again and this time Valles kept out Sorloth from point blank range. Atleti thought they had levelled when Betis defender Diego Llorente put through his own net but VAR spotted an infringement and chalked off the equaliser.
So a bad day at the office for Los Rojiblancos has made the battle for Champions League places that bit more competitive.
The Sociedad march continues
After a poor first half of the campaign Real Sociedad have strung together an impressive set of La Liga 2026 results, including a recent win over Barcelona, and have climbed back into European contention. A 3-1 victory over Elche on Saturday made it four wins and two draws from the last six for Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men, and lifted La Real up to eighth place, two points behind Celta Vigo and three behind Espanyol in sixth.
Sociedad opened the scoring with a rapid break which saw Goncalo Guedes feed Luka Sucic and the 23 year old Croatian international made no mistake from 15 yards. And the hosts doubled their lead when talisman Mikel Oyarzabal scored from distance on the half hour, to make in nine for the season. Elche halved the deficit through the well travelled Andre Silva to make it 2-1 at the break and there were a few nervy moments for Sociedad until Orri Oskarsson confirmed the three points on 88 minutes.
Meanwhile Celta Vigo lost at home to Osausuna on Friday night and with the free-falling Espanyol visiting Villarreal on Monday night this could turn out to be a successful round for La Real. And it was a good weekend for Sociedad’s Basque rival Athletic Club, who climbed into the top half of the table thanks to a 4-2 win over Levante.
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