Real Madrid opened up a six point gap at the top of La Liga thanks to a 3-1 win over Sevilla at a bouncing Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night.
Los Blancos left it a little late, entering the last 12 minutes all square, but strikes from Lukas Vazquez and Federico Valverde broke down Los Sevillistas’ brave resistance. Midfield playmaker Luka Modric gave the league leaders an early lead but when Erik Lamela fired home a leveller early in the second half it set up a thrilling finale. The hosts rained down 18 shots on the Sevilla goal and six on target and finally, on 79 minutes, they regained their lead when Vinicius Junior launched a speedy attack and fed Vazquez who fired home.
Two minutes later Federico Valverde scored his sixth goal of the season with a sweet shot from outside the penalty area into the bottom corner and the points were in the bag. Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti challenged the Uruguayan to score more goals this season and the 24 year old attacking midfielder is certainly responding.
Real won El Clasico last week to take a grip on the top spot and now Barcelona must respond in a difficult Sunday night meeting at home to Athletic Bilbao. The early season La Liga 2022 betting odds were behind the Blaugrana but now Los Blancos have nudged ahead; and they will take some shifting.
Over to you Barcelona…
Sociedad stumble in Valladolid
Imanol Iguacil’s Real Sociedad missed a chance to strengthen their grip on third place when they went down to a frustrating 1-0 defeat away to Real Valladolid. La Real totally dominated the game with 75 per cent possession and 20 shots to nine, but they only registered two on target, the same as their hosts, and that was Sociedad’s undoing.
When Valladolid striker Sergio Leon latched onto a through ball and smashed his shot into the top corner on 16 minutes, the visitors had plenty of time to respond and they laid siege to the Valladolid goal, but without success. Brais Mendez saw his long range effort saved and Carlos Fernandez headed just over the bar. And the two combined again before Mendez fired inches wide; and then Fernandez had his own long range effort saved. But in a scrappy second half, Valladolid put in a backs-to-the-wall rearguard effort to stop Sociedad scoring as the visitors failed to hit one more shot on target.
Next up la Real continue their Europa League journey with a trip to Cyprus to face Omonoia, and Iguacil will be able to rest his key players as they are already through to the next phase of the competition, leading Group E with four wins from four.
Griezmann stars for buoyant Atleti
Here at SBOTOP we billed the match between Real Betis and Atletico Madrid as a fourth place shootout, but with Sociedad slipping up in Valladolid, Los Rojiblancos climbed up to third place on 23 points as the returned Antoine Griezmann scored a second half brace. After a goalless first half the France striker broke the deadlock early in the second with a stunning long range effort from an angle into the top left corner. And he made it 2-0 on 71 minutes, taking a pass from Matheus Cunha and slotting home clinically.
Betis made it interesting when Nabil Fekir fired home a brilliant free kick into the top left corner, but Joao Felix almost made it 3-1 in injury time as Diego Simeone’s men hung on for a vital and famous victory.
Three Red Cards in latest Cadiz disaster
There were plenty of La Liga 2022 highlights in the clash between Rayo Vallecano and Cadiz …but not the right kind for Cadiz head coach Sergio Gonzales as he saw his side ship five goals and land two red cards in a very bad day at the office.
Los Piratas had been on a decent run, with a win and four draws following a shocking start to the campaign when they lost their first five games without scoring a single goal and conceding 14. It seemed like Gonzales was finding the right formula but all the nightmares came flooding back on Saturday as a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Rayo left them in the relegation zone.
Towards the end of the first half Cadiz were in decent shape at 0-0 then it all fell apart. Iza fouled Rayo’s Alvaro Garcia in the penalty area; he saw red and Isi Palazon planted home the spot kick. And the visitors went two down before the break when Garcia scored in injury time. On the hour Ruben Alcaraz picked up a second yellow card, leaving Cadiz with nine men and Florian Lejeune fired home the resulting free kick.
Sergio Camello made it 4-0 with 11 minutes remaining and then Cadiz got their consolation when Rayo’s Ivan Balliu put through his own net. The hosts went down to ten men when Randy Nketa was red carded for violent conduct before Lejuene scored his second and Ray’s fifth. A day to forget for Cadiz!
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