News Archive

Match round-up - First Division, Day 5

Deportivo are up to seventh in the table after a 1-2 victory at Betis on Thursday evening. Fede Cartabia had the best chance in the first half when he fired a long shot against the outside of the post, and the on-loan Valencia midfielder opened the scoring with another shot in off the crossbar some ten minutes after the break. Petros levelled it four minutes later after picking up a pass from Dani Ceballos, and Lux did well to keep out a Rubén Castro header soon afterwards. However Fayçal Fajr restored the lead with a first time effort after Celso Borges headed a long Luisinho cross back into his path with twenty minutes to go, and Petros, Van Wolfswinkel and Vargas all failed to find the target as the Andalusians pushed for the equalizer in the final minutes. (24.09.15)

Real Madrid, Celta and Villarreal head up the table after Wednesday’s games, with previous leaders Barcelona dropping to fifth. Real Madrid won 1-2 at Athletic Bilbao to take top spot on goal difference, Benzema going close a couple of times before intercepting a bad back pass from San José to open the scoring in the twentieth minute. Iraizoz had to keep out Ronaldo, Kovacic and Benzema after that, but Sabin and Aduriz tested his opposite number Keylor Navas either side of half time, and midway through the second half Sabin headed the equalizer from Susaeta’s cross, the first goal that the Costa Rican keeper had let in all season. Just three minutes later however Benzema got on the end of Isco’s cross to score his second of the night, and Navas made a couple more stops from Aduríz later on to tie up the three points.

Earlier in the evening Celta thrashed Barcelona 4-1, a result which took the Galicians a point above their opponents and level with the leaders. Messi and Neymar brought early saves out of Sergio Alvarez, but midway through the first half Nolito picked up a long cross from Hugo Mallo to lift an angled shot over Ter Stegen to open the scoring, and three minutes later Iago Aspas ran on to make it two after Piqué gave the ball away to Nolito inside the centre circle. Messi hit the post after the restart and then brought another good save out of Alvarez, and from the resulting corner Nolito cleared the ball upfield for Aspas to sprint past Dani Alves and beat Ter Stegen for a third time. With ten minutes to go Neymar finally got one back with a shot on the turn after Messi set him up, but two minutes later substitute Guidetti restored the two goal cushion after controlling a pass from Mallo.

Villarreal also move on to thirteen points after they won 0-1 at Málaga, another good result after their win against Athletic at the weekend. Once again Kameni was the saviour for the Andalusians, the Camerooni keeper stopping shots from Nahuel and Leo Baptistao before the break. Xavi Gracia’s side have yet to score a single goal this season (at least in the opposing net), and Ricardo Horta missed their best chance when he shot wide midway through the first half. However with twenty minutes to go Tissone headed a wide Denis Suárez free kick into his own goal, and Areola kept out Rosales in the dying minutes to leave the locals down in next to bottom spot in the table.

Sevilla stay at the bottom of the pack for the second game in a row though after they were beaten 2-0 by Las Palmas, a first win of the season for the Canary Islanders. Immobile and Coke wasted chances in the opening minutes, and with half an hour on the clock Roque picked up an Araujo pass and turned past his marker to score. Krohn-Dehli and Krychowiak both had efforts blocked after the restart, but Alcaraz put their game beyond their reach when he headed in an Araujo centre with a quarter of an hour to go, and Javi Varas rubbed salt in the wound with a point blank save from Coke near the end.

Granada also find themselves in the bottom three with their Andalusian colleagues after Levante picked up a point in a last gasp 2-2 draw against Eibar. The Basque side had the better start, Rubén having to save from Keko before Borja Bastón headed them into the lead after Dos Santos headed back a long cross. Verza volleyed a shot against the upright in reply, but some three minutes into the second half Borja got his second of the evening, sliding a shot past the local keeper after a good run by Inui Takashi. Four minutes later however Morales battled through from the right to poke one back, and in the third and final minute of injury time Deyverson got on the end of a Morales cross to head the equalizer.

Meanwhile Rayo Vallecano clocked up their second win in a row, Paco Jémez’s side beating Sporting Gijón 2-1 to move up into the top half of the table. Both sides had chances early on, but Trashorras put the locals ahead from the penalty spot after Bernardo picked up a second booking for handling in the area just before half time. Javi Guerra went close with an overhead kick, and Alberto did well to push a dangerous Rat free kick round the post, and three minutes after the restart Guerra made it two after the visiting keeper could only parry a Jozabed header. Jony got one back for the Asturians a couple of minutes later after winning the ball off Amaya and running on to beat Toño, but the ten men ran out of steam after that, and Lass, Baena and Manucho all missed chances to increase the lead later on. (23.09.15)

A round of mid-week league games this week, Atlético Madrid kicking things off on Tuesday evening with a 2-0 victory over neighbours Getafe. Griezmann started things off in the fourth minute after Guaita punched clear a corner, Gabi playing the ball back in for the French striker to beat the keeper with a shot on the turn. After that though only a long shot from Carrasco caused any problems for the visitors, and they came close to equalizing a couple of times, Scepovic bringing two saves out of Oblak before the break, and Pedro León shooting wide when free on goal after the restart. However with full time approaching Griezmann got on the end of a cross by substitute Jackson Martínez to score his second of the evening, taking his side to the top of the table pending Wednesday’s matches.

Espanyol are up to sixth after they beat Valencia 1-0, a second win in four days for the Catalans. Pau López had to be at his best early on to keep out Bakkali and Rodrigo, but with just under twenty minutes gone Víctor Alvarez headed what was to prove the only goal after Santi Mina could only head a wide Marco Asensio free kick back towards his own far post. Jaume Domenech did well to save from an Alvaro header and an effort from Asensio before the break, and a couple of shots from Hernán Pérez and Asensio after the restart, and Pau López responded with a good stop from Rodrigo’s header to hand the Ches their first league defeat this season.

Later in the evening Real Sociedad moved away from the danger zone with a 0-3 win at Granada, Agirretxe the scorer of all three goals for David Moyes’ team. The Basque striker got on the end of a Zurutuza cross to turn a shot past Andrés Fernández in the seventh minute, and with just over half an hour gone he intercepted a poor Doria back-pass to run on past the keeper and make it two. With Rulli suspended, Real had to fork out €100,000 under a loan agreement to allow Oier to play, but he had little to do other than keep out a shot from El-Arabi before the interval. Andrés had to make saves from Canales and Agirretxe after the break, and with ten minutes to go Agirretxe completed his hat-trick, holding off Krhin to lift a shot past the visiting keeper. (22.09.15)