Some big surprises in the midweek round of games, in particular defeats for joint leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid on Wednesday evening. Barcelona were beaten 2-1 by bottom club Leganés, who had only picked up one point all season before that. Coutinho gave the visitors an early lead, but two goals in as many minutes by El Zhar and Oscar after the restart turned the scoreline around. Real Madrid failed to take advantage though after they lost 3-0 at Sevilla later in the evening, André Silva scoring two early on and Ben Yedder adding a third before the interval to take the Andalusians up to fifth. Atlético Madrid are now two points behind the joint leaders in third place after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Huesca on Tuesday, Griezmann, Thomas and Koke getting the goals in the first half, and Alavés are down to fourth after they drew 1-1 with Getafe, Calleri saving a point with an injury time strike after Amath had put the visitors ahead.
Espanyol are sixth after a 1-0 win over Eibar, Mario Hermoso heading the only goal midway through the second half, and Celta are seventh after drawing 1-1 at Valencia, a late goal by Iago Aspas cancelling out Batshuayai’s opener. Betis are up into the top half of the table after a 0-1 victory at Girona, Loren the scorer there after the break, and Villarreal are a point below them after beating Athletic Bilbao 0-3, Pablo Fornals opening the scoring with a shot from the halfway line after the restart, and Funes Mori and Ekambi adding two more in the last ten minutes. Huesca are now in bottom spot, level on four points with Leganés, Rayo Vallecano, who drew 2-2 at Real Sociedad, and Levante, who lost 2-1 at Valladolid. An Advíncula strike and a Trejo penalty for Rayo overturned Bautista’s early goal before the interval, but Willian José saved the draw for the Basque side after the restart. And goals by Duje Cop and Nacho gave Valladolid their first win after Postigo had given the visitors the lead just two minutes in to the second half. (27.09.18)