Spanish La Liga: First Action Week Report
The Spanish La Liga kicked off this weekend; there were no big matches, as such, but there surely were a few big results, which could prove to be worthwhile in deciding the future of this season.
On the first day, newly promoted Hercules played against a strong Athletic Bilbao side. There were no upsets in this match, as Bilbao won by 1-0 with Fernando Llorente scoring the lone goal. The other two matches of the opening day produced big results for both Valencia and Sevilla. First, Sevilla played against Levente in an away match which they won by 4-1. Abdoulay Konko found himself in the score-sheet twice, while Negredo and Renato scored the other two goals.
This was a great win for Sevilla, especially after their season’s poor start as they have been beaten by Barcelona in Super Cup, while they were also surprisingly eliminated from the Champions League. However, it was not any easy match, as Sevilla was playing away from home. Nevertheless, this seems to be a good way to return to good form in La Liga.
Valencia went to Malaga for their first match which they also won comfortably by 3-1. This was again a big win, as Malaga hasn’t been an easy team to handle on their home ground. Despite their weaknesses, Valencia seemed to be in control of the match, as Joaquin scored twice, while Artiz Aduriz scored once to give their team a winning start in the season.
On the second day, the defending champions Barcelona were up against Racing Santander. It was also an away match for the champs and they didn’t find any hurdle while overcoming their opponents. Barcelona won by 3-0, with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and David Villa scoring for their side. This turned out to be a great debut for Villa in La Liga.
With all these results, pressure had mounted on Real Madrid for their match against Mallorca. However, unlike other big teams, they failed to produce any results as the match ended with a 0-0 draw. This was a big embarrassment for Jose Mourinho, who had the liberty of choosing from almost his entire squad, with the exception of Kaka. To make things worse for Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo injured himself during the match: he would miss the action for at least next three weeks.
Villarreal also lost on their trip to Real Sociedad by a score-line of 1-0. They didn’t look to be a great side, which means that they still have a lot of hard work to do before they could look threatening. Espanyol won their match against Getafe by 3-1, which is a great result for them. Deportivo La Coruna was up against Real Zaragoza, while Osasuna played against Almeria, but both these fixtures ended with goal-less draws.
On Monday, there was only one fixture to play between Athletico Madrid and Sporting Gijon. The match ended with a convincing 4-0 victory for Athletico Madrid, without any real troubles. Jose Juardo scored the first goal, which was followed by two more goals from Diego Forlan. In the end, Simao wrapped things up for the home side by a goal in the last moments of the match.
The weekend went very good overall, but Real Madrid emerged as the biggest losers of the first round. All their spending was in vain, as the big players couldn’t break the deadlock. An early lead of 2 points has been given to Barcelona, which could prove fatal for Madrid in the end. The best result was posted by Madrid’s neighbors, Athletico Madrid.
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