La Liga Round 23 – Results and Overview

4811

Barcelona beat Real Betis in a five-goal thriller but the Catalan giants remain three points behind league leaders Real Madrid after Los Blancos thrashed Osasuna. Getafe cemented third place with a thumping victory over Valencia, while relegation strugglers Celta Vigo and Espanyol both won.

Here are all the results from the weekend’s La Liga action.

Results

Alaves 2-1 Eibar

Levante 2-0 Leganes

Getafe 3-0 Valencia

Valladolid 1-1 Villarreal

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Granada

Espanyol 1-0 Mallorca

Real Sociedad 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

Osasuna 1-4 Real Madrid

Celta Vigo 2-1 Sevilla

Real Betis 2-3 Barcelona

Friday Night Football

Alaves got the better of Eibar in the only game on Friday. Following an uneventful opening 45 minutes, the game came alive the second half. Lucas Perez and Oliver Burke gave Alaves a two-goal lead before Fabian Orellana scored a late consolation goal for Eibar.

Saturday’s Round-Up

Levante ended a run of four straight defeats as they beat Leganes at Ciutat de Valencia. Relegation strugglers Leganes put up a fight, but first-half goals from Ruben Rochina and Roger Marti gave Levante a much-needed win.

A Jorge Molina brace helped Getafe comprehensively beat fellow European hopefuls Valencia. Getafe completely dominated the game, while Valencia failed to register a single shot on target. Jaime Mata completed the scoring for the hosts late on after Alessandro Florenzi was sent off for the visitors.

In a game of very few chances, Valladolid and Villarreal shared the spoils. Ruben Alcarez put Valladolid ahead on 15 minutes, but Gerard Moreno scored early in the second half to secure a point for Villarreal. Valladolid slipped to fifteenth, while Villarreal are eighth.

Atletico Madrid secured a hard-fought victory over Granada thanks to an early goal from Angel Correa. That was Atletico’s first win in four league games, moving Diego Simeone’s men up to fourth. On the other hand, Granada have now lost three of their last four.

Super Sunday

Raul de Tomas earned Espanyol a vital victory over fellow relegation candidates Mallorca. Espanyol remain bottom, but three points moves them level with eighteenth-place Mallorca. Vicente Moreno’s side have slipped back into the bottom three after losing three on the bounce.

Real Sociedad beat Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao to move up to sixth in the table. Portu put Sociedad ahead on 65 minutes, but Inaki Williams levelled moments later. However, Alexander Isak’s eighth goal in six games saw Sociedad clinch the win. Iker Muniain was shown a red card late on for a nasty tackle on Mikel Oyarzabal.

Unai Garcia gave Osasuna a shock lead against Real Madrid, but Zinedine Zidane’s rallied to secure a big win. Isco and Sergio Ramos put Los Blacnos gave Los Blancos the lead before the break, before Lucas Vazquez and Luka Jovic completed the scoring late one. Real Madrid have lost just one of their 23 league games this term.

Celta Vigo came from behind to snatch a famous victory over Sevilla and move out of the relegation zone. Sevilla went ahead on 23 minutes when Youssef En-Nesyri netted, and the south coast side remained in front for the majority of the game. But two late goals from Iago Aspas and Pione Sisto handed Celta an important three points.

Lionel Messi registered a hat-trick of assists as Barcelona twice came from behind to beat Real Betis Sergio Canales’ penalty saw Betis take the lead, but Frenkie de Jong levelled after 9 minutes. Nabil Fekir put Betis back ahead before goals from Sergio Busquets and Clement Lenglet turned the game around. Fekir and Lenglet were both sent off late on.