Spanish League Round Up Week 17
There were draws for all but two of the top nine in La Liga this weekend, with Madrid the only winners and Seville the losers at Rayo. At the bottom, Zaragoza’s new boss Antonio Jimenez
failed to win on his debut, as Racing stretched their unbeaten run to four games.
Real Madrid whack five past Granada
Real Madrid saw off the challenge from Granada with a 5-1 win that included two goals from
Benzema and one each from Sergio Ramos, Higuain and Ronaldo. Mourinho’s team have now
chalked up 21 goals in the five League and Cup games since defeat to Barça and sit five points
clear at the top. Third place Valencia grabbed a late draw at near neighbours Villarreal, who
had gone two up under new boss Jose Molina with two goals within the first 20 minutes before
Feghouli pulled one back before the break and Aduriz then grabbed a dramatic equaliser on 87
minutes. The draw leaves Villarreal third from bottom on 16 points, whilst Valencia are four
points behind Barça.
No goals for fourth and fifth place teams
Levante and Osasuna both drew 0-0, with the Llevant manager Jose Ignacio admitting: “it
may not have been an attractive game for the fans, but it was an important result – Mallorca
made it really tough for us”, whilst after his team’s draw at Anoeta, Osasuna boss Mendilibar
claimed: “I’m happy with the point, but not with the way we played”. Atletico Madrid’s new
manager Simeone took a point from his team’s visit to Malaga in another goalless draw, but
the draw was enough for Pellegrini’s team to overtake Seville, who despite the appearance of
new signing Jose Antonio Reyes, went down 2-1 at Rayo, with Raul Tamudo striking the winner
for the home team. Seville are now in seventh, level on 24 points with Espanyol and a point
behind Malaga.
Racing stretch unbeaten run
Racing have now gone four games without defeat after they overcame Zaragoza 1-0 and the
points took them out of the bottom three with 17 points, while Zaragoza are still anchored at
the bottom on 10 and Villarreal are on 16, with Sporting a point behind them. Sporting’s 2-0
defeat at Betis means that the Seville team move back into the top half with their third league
win on the run ahead of next week’s trip to the Camp Nou.
The weekend’s other game was the third goalless draw, with Getafe and Athletic Bilbao both
failing to score at the Coliseum. Bilbao boss Marcelo Bielsa could only use his top striker
Fernado Llorente as a second half substitute and explained: “he’s been out for 40 days and
players really notice that kind of lay off and we just have to bring him in slowly and give him
the time that he needs”.