Last season’s fourth-placed finishers Valencia have endured a difficult start to their league campaign and were booed by the Mestalla faithful during their last few games at home. They registered their second league win of the season as a goal from Shkodran Mustafi proved to be enough to give them all three points against Granada.
On Saturday, Barcelona registered a 2-1 win over newly-promoted Las Palmas courtesy of a brace from Uruguay international Luis Suarez. The Catalans headed into the Camp Nou affair on the back of a 4-1 trouncing at the hands of Celta Vigo away at Balaidos in the midweek that saw them cede their lead at the top of the league standings and were in need of a win over the visitors at home. They got the win, but it came at the cost of an injury to Lionel Messi. The stalwart has been ruled out for two months after suffering a discomfort in his knee and his loss is expected to be keenly felt by the Catalans as they are already reeling under a FIFA-imposed two-transfer window ban on registering new players.
In a surprise result, Real Madrid were held to a scoreless draw at home by Malaga. The Andalusian side’s goal was peppered with numerous shots by the hosts, but they found no way past an inspired Carlos Kameni, who managed to keep a clean sheet and earn his team a precious away point at the imposing Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos fired an incredible 31 shots at Malaga goal, but only nine were on target.
Reigning Europa League champions Sevilla finally managed to register their first win of the season as they overcame Rayo Vallecano 3-2 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Yevhen Konoplyanka’s sizzling free-kick towards the end secured the three points for the hosts.
In the biggest upset of the week, tiny Villarreal defeated 2014 Spanish champions Atletico Madrid at the Madrigal 1-0 and climbed to the top of the table for the first time in their 92-year history. Leo Baptistao, currently on loan at Villarreal from Los Rojiblancos, scored the only goal of the match.
Fresh from the demolition job they did on Barcelona in the midweek, Celta Vigo were held to a 1-1 draw by Basque outfit Eibar and slipped to fourth in the table as a result.
Newly-promoted Real Betis inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Sporting Gijon. Joaquin and Ruben Castro on the scoresheet for Real Betis, while Carlos Castro grabbed the only goal for Gijon.
Deportivo La Coruna ran away 3-0 winners against Espanyol and climbed to sixth in the standings. Alvaro scored an own goal, while Lucas grabbed a double for the Galicians to give them their third win from the last four games.
A brace from Alvaro Vasquez and a solitary strike from Emiliano Buendia were enough for Getafe to inflict a crushing 3-0 defeat on Levante, while one of the most eagerly awaited clashes of the week – the Basque derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao – turned out to be a damp squib as it finished 0-0.