News Archive

First division – day 19

Real Sociedad are up to eighth in the table after a 3-2 win over Espanyol in the Monday night game. A strike from Mikel Merino and a penalty from Willian José in the first ten minutes appeared to have put the Basque side on track for a victory, but the visitors came back with a Naldo header and a Diego Llorente own goal before the break. Willian José restored the lead however after the restart, and the locals held on despite having Merino sent off with a quarter of an hour to go. (14.01.19)

Barcelona stay five points clear at the top of the table after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Eibar on Sunday. Luis Suárez opened the scoring after Coutinho set him up with twenty minutes gone, and after the interval Messi added a second (his 400 th in the league) before Luis Suárez completed the scoring on the hour mark. Second placed Atlético Madrid keep in touch with the leaders after they won 1-0 against Levante in the mid-day kick-off, Griezmann getting the only goal from the penalty spot after Vukcevic was adjudged to have handled in the area some ten minutes in to the second half. Sevilla drop five points below Simeone’s team however after they lost 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao, Iñaki Williams scoring both goals with runs from midfield in the first and second halves to take the Basque side clear of the drop zone. Later in the evening Real Madrid beat Betis 1-2 to move back up to fourth, ex Betis midfielder Dani Ceballos firing home a direct free kick with two minutes to go to give his team the three points after a strike from Canales had cancelled out Modric’s early opener. (13.01.19)

Alavés stay in fourth spot after they drew 1-1 at Girona on Saturday evening. Stuani put the locals ahead early on with an acrobatic overhead kick, but Borja Bastón made it all square soon after the restart. Abelardo’s side are now just four points above Getafe, who ended the day in sixth place after a 1-2 win at Villarreal. A Cabrera own goal cancelled out Jorge Molina’s second half strike, but Angel got the winner with two minutes to go, and Ekambi wasted a chance to save a point when he fired an injury time penalty over the bar. Villarreal are now next to bottom, six points above Huesca, who lost 1-0 at Leganés in the early kick-off, En-Nesyri got the only goal for the locals after Jonathan Silva set him up midway through the second half to take the Madrid based side three points clear of the relegation spots. Only three points separate nine teams though in mid-table, Valencia now in tenth spot despite a 1-1 draw against Valladolid (the eleventh time that Marcelino’s side have shared the points this season). The Ches dominated throughout but wasted many chances, including a penalty which Masip saved from Rodrigo. And although Dani Parejo gave them the lead with twenty minutes to go, Raúl Alcaraz saved a point for the visitors with a direct free kick, virtually their first shot on target the whole afternoon. (12.01.19)

Rayo Vallecano clocked up their third victory in a row after beating Celta 4-2 on Friday night, and they are on the brink of escaping the drop zone pending the rest of the weekend games. Raúl De Tomás opened the scoring for the locals early on, and although a strike from Araujo and a Maxi Gómez penalty turned the scoreline around soon afterwards, “RDT” completed his hat-trick after the break before Bebé rounded things off in injury time. (11.01.19)