News Archive

First division – day 20

Barcelona stay in top spot, ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference, after a 1-0 victory over Granada on Sunday evening. Quique Setien was in charge of the Catalans for the first time after Ernesto Valverde was fired following the defeat in the semi-finals of the Super Cup, but despite dominating for most of the match, the scores remained level until Vidal set up Messi for the winner with a quarter of an hour to go. The top two have opened up an eight point gap over the rest, and the teams further below them also lost ground, sixth placed Real Sociedad falling to a 3-0 defeat at Betis, with Borja Iglesias, Joaquín and Canales the scorers there, and Valencia losing 4-1 at struggling Mallorca in the early kick-off, Budimir netting twice and Raillo and Dani Rodríguez also on the scoresheet for the islanders before Ferran got one back late on. Athletic Bilbao stay a point behind them both after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Celta, with Rafinha’s opener cancelled out by a Raúl García penalty, and Villarreal are now two points behind Athletic after they lost 1-2 to Espanyol, David López and new signing Raúl De Tomás scoring for the visitors before Cazorla converted a penalty for the hosts. All of that meant that Mallorca move out of the drop zone to the detriment of Celta, while Espanyol catch up with Leganés in bottom spot, both now four points away from safety. (19.01.20)

Real Madrid moved three points clear of Barcelona pending their game on Sunday after a 2-1 victory over fourth placed Sevilla on Saturday afternoon. Casemiro got both goals for Zidane’s side after the break, the first from a Jovic assist and the second from a Lucas Vázquez cross, with De Jong temporarily levelling the scores in between. Atlético Madrid drop further below the leaders though after they lost 2-0 at Eibar later in the evening. Esteban Burgos opened the scoring for the locals after Sergi Enrich headed on a corner, and Edu Expósito fired home the second right at the end to give the Basque side their first ever victory against Atleti in the Ipurúa stadium. Further down the table, Alavés beat Levante 0-1 to move further away from the danger zone, Aleix Vidal getting the only goal midway through the second half, and Osasuna and Valladolid drew 0-0, a tenth draw of the season for both sides to keep them well clear of the relegation spots. (18.01.20)

Getafe are up to fifth pending the rest of the weekend programme after a 0-3 victory against South Madrid neighbours Leganés on Friday evening. Headed goals by Cabrera and Nyom put the visitors two up with only twenty minutes gone, and Molina set up Mata for the third soon afterwards, putting an end to their hosts’ four match unbeaten run. (17.01.20)