La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 3: Real Madrid overcome tough test in San Sebastián

He’s not a new contributor I hear you cry! An oldie but a goodie, our very own Luke Colbourne is back with all the latest over in Spain:

As the sun came down over a beautiful San Sebastián on Saturday, the lights came on at the Anoeta stadium for Real Sociedad against Real Madrid. La Real lined up against the stars of Madrid with nine Spaniards, several of which came through the youth ranks at the club. Coach Martín Lasarte has assembled a group of players that is both talented and hard-working, and that much was shown this weekend.

In an exciting and open game, it was Lasarte’s men who made the brightest start. They were the better team throughout the first half and should’ve been at least two goals infront, but Antione Griezmann spurned both of his chances. Mourinho commented that Madrid “lacked intensity” and were unable to match the same pace and intensity shown by Real Sociedad.

Nevertheless, the second half began much more positively for him, as his personal summer signing Ángel di María put Madrid ahead in fine fashion. The Argentine went on a solo run down the left, cut inside onto his right foot, before curling the ball over and around Claudio Bravo in goal. It was a stunning goal, but the joy was short-lived as just ten minutes later they were back at 1-1. Griezmann, who had a good game, swung in a delicious free-kick for Raúl Tamudo to bundle home. There were calls for offside, but it was a goal they fully deserved on the night.

The winner came from a familiar source, Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, it was almost Ronaldo’s, as his free-kick took a huge deflection off Pepe. Not the crafty co-operation Marca would have you believe, though. Ronaldo barely broke out a smile; his celebration was somewhat subdued and he appears to be a frustrated figure at the moment. No goals in 41 shots in La Liga so far probably explains why.

It was an undeserved win in the end. Speaking after the game Mourinho said “For me, the fairest would have been a draw.” He also moaned that it was unfair his team had to play on Saturday after playing in the Champions League on Wednesday. “Why has Hércules-Valencia not been played today?” he questioned. Anyway, we all know that not playing great but picking up wins is a sign of true champions right?

Championship rivals Barcelona also managed to pick up maximum points away at Atlético Madrid. They were ahead early on through Leo Messi, who managed to get on the end of an incisive through ball by Pedro and slot the ball past David de Gea. Not long after, Raúl García equalised after heading home from a Simão corner.

Barça should’ve scored on a number of occasions but for one man – David de Gea. The 19-year-old was phenomenal in the Atléti goal and by far the man of the match. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop Gerard Piqué’s close-range strike in the 32nd minute, which eventually turned out to be the winning goal. The big piece of news coming out of this game was the injury to Leo Messi, who ended the match on a stretcher after a tackle by Tomas Ujfalusi.

‘Spine chilling’ read the front page of Marca, accompanied by some nasty images of Messi’s swollen ankle. His teammate Gerard Piqué also had something to say about the challenge. He was “hunted”, Piqué exclaimed. “Anything goes to stop the big players.” Incredibly, doctors say that Messi will be out for around 15 days, missing only two Barça games.

Valencia went top of the table with their third win out of three, beating a spirited Hércules 2-1 away from home. Juan Mata, who is excelling in David Silva’s old role off the striker, put them ahead after 2 minutes. Their lead was doubled shortly after through Pablo Hernández, who fired into the top corner after a brilliant counter-attacking move.

David Trezeguet marked his first goal for Hércules, but they didn’t have enough in them to come back. Added to that, César was in top form in the Valencia goal. The bad news for them is that last week’s hero Nelson Valdez went off with an injury.

It was derby day down in Andalucía as Málaga took on Sevilla at La Romareda. It was a fantastic atmosphere, made even better when Venezuelan Salomón Rondón put Málaga infront. But Sevilla hit back almost immediately through Alejandro Alfaro, who was playing in place of Jesús Navas down the right. Diego Perotti set up the goal, who was probably Sevilla’s most threatening player all night, constantly running at defenders. It’s an interesting battle for that left wing spot between him and Diego Capel.

On the stroke of half time, Martín Cáceres made it 2-1 to Sevilla. The ex-Barça man rose highest to meet a free-kick whipped in from the right. The goal seemed to knock the spirit out of Málaga and they were unable to recover.

Mallorca and Espanyol picked up home wins without conceding, after both losing away from home last weekend. And once again Levante lost, for the third game in a row, this time to Villarreal. Brazilian striker Nilmar continued his excellent form by scoring twice. On-loan Felipe Caicedo did pull one back, but it was far too late. Luis García, Levante’s coach said “The defeat hurts me most because today we were better.” But not quite good enough.

Results

Mallorca 2-0 Osasuna, Espanyol 1-0 Almería, Sporting 2-2 Athletic, Real Sociedad 1-2 Real Madrid, Levante 1-2 Villarreal, Racing 2-0 Zaragoza, Hércules 1-2 Valencia, Atlético 1-2 Barcelona, Málaga 1-2 Sevilla.

Goal of the Week

Ángel di María (Real Sociedad 1-2 Real Madrid)

Atletico Madrid, David de Gea, FC Barcelona, Hercules, Lionel Messi, Malaga, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Spanish Primera Division, Valencia