Real Madrid held once again
Las Palmas continued their excellent start to the season by holding European champions Real Madrid 2-2 in a topsy-turvy encounter at Estadio Gran Canaria.
The visitors took the lead just past the half-hour mark. Nacho raced down the left wing and hit a shot which was parried by Javi Varas. The ball then fell to Marco Asensio who had the easy task of heading the ball into the net.
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Seven minutes before the interval Momo crossed beyond Raphael Varane. The ball fell to Tana who was allowed to take control of the ball inside the penalty area before striking an effort into the bottom corner to equalise.
Cristiano Ronaldo thought he had scored 11 minutes after the restart but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Shortly before the mid point of the second half Morato made a burst before feeding Ronaldo whose shot Varas did well to save but the ball fell to Karim Benzema who smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Los Blancos were the dominant force, so much so that Zinedine Zidane felt he could substitute Ronaldo. Their complacency was punished five minutes from the end of normal time however when Aythami Artiles’ excellent knock-down was met by Sergio Araujo. His shot came back from Kiko Casilla but the striker was quickest to the rebound and he forced the ball into the net, meaning Real Madrid drew their second La Liga game in a row though they remain top of the table while Las Palmas move up to fifth.
Barca slaughter Sporting Gijon
Barcelona made light of the absence of talisman Lionel Messi as they hammered Sporting Gijon 5-0 at El Molinón.
Messi is set to be ruled out for three weeks with a groin injury sustained in Wednesday’s draw with Atletico Madrid. The Argentinian star was one of five absentees from Barcelona’s usual staring 11.
Luis Enrique’s men took the lead on the half hour when Arda Turan’s ball over the top saw Ivan Cuellar advance from his goal but he couldn’t get to the ball in time, Luis Suarez poked the ball beyond the helpless ‘keeper before proceeding to stroke it into the gaping goal.
Within two minutes the visitors doubled their lead. Neymar passed to Sergi Roberto who had found space up the right wing. He crossed to the near post for Rafinha to conviningly head home.
While Sporting had occasionally looked threatening, any hope of a comeback was over 17 minutes from time when Lora was sent off for a second booking following a late challenge on the superb Roberto.
Nine minutes from time Paco Alcacer smashed an effort from Roberto’s cross onto the crossbar. Neymar proceeded to collect the ball, before rounding the ‘keeper and tap the ball into the empty net.
Turan made it 4-0 with another simple finish five minutes from time after the home defence was once again found wanting.
Denis Suarez then did very well to slip Neymar in on the left edge of the area before the Brazilian netted his brace with a shot across Cuellar into the far corner of the net in the 89th minute. Neymar was prevented bagging a hat-trick in injury time when another effort hit the woodwork.
Eibar too good for Real Sociedad
The visitors were up against from the 24th minute when they had right back Aritz Elustondo contentiously shown a straight red card for handling the ball inside his own box and thus denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The resulting penalty was hacked high and wide and almost cleared the stand as Pedro Leon accidentally clipped the dead ball with his left foot before smashing it several yards over the crossbar with his right boot.
Former Manchester United man Bebe smashed home a stunning half-volley to put Eibar secure a 2-0 lead in the Basque derby. The Portuguese striker spectacularly scored the second goal midway through the second half with a screamer from some 25 yards out at Ipurua Municipal Stadium after Asier Illarramendi scored an own goal by diverting an effort played across the box into his own net to give the home side the lead just before the hour mark.
In between each goal Sergi Enrich hit the post for the home side when he worked his way into the box before striking an effort from 15 yards out at an angle which beat the ‘keeper but not the far post.
Over the 90 minutes, Eibar were deserving of the three points, though the debatable red card was the turning point of the game.
Bilbao end Sevilla’s unbeaten start to the season
Mikel San Jose gave Athletic Bilbao the lead after 27 minutes. Benat Etxebarria took a short corner before Oscar de Marcos’ strike on goal was deflected to San Jose who forced a save from Salvatore Sirigu before forcing the ball into the net from the rebound.
Sevilla equalised ten minutes into the second half when Samir Nasri who had also helped to create the opportunity, struck an effort which bounced up into the roof of the net after home ‘keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had parried Pablo Sarabia’s cross/shot straight to him.
Bilbao regained the lead just before the midpoint of the second half as an attempted pass out of defence by the visitors was excellently intercepted by Balenziaga, who waltzed past Mariano before hammering a shot past Sirigu and into the corner.
Sirigu was sent off in the final minute of normal time as he overreacted when Aritz Aduriz challenged him for a high ball in the penalty area. Holding midfielder Vicente Iborra went into the goal but the only thing he had to do was to pick the ball out of his own net as Aduriz scored with ease from the resulting penalty.
