Hello and welcome back to La Liga round-up for Saturday. Matchday 5 started early this time once again, with Real Betis making the journey on Friday to the El Sadar Stadium to face Osasuna, who were unbeaten in the league.
The home side had quite a few chances to take the lead in the first half, including an outrageous six on two counter-attack, but surprisingly failed to score. Osasuna also hit the crossbar in the second half, but the game ended 0-0.
Saturday started with Villarreal and Valladolid facing each other at the El Madrigal Stadium. After a largely uneventful first half, the game picked up pace in the 77th minute, when the home side was awarded a penalty. Santi Cazorla scored from the spot to give his team the lead, before Javier Ontiveros doubled the score in the 89th minute, helping Villarreal secure a hard-earned 2-0 victory.
Levante and SD Eibar were also in action on Saturday, playing out a 0-0 draw, with both sides canceling each other out on the pitch.
In the other game of the day, Atletico Madrid welcomed Celta Vigo to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Atletico dominated the proceedings but was met with a defiant Ruben Blanco in the Celta goal, who kept the home team out on several occasions.
Diego Simeone’s side also looked a bit off the pace and was lucky not to concede in the closing stages of the game. The game ended 0-0, as Atletico failed to secure a win in the last three games. However, it was not the biggest upset of the day.
The final game of Saturday also saw Barcelona travel to the Los Cermenes Stadium to face Granada. The hottest news ahead of the game was that Lionel Messi was on the bench once again, as he continued his recovery from a calf injury.
However, Barca was in for a shock right at the start of the game, when the home side took the lead in the second minute through Ramon Azeez, after an error from Junior Firpo. The Catalans brought on Lionel Messi and Ansu Fati at half time, but Granada doubled their lead in the 66th minute, when Vidal handled the ball in the box, a decision that required VAR intervention.
The hosts were awarded a penalty, which was successfully converted by Alvaro Vadilo and Barcelona never really got back into the game, which ended 2-0 in the favour of Granada.