La Liga week 8 Saturday roundup

Spanish La Liga action returned after the international break, with all four clubs involved in the Champions League playing last night in the Round 8 Saturday action. There was plenty of controversy and goals, especially from Real Madrid and Barcelona as last night’s fixtures turned out to be greatly entertaining. Here is providing a brief roundup of all the results.

Real Madrid defeated a brave Real Betis 4-1, a match which saw yet another hat-trick from Gonzalo Higuain (46th, 69th and 72nd mins) while Kaka notched up a brilliant goal in the 54th min in grand fashion. The highlight going into the match was that it was Cristiano Ronaldo‘s 100th game for Real Madrid, and he did well to make it a memorable occasion as he provided the assists to Higuain for his first goal and Kaka.

Betis started strongly and actually dominated the first 25 minutes as they gave Real a real run for their money. They were brave in not staying back and always attempting to put together passes and play attacking football. The second half changed everything as Real came out guns blazing. They scored at the start and kept at it for the remaining 45 minutes, ripping Betis to shreds. Angel di Maria came on for Kaka and proved to be immensely effective as he provided the assistance to Higuain’s last two goals. Betis actually pulled one back when Real were 2-0 up in the 68th minute, giving themselves a glimmer of hope of a potential comeback. As soon as that door was opened, it was shut tight as Higuain scored barely a minute later at the other end, ending any possibility of a Betis comeback.

Real Mallorca, under new coach Caparros, drew against Valencia courtesy a controversial penalty in the last minute to end the match 1-1. Valencia dominated the whole game and scored via French defender Rami in the 38th minute. They had numerous chances later on which they failed to convert, for which they paid dearly when the referee wrongly called hand-ball in the last minute to award Mallorca a penalty. That was converted by Hemed, heaping disappointment of Los Che.

It was a tense end to a match which Valencia dominated so well, and it ultimately saw them complaining and verbally assaulting the referee after the controversial hand-ball decision was given. The tension reached breaking point and it culminated in Rami being handed a red card at the end of the game, as well as coach Unai Emery receiving a yellow card caution.

Villarreal vs Getafe ended in a 0-0 draw in a game which saw both sides look very mediocre and very much in need of finding a way to play better in unlocking their opponents. Having said this, this is most worrying for Villarreal, who now look a shadow of the team they were last season as they proved to be nothing more than average last night.

Barcelona had an easy night at work, beating Racing Santander 3-0. The Catalans were typically brilliant, as Iniesta returned from injury and bossed proceedings impressively along with Lionel Messi, who scored twice in the 11th and 63rd minutes. The other goal came from Xavi Hernandez who scored with a ‘header’ from a Pedro pass in the 27th minute.The bad news for Barcelona from the match was the injury sustained by Gerard Pique, which would see the defender out of action yet again. He will be further examined and we will later know the extent of the injury.

Granada drew 0-0 against Atletico Madrid, playing with a lot of courage by resisting relentless pressure from the Madrid giants. In fact, Granada’s Uche hit the post very early in the match and had that gone in, Granada could have sealed all three points. After the initial scare, Atletico improved but still suffered in converting their chances. Goal keeper Roberto proved to be the hero as he made three important saves that frustrated the Madrid team. Granada will be happy with the result, while Atletico will be furious over dropping points and thus losing steam.