LaLiga 2022-2023 (First Division)

[AlanK]

The schedules for LaLiga (and LaLiga2) have now been published--marca.com has all the matchdays.

[AlanK]

LaLiga 2022-2023 kicks off one week from today

[AlanK]

To kick it off

Fri. 12 Aug. 2100 Osasuna 2, Sevilla 1 and we're under way with the new season Osasuna finished last season in mid-table. Sevilla will be shooting for another CL qualification. Osasuna comes out strong; Bono neutralizes a couple of threats, but at 9', Chimy Avila heads in--1-0. But two minutes later, Rafa Mir volleys home to tie it at 1-1; assist by Ocampos. Hot night in Pamplona--hydration break at 30'. At 39', Sevilla hits the post. And it's tablas at the half in El Sadar. At 72', questionable penalty in favor of Osasuna, converted by Aimar Oroz at 74'--2-1. And that's the final, as Sevilla is unable to put it together to score. Osasuna is the first league leader of the new season; great result for Osasuna although the penalty probably shouldn't have been given.

Sat. 13 Aug.

1700 Celta 2, Espanyol 2 Both will be happy to avoid the drop this season. Espanyol comes close at 8': Darder hits the post. Nothing close to a goal in the rest of the first half until 45' + 2', when Solari's headed backpass is put in by . . . who else, Iago Aspas. At the half, 1-0 in Balaídos. At 63', Gonçalo Paciencia makes it 2-0 with a header. At 72', Edu Expósito cuts the lead to 2-1. At 95', penalty awarded in favor of Espanyol. Joselu converts at 98'--2-2 is the final before 18,859 in Balaídos.

1900 Valladolid 0, Villarreal 3 Valladolid returns to the top flight. Villarreal will hope to improve on last season's successes, which were many. Scoreless first half in Pucela. At 49', Nicolás Jackson scores for Villarreal--0-1; assist by Yeremy Pino. At 81', Chukwueze assists Alex Baena, who makes it 0-2. Alex Baena scores another at 90' to make it 0-3 and makes it pretty sure that Villarreal will be alone in first place after this game. And 0-3 is the final.

2100 Barça 0, Rayo 0 Can Barça show what they did in the pre-season Rayo will hope to avoid the drop again this season. Scoreless first half in the Camp Nou. Barça not looking as sharp as they were in the pre-season games. And indeed, Barça was somewhat fortunate not to lose this game. "A veces el balón no entra." Sometimes you just can't find the way to score. 81,104 on hand in the Camp Nou.

[AlanK]

Games of Sunday, 14 August

1730 Cádiz 0, Real Sociedad 1 Cádiz will try to avoid the drop this season. La Real will try to make it to the CL. At 24', Take Kubo gets off to a good start with la Real--he scores for 0-1. And it's still 0-1 at the half in the Nuevo Mirandilla. Counting the house: 16,570 on hand. Take Kubo equalled his goal total for last season, when he scored just once for Mallorca. La Real wins it. My player of the game is Ledesma, the Cádiz goalie; coulda been 0-3 or 0-4 if not for his saves.

1930 Valencia 1, Girona 0 Valencia will try to qualify for European fútbol. Girona will try to avoid the drop upon their return to the top flight At 45', handball . . . well, elbow ball . . . in the area by a Girona defender on a free kick. Penalty converted by Carlos Soler at 45'+1'--1-0 at the half in Mestalla. At 52', red card for Eray Comert of Valencia. Valencia wins it . . .wasb't exactly a famous victory, but they'll take it!

2200 Almería 1, Real Madrid 2 Almería returns to the top flight with the toughest task possible--can they get a point against el Realísimo Can Almería avoid the drop this season Will Real start with a result that will put them alone atop LaLiga They'll need to win by four goals to make that a reality. The fans are going nuts in Almería--back in the top flight, and the European Champ to start it off--¡casi nada And now they're really whooping it up--at 6', Ramazani scores for Almería on a breakaway--1-0. At 44', Lucas Vázquez of Real has goal disallowed for a very close offside. And it's still 1-0 at the half in the Juegos Mediterráneos, despite Real's 16-2 advantage in shots and 12-1 advantage in corners. Real ties it at 61', when Lucas Vázquez puts in a loose ball in the area--1-1. And at 75', Alaba, on as a sub, scores with a free kick--1-2. And that's how it ends. El Real is tied for second place with Osasuna at the moment.

[AlanK]

Games of Monday, 15 August--we reach the end of Jornada 1

1730 Athletic 0, Mallorca 0 Athletic finished last season in 8th place; they'll want to better that this season. Mallorca avoided the drop with a win in the last game last season. Scoreless first half in San Mamés Barri. Closest to a goal was Vesga's shot that hit the post at 9' for Athletic. Rajkiovic saved at 19'. Villalibre came close at 43'. Muniain's soft shot at 44' wasted another chance. 39,747 on hand. And the game ends scoreless. Athletic outshot Mallorca about 18-2.. At 56', Yuri Berchiche of Athletic hit the post. At 66', Unai Simón saves Mallorca's only real scoring chance from Kang-In Lee. At 82', Rajkovik saves in extremis.

1930 Getafe 0, Atlético 3 Geta avoided the drop with a game to go last season. Atleti will shoot for the CL spots again. At 15', Alvaro Morata scores from the center of the half-moon--0-1. Welcome back to Atleti, Alvaro At 41', Geta comes within a whisker of tying . . . and it's 0-1 at the half in the Alfonso Pérez. At 59', Morata scores again . . . 0-2. At 75', Griezmann, on as a sub, makes it 0-3, thus lifting Atleti into a first-place tie with Villarreal in the very young season. Atleti hosts Villarreal next Sunday . . . Joao Félix has three assists on the day . . . And it ends 0-3, making the Atleti-Villarreal game next Sunday the decider of the top spot in LaLiga.

2130 Betis 3, Elche 0 Betis finished five points back of the last CL spot last season. Elche will try to avoid the drop. At 16', John Donald of Elche sees a red card, apparently on the "last man" rule. At 28', Fekir steals and assists Borja Iglesias, who makes it 1-0. At 39', Carvalho assists Juanmi Jiménez, who makes it 2-0. Halftime in the Benito Villlamarín. At 60', Juanmi puts in his second of the night--3-0, and Betis now shares first place with Villarreal and Atleti. 50,622 on hand in the Benito Villamarín are whoopin' it up And Betis will play at Mallorca next weekend.

[AlanK]

With Jornada 1 in the books, here are The Top and The Drop

1/3 Atletico-------3 points; +3-0 Next hosts Villarreal.
1/3 Villarreal------3 points; +3-0 At Atleti.
1/3 Betis---------3 points; +3-0 At Mallorca.
4/5 Osasuna------3 points; +2-1 Hosts Cádiz.
4/5 Real Madrid---3 points; +2-1 At Celta.
6/7 Real Soc.-----3 points' +1-0 Hosts Barça.
6/7 Valencia------3 points; +1-0 At Athletic.
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
18/20 Getafe-----0 points; +0-3 At Girona.
18/20 Elche------0 points; +0-3 Hosts Almería.
18/20 Valladolid--0 points; +0-3 At Sevilla.

[AlanK]

Jornada 2 starts Friday, 19 August.

Games of Fri., 19 August

2000 Espanyol 0, Rayo 2 Both tied on the road in Jornada 1. Lejeune of Rayo sees a second yellow at 17'. At 30', VAR is consulted and this results in a red card for Sergi Gómez of Espanyol. At 40', Isi Palazón scores from some distance to give Rayo the lead--0-1. NOT a pretty first half in Cornellà-El Prat! And 0-1 at the break. At 59', Pathé Ciss has a tap-in to make it 0-2 for Rayo. At 65', Edu Expósito of Espanyol hits the post. At 74', Falcao comes in for Rayo. At 82', Javi Puado of Espanyol hits the post. At 90', Puado hits the post again. 16,031 see Rayo take first place . . . at least until tomorrow!

2200 Sevilla 1, Valladolid 1 Both lost in Jornada 1, Sevilla away and Valladolid at home. Scoreless first half in the Sánchez Pizjuán. At 80' . . . Anuar guves Valladolid the lead--0-1. But Sevilla gets a gift goal to tie at 86'--a defender and Valladolid's goalie contrive to cough up the ball and give Rekik an easy score--1-1. And that's the final in what figures to be the crummy game of the week. ¡Digo!

Games of Sat. 20 August

1730 Osasuna 2, Cádiz 0 Osasuna beat Sevilla in Jornada 1, while Cádiz lost at home to la Real Sociedad. At 35', Ledesma, the Cádiz goalie, fouls Budemir in the area. Chimy Avila converts at 37', and Osasuna is technically in first place--1-0. And that's the score at the half in El Sadar. At 76', Alarcón of Cádiz sees a second yellow. At 78', penalty in favor of Osasuna--Kike García is fouled, and Kike G. converts at 79'--2-0. And that's the final.

1930 Mallorca 1, Betis 2 Mallorca tied in Bilbao in Jornada 1; Betis is currently tied for first place with Villarreal and Atlético after a 0-3 win at Elche. At 6', action stops for penalty check with VAR; pk awarded to Betis, converted at 9' by Borja Iglesias--0-1. And that's the score at the half in Son Moix, where the attendance is reported to be 15,579. At 56', Muriqi scores with a header to tie for Mallorca--1-1. At 69', penalty awarded to Betis, converted by Borja Iglesias at 73' after much hurley-burley--1-2. At 86', Kang In Lee of Mallorca hits the crossbar with a free kick. And 1-2 is the final score in a game that saw at least 13 yellow cards shown. Betis is in first place at the moment, with six points and a GD of plus 4.

2200 Celta 1, Real Madrid 4 Celta tied at home to Espanyol, letting a two-goal advantage slip away. El Real trailed most of the game in Almería, but put it together to win; they're tied for 4/5 with Osasuna. At about 12', Real is awarded a VAR handball penalty, converted by Benzema at 14'--0-1. At 22', Celta is awarded a handball penalty, converted by Iago Aspas at 23'--1-1. At 42', Modric makes it 1-2 with a shot from the top of the balcony of the area. And it's 1-2 after the first half in Balaídos. At 56', Vinicius makes it 1-3; at 66', Valverde scores for 1-4, which is the final score. El Real, with a GD of +6-2, moves into first place with six points and with +6-2 goals scored and conceded, ahead of Betis, which has six points and +5-1.

[Polak]

You know I keep getting confused about who Morata actually plays for, because he's been on loan so much. It's a weird career he's had. I feel like wherever he goes, he does fairly well, but for some reason nobody wants to keep him. He's gone from Real Madrid to Juventus, then back to Real Madrid, to Chelsea, then on loan to Atletico Madrid, who bought him from Chelsea after a season and then loaned him straight out for some reason for 2 seasons to Juventus, and now he's back at Atletico Madrid again, where I'm reading he could be loaned out again, despite his good start to the season. Weird.

[AlanK]

Jornada 2 continues with three games today, Sunday 21 August, and ends tomorrow, Monday 22 August with two games

Sun. 21 Aug.

1730 Athletic 1, Valencia 0 Athletic tied their first game at home; Valencia won at home. Will either of these two make it to European fútbol next season Both teams lack potential scorers, at least as far as the first half has shown. At 43', Berenguer scores from the edge of the area to give Athletic the lead--1-0 at the half. Will either team manage to change this halftime result 43,333 on hand for this game. And it ends with Valencia not having managed even one shot on goal Athletic has yet to concede.

1930 Atlético 0, Villarreal 2 The BIG game of Jornada 2 These two came into the Jornada tied for first place with Betis. Both now trail Real Madrid, Betis, and Osasuna, each of which has six points after yesterday's games. At 18', Oblak saves the furniture for Atleti. It's about 96 degrees F. on the field, and nobody wants to burn out quickly . . . At about 33', Villarreal has a goal disallowed for a handball. Scoreless first half in the Nuevo Metropolitano. Attendance: 57,033. Game heats up a lot after 70'. At 71', Atleti is close on the break. At 73', after a failed clearance by Molina of Atleti, Yeremi Pino just does hook the ball into the far end of the goal for Villarreal--0-1. At 79', Atleti hits the woodwork; the rebound is kept out by an inch or two by Rulli--still 0-1 At 90', Oblak keeps the deficit at one. At 92', Villarreal almost ices it, and then at 97', Gerard Moreno scores on the break to effectively end it--0-2, which is the margin Villarreal needed to slip past Real Madrid on GD and into first place. Game was disappointing until Villarreal scored at 73', but then it turned into a real barn-burner

2200 Real Sociedad 1, Barça 4 La Real can join the three teams with six points each IF they can beat Barça. Barça tied last week's home game against Rayo and must win to pull within two points of the top. At 46 seconds, Baldé assists Lewandowski, who makes it 0-1 for Barça. But at 6', Frenkie DeJong is stripped of the ball and Alexander Isak beats Ter Stegen with a sweet vaselina to make it 1-1. TV coverage in Spanish goes absent for awhile; I was able to switch to an English version. At the half still 1-1. 36,201 in Anoeta see Barça run away with it after Ansu Fati comes in. At 66', Ansu Fati assists Dembélé--1-2. At 68', Ansu Fati helps set up Lewandowski--1-3. And at 79', Ansu Fati scores, assisted by Lewandowski. Barça will finish Jornada 2 fifth place, back of the four teams that have won both of their games to date.

Mon. 22 Aug.

2000 Elche 1, Almería 1 Both lost their games in Jornada 1, Elche at Betis and Almería at home to Real Madrid. At 23', Umar Sadiq heads in a corner and Almería leads 0-1. At 30', Collado ties it with a shot from inside the area--1-1. Tablas at the half in the Martínez Valero. Official attendance 23,361. And the second half ends scoreless; this is probably sufficient to keep Almería out of the drop, but Elche may well end the jornada among the bottom three. Player of the game: Badía, Elche's goalie, saved a point for his team with an excellent performance.

2200 Girona 3, Getafe 1 Both lost their gamess in Jornada 1, Girona at Valencia and Getafe at home to Atleti. At 28', Girona hits the crossbar . . . of their own net! At 42', Stuani scores--with deflection--inside the area--1-0 at the half, and at the moment Girona is above the drop. At 47', Domingos of Geta scores an own goal--2-0. At 64', Castellanos makes it 3-0. Enes Unal scores the "goal of honor" at 73'--3-1 the final.

[AlanK]

There are still two games to be played in Jornada 2, but The Top seven are locked in, since the four teams that play today have not a point amongst them, to wit

1. Villarreal-----------6 points; +5-0 Next at Getafe.
2. Real Madrid--------6 points; +6-2 At Espanyol.
3. Betis--------------6 points; +5-1 Hosts Osasuna.
4. Osasuna-----------6 points; +4-1 At Betis.
-----------------------------------
5. Barça--------------4 points; +4-1 Hosts Valladolid.
6. Rayo--------------4 points; +2-0 Hosts Mallorca.
7. Athletic-----------4 points; +1-0 At Cádiz.
----------------------------------

[AlanK]

The Drop after Jornada 2 is complete--there are many teams at one point. I use the official rules to separate them, which gives us the following

18. Elche-----------1 point; +1-4 Next hosts La Real Sociedad.
19. Cádiz----------0 points; +0-3 Hosts Athletic.
20. Getafe---------0 points; +1-6 Hosts Villarreal.

[AlanK]

Jornada 3 starts tomorrow

Fri. 26 Aug.

2000 Girona 0, Celta 1 Girona comes in off the 3-1 win over Getafe. Celta has one point after two home games. Scoreless at halftime in Montilivi. Celta came closer to scoring; I wouldn't be surprised if they're still 0-0 at full time. Fans in the stands: 11,329. Sure enough I'm a crummy predictor. At 49', Iago Aspas gives the visitors the lead--0-1. And the goal by Aspas proves to be the winner

2200 Betis 1, Osasuna 0 The only game this jornada which pits two unbeaten, untied teams against each other. At 34', Borja Iglesias, el Panda, fires in a cannon shot--1-0, and Betis leads LaLiga by three points And it's 1-0 at the half in the Benito Villamarín. Betis holds on to go top, at least until Villarreal and Real Madrid play their third-round games on Sunday.

Sat. 27 Aug.

1730 Elche 0, Real Sociedad 1 Elche is top of the drop, with one point and +1-4 goals scored and conceded. La Real has a win and a loss to date. At 20', Brais Méndez gives la Real the lead--0-1. Elche's defenders totally lost Brais. At 34', Elche's defense is asleep once again, and commits a penalty. Míkel Merino tries a Panenka, and the goalie saves easily--still 0-1, now at the half in the Martínez Valero. And la Real holds on to win 0-1. Elche misses a chance to get out of the drop.

1930 Rayo 0, Mallorca 2 Rayo is off to a great start, with a tie at Barça and a win at Espanyol. Mallorca tied in Sevilla and lost at home to Betis. At 13', a Rayo giveaway results in a centering pass and a header by Muriqi that gives Mallorca the lead--0-1. Rayo tries very hard, and at 32' manages to hit the post, but this is a story of too many wayward passes. At halftime in Vallecas, Mallorca leads 0-1 . . . can Rayo possibly come back 10,944 in Vallecas. At 64', Kang-In Lee makes it 0-2 for Mallorca. First win for Mallorca, first loss for Rayo.

2200 Almería 2, Sevilla 1 Almería promises to be an "interesting" team to watch. They led Real Madrid before losing by a goal; they led at Elche and ended up with a tie. Sevilla lost at Osasuna and could only manage a tie at home to Valladolid. Not the beginning they wanted . . . At 17', great save by Fernando Martínez, Almería's goalie. At 30', Oliver Torres connects with a header to give Sevilla the lead--0-1. At 38', another great save for Fernando Martínez. At 42', Ramazani ties for Almería--make no mistake, this guy is good --1-1, now at the half in the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterrános, where there are 13,788 on hand. Wow, chapeau to Almería and to goal-scorer Umar Sadiq--long way to go in this game, but Almería has come back to take the lead--2-1. See to believe At 79', Fernando Martínez saves the bacon yet again for Almería. This goes into the books as "one of those games you'd really hate to have missed. What an effort by Almería. And how 'bout Gil Manzano, the ref who showed no fewer than 13 yellow cards in the game. And do YOU believe that Sevilla has exactly ONE point after three games

[AlanK]

We've arrived at the halfway point of Jornada 3; today and tomorrow we finish Jornada 3, to wit

Sun. 28 Aug.

1730 Getafe 0, Villarreal 0 #20 hosts #1. Well, Betis is #1 after Saturday's games, but any win puts Villarreal back on top. A win would lift Geta out of the drop. Protagonist is the heat--around 90 degrees F. at game time. Boring first half as a result. First shot on goal at 30' by Pedraza of Villarreal. Soria makes a good save; has two more saves to make in the first half, while Geta manages one shot on goal. Tablas at the half--can either team produce something in this heat No, scoreless tie, although at 97', It looked as though Villarreal would benefit from a handball and have a chance to win with a pk, but sometimes the VAR taketh away, and that's what happened here. Villarreal trails Betis by two points, and may trail Real Madrid and Barça by the time today's games end.

1930 Barça 4, Valladolid 0 So which Barça will show up--the one that didn't beat Rayo in the Camp Nou or the one that blew out la Real in the second half when Ansu Fati made his presence known Valladolid got a point at Sevilla last weekend; can they do the same in the Camp Nou At 24', Lewandowski breaks the ice with a header--1-0. At 43', Pedri makes it 2-0 off an assist by Dembélé. If this is the final score, Barça passes Villarreal on GD. At 65', Lewandowski makes it 3-0, as he puts in a backheel with caño (nutmeg) included See to believe And at 92', Sergi Roberto ices the cake as he puts in a rebound off the crossbar--4-0. Barça passes Villarreal on GD and will pass Real Madrid should el Real tie or lose.

2200 Espanyol 1, Real Madrid 3 Espanyol has one point in two games. They beat el Real here last season, but don't expect it to happen again. El Real can take over first place with a win that is bigger than what Villarreal gets (assuming the latter wins ). At 12', Vinicius scores to give Real the lead and lift them into first place on GD over Betis--0-1. At 43', Joselu ties for Espanyol--1-1 at the half in Cornellà-El Prat. Real leaves it late, but Benzema comes to the rescue at 88' and at 100' to lift real to first place in LaLiga.

Mon. 29 Aug.

2000 Cádiz 0, Athletic 4 Cádiz has lost their first two games and has yet to score. Athletic has scored just once, but they have yet to concede a goal At 24', Iñaki Williams picks off an errant backpass and scores--0-1, and Athletic at the moment has climbed to fifth place. At 33', handball pk in favor of Athletic. Iñaki Williams takes the pk at 35', saved by Ledesma--still 0-1 in the Nuevo Mirandilla at the half. 17,029 reported to be on hand. At 56', Gorka Guruzeta scores from just outside the area with a great strike--first ever goal for Guruzeta in LaLiga . . . and 0-2. At 78', Berenguer scores from inside the area--0-3 and Athletic has pretty much iced the win--0-3. Athletic will finish the jornada in fifth place. At 93', Guruzeta scores his second of the night; Athletic is now tied for fourth place with Villarreal; 0-4 is the final.

2200 Valencia 0, Atlético 1 Valencia has won 1-0 and lost 1-0 thus far. Atlético won big at Getafe but lost at home to Villarreal. At 23', Yunus Musah of Valencia puts in a cannon shot from way out, but after much hurly-burly, the goal is disallowed for a previous foul. Scoreless in Mestalla at the half, but no lack of action in this game At 66', Griezmann scores what proves to be the winner for Atleti--0-1; Atlético climbs to sixth place.

[AlanK]

Jornada 3 is complete; The Top and the Drop

1. Real Madrid--------------9 points; +9-3 Next hosts #2 Betis
2. Betis--------------------9 points; +6-1 At Real Madrid.
3. Barça-------------------7 points; +8-1 At Sevilla.
4/5. Athletic---------------7 points; +5-0 Hosts Espanyol.
4/5. Villarreal--------------7 points; +5-0 Hosts Elche.
-----------------------------------------
6/7. Atlético---------------6 points; +4-2 At Real Sociedad.
6/7. Osasuna--------------6 points; +4-2 Hosts Rayo.
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
18. Getafe----------------1 point; +1-6 At Valencia.
19. Valladolid-------------1 point; +1-8 Hosts Almería.
20. Cádiz-----------------0 points; +0-7 At Celta.

After three jornadas, two teams have yet to concede a goal and one has yet to score.

[AlanK]

Jornada 4 gives us the return to a "regular" schedule--ie weekend kickoffs at 0500 PDT, which means I gotta be up and ready very early if I'm gonna watch , to wit

Fri. 2 Sept. 2100 Celta 3, Cádiz 0 Celta is off to a reasonable start, with four points in three games, having lost to Real Madrid. Cádiz, however, is the farolillo rojo of LaLiga (ie in last place), having yet to score or get a point, and having conceded seven goals to date. Here we go with Jornada 4 can Cádiz get something out of this game Scoreless first half in Balaídos. 14,510 reported on hand. At 56', Iago Aspas scores from just inside the balcony of the area with a deflection included--1-0 for Celta. At 62', Oscar Rodríguez makes it 2-0. At 75', Aspas makes it 3-0 from the balcony of the area. Celta climbs, for the moment, to sixth place; Cádiz digs themselves a deeper hole to climb out of in the future.

Sat. 3 Sept.

1400 (which is 0500 where I am) Mallorca 1, Girona 1 Mallorca has four points to date, having lost at home to Betis but getting a tie and a win on the road at Athletic and Rayo, respectively. Very physical game with many fouls and cards sprinkled about. Scoreless first half. By 75', Mallorca has committed 20 fouls, but no red cards yet . . . What looked like a sure 0-0 changes at 87', as Raíllo puts in a corner to give Mallorca a likely win--1-0. But no sooner had I written the previous, penalty in favor of Girona, converted by Samu Saiz at 92'--1-1. And that's the final.

1615 Real Madrid 2, Betis 1 Game of the Week, with the only two teams that are unbeaten and untied to date meeting. El Real is technically ahead of Betis due to a GD of +6, while Betis is +5. At 9', Vinicius lifts a soft shot over Rui Silva to make it 1-0 for Real. At 17', Canales puts one past Courtois from in close--1-1. At 20', Rui Silva saves. And it's 1-1 at the half in the "new" Bernabéu, where there are 58,579 reported on hand. At 65', Valverde, just in, assists Rodrygo, who makes it 2-1 for Real. This win nails down first place for Real at the jornada's end--they will lead by a minimum of two points.

1830 Real Sociedad 1, Atlético 1 These two each have two wins and a loss to date. La Real lost at home to Barça and Atleti lost at home to Villarreal. Atleti is tied for 6/7 while la Real is in eighth place due to GD. At 5', Alvaro Morata gives Atleti the lead--0-1. At 29', Morata puts in another one, but VAR taketh away for an arm ball by Joao Félix in the buildup--still 0-1. And still 0-1 at the half. Umar Sadiq, who impressed me greatly playing for Almería, comes on for la Real at the start of the second half. And at 55', Cho centers and . . . Umar Sadiq heads it home to tie the game at 1-1. At 77', Umar Sadiq puts in another one . . . but he's offside. This guy is fantastic, a force of nature See to believe At 85', Oblak has to go out hurt. Atleti almost manages to find a winner at 98', but 1-1 is the final.

2100 Sevilla 0, Barça 3 Sevilla is off to a horrible start, with ONE point from three games, having lost in Pamplona and Almería and getting a tie at home against Valladolid. Will they snap out of it against Barça The latter could only tie Rayo in the Camp Nou, but the results have turned around in the last two games, in each of which Barça scored four goals. Barça came out looking like they had forgotten how, and kept their goal unbroached only thanks to Ter Stegen. At about 20', things started to turn around, and Raphinha headed in a loose ball at 21' to give Barça the lead--0-1. At 36', Lewandowski half-volleys in a great pass from Koundé--0-2. Almost at the end of the half, Dembélé shoulda made it 0-3, but he missed. At 50, Eric García has a tap-in--0-3. Barça takes over second place, two points back of Real Madrid and one point ahead of Betis. Sevilla is hurting, no doubt about it

Will include Sunday's and Monday's games after Saturday's games are complete.