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The second match-day of the La Liga witnessed some spectacular action with the usual suspects for the title largely coming through unscathed.
Barcelona, the defending champions, got their campaign back on track after their opening day defeat courtesy a 5-2 thrashing of Real Betis at the Camp Nou. Though the Blaugrana weren’t at their best in the first half, they turned the screw in the second period to waltz past their visitors. Antoine Griezmann bagged a brace while debutant, Carles Perez also got himself on the score-sheet. The victory allowed Barcelona to move into 9th place on the table.
However, their arch-rivals Real Madrid failed to navigate past the obstacle put in front of them on Saturday. The Los Blancos were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu as the hosts’ goal-scoring woes again came to the fore. Karim Benzema struck for Madrid but his goal was quickly cancelled out by Sergio Guardiola Navarro. Courtesy the draw, Zinedine Zidane’s men slipped to 3rd spot.
The Los Blancos’ city rivals, Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, maintained their spotless start to the season as they outlasted Leganes 1-0 in a cagey encounter. Vitolo popped up with the winner for the Los Rojiblancos as they found themselves in 2nd at the culmination of the weekend.
Sevilla were the other team to keep their 100% record intact as they overcame a trip to Granada, ultimately coming away with a 1-0 victory. The victory meant that they remained perched at the top of the table.
The other 1-0 wins involved Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad getting the better of Valencia and RCD Mallorca respectively.
Villarreal also remained winless after the second game-week as they were beaten away to Levante 2-1.
In another encounter, Athletic Bilbao were held to a 1-1 draw at Getafe with Raul Garcia’s early opener being offset by Jaime Mata’s strike in the 12th minute.
Additionally, there were a couple of draws at the weekend as Eibar and Osasuna indulging in a scoreless stalemate while Alaves and Espanyol also produced a similar score-line at the weekend.
