La Liga is taking an early shape and there’s very few surprises at the summit.
The familiar look sees the top three places occupied by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and, if the SBOTOP La Liga betting odds are anything to go by, that won’t change over the next eight months (in one order or another).
The rock bottom club is something of a surprise though as Valencia’s misery continues under the ownership of unpopular Singapore businessman Peter Lim.
Their fans continue to protest Lim’s management on a regular basis but, beyond that, the club remains in a period of limbo to an extent and the 2004 champions Spanish champions are bottom with only one point after the opening five games.
Their latest reverse, 3-0 at Atletico Madrid on Sunday night, leaves them rooted to the foot of the table.
Atletico’s scorers, incidentally, were England midfielder Conor Galagher, talisman Antoine Griezmann and new signing Julian Alvarez.
Atletico remain level on points with city rivals Real and Villarreal who are unbeaten but, given they played against 10 men for 20 minutes on Saturday, the ‘yellow submarine’ would have been disappointed not to have emerged victorious from Mallorca.
Logan Costa netted his first goal for the club to ensure an early breakthrough, before Mallorca were given a route back into the contest, via Raul Albiol’s second half own goal.
The visitors secured the points though, courtesy of a last gasp goal from Ayoze Perez who clipped home the winner in added time.
The former Leicester City and Newcastle marksman now has three goals this season, including two winners after the 90 minute mark.
Real, meanwhile, spent Saturday night in San Sebastian where it took two second half penalties for the champions to see off spirited Sociedad.
Vinícius Jr and Kylian Mbappé converted the spot kicks to seal a hard-fought 2-0 win.
Just before the hour mark, Vinícius netted after a handball by midfielder Sergio Gomez and Mbappé secured the points by scoring his spot kick in the 75th minute after Vinicius was fouled.
Yet it was hard not to feel some sympathy for the hosts in a high-paced, entertaining affair in the Basque country as they struck the woodwork no fewer than three times.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could only watch as Luka Susic’s powerful strike from the edge of the box rattled the crossbar in the 25th minute.
Madrid were saved by the woodwork again 10 minutes later. Dani Carvajal lost possession deep in his own half and Sheraldo Becker’s left-footed strike spun off the bar.
Croatian Susic perfectly opened up his body 20 seconds into the second half to slide a left-footed effort past Courtois, but he could not beat the base of the post.
It wasn’t all good news for Real, however, as they lost Brahim Diaz in the first half with an abductor injury which looks set to rule him out for up to three months.
The main La Liga highlights of the weekend belonged to leaders Barcelona who maintained their early season 100 per cent record with teenager sensation Lamine Yamal scoring twice as they were ruthless at Girona (a team who defeated them home and away last term).
The home side, who finished third last season, thought they had been awarded a penalty after Bryan Gil’s header struck the arm of Inigo Martinez but the decision was reversed after a video assistant referee review.
After that, everything went the way of their opponents, including a goal from Dani Olmo who became the first player to score in his first three Barcelona league matches since Cesc Fabregas in 2011.
That was before he was forced off with an injury around the hour mark.
Elsewhere, the goals rained down in Catalonia as newly promoted Espanyol secured successive wins either side of the international break to edge past Alaves.
Javi Puado scored twice to put the hosts in front, but they were pegged back as Alaves refused to go quietly.
However, the power of Puado proved to be the decisive factor late on, as he slotted home from the penalty spot to clinch the victory.
Sevilla finally have their first victory of the new campaign.
A home clash with fellow winless side Getafe presented them with a key opportunity and it was taken by the most unlikely source as Jesus Navas, 38 years young, became the oldest player to score for them in the Spanish top flight with his first club goal since 2019.
That was enough, even though the home side finished the contest with 10 men after the dismissal of Juanlu Sanchez for a second yellow card.
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