Another week in the Spanish La Liga saw the usual suspects Real Madrid and Barcelona record their successive wins against defensively resilient oppositions whereas Atletico Madrid faltered to another goalless draw.
Here’s how the big guns fared this week :
Starting off the summary with Los Blancos, the 32-time La Liga champions Real Madrid hosted Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu, yet again without star forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
The 2 forwards are currently undergoing treatment for their injuries and are expected to feature in the match vs Osasuna on 10th September, 2016.
Madrid played the first half of the match without scoring or conceding any goals but came into life in the second half with Alvaro Morata scoring from a poacher finish to give them a deserved 1-0 lead. Celta equalized after a while and the match was back to square one.
However, in the 81st minute, it was their midfield maestro Toni Kroos who fired a 20-yard shot from outside the box and made it 2-1, to give Real Madrdid their 2nd consecutive win this season ans 14th overall consecutive win including their last season’s streak in La Liga.
It was all smiles for Real Madrid with plenty to look forward to as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema still await their return to rack up the goals.
On the other side, Real Madrid’s rivals Barcelona overcame Athletic Bilbao in a tight clash which ended 1-0 in Barcelona’s favor, with the only goal being scored by Ivan Rakitic.
Lionel Messi’s 350th appearance for the club didn’t go as planned as the Argentine was mostly restricted throughout the match and couldn’t do much to help the team. Luis Suarez, who didn’t score either, still fared better than his teammate and put in a good performance.
Finally coming to the designated underdogs of La Liga, Atletico Madrid rued on missed chances against Leganes, which is another newly promoted side this season.
Star forward Antoine Griezmann fired blanks against the minnows and couldn’t drag his team to the 3 points, even though he is the much hyped talisman for his squad after his inspirational performance at the EURO 2016 Championship.
This leaves Real Madrid and Barcelona with 6 points from 2 games each and Atletico Madrid 2 points from 2 games, with the Los Ropjiblancos making a very slow start to the campaign this season as they hope to catch up to their more daunting rivals.
With plenty more action over the weeks coming up, this will be a clash of the titans as the teams now move to an international break till September 10th.
That’s all for today, folks!
See you next week!
You’d also like to read :
http://edtimes.in/2016/08/la-liga-gameweek-1-real-madrid-and-barcelona-romp-to-impressive-victories-as-atletico-are-held-against-minnows-alaves-for-a-draw/
