The weekend after the opening group European games is always interesting. As the first real test of a club’s squad, we see if the club’s summer acquisitions have enough quality, and just as importantly, if they are enough in quantity.
Of the teams in the Champions League, the following fixture produced no wins from four teams in Germany, just one win from the Premier League, and one out of two in France. So how did the La Liga representatives do?
After a painful 16-year absence, Athletic Bilbao are back amongst the elite of Europe. But the rigours of Champions League football will stretch their squad to the limit. After failing to get out of second gear against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, the Basque side again failed to spark against a determined Granada team. Jhon Cordoba’s goal was enough to seal victory for the Andalusians.
Atletico Madrid also came across worthy opposition, albeit in a more exciting affair. The highlight of the 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo was provided by Chilean Pablo Hernandez. His opening back-heel goal will endear him to his new fans, and the one-cap international’s good start to his Celta career is mirrored by the whole team’s solid unbeaten start to the season.
Atleti’s crosstown rivals Real were involved in a goal-fest at Deportivo La Coruna. An 8-2 thumping showed that you should beware a wounded Madrid. After last weekend’s humbling against their city rivals, 15 goals in two games shows their attacking prowess is growing with every game, highlighted by the fact that it marks consecutive games in which Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez have all been on the score sheet. Ronaldo’s three goals meant it was merely his 23rd hat-trick in all competitions for Los Blancos.
If Madrid’s €120m outlay buys you quality, then Barca’s €157m spree should as well, hence why Luis Enrique had the luxury of making eight changes to his starting line-up from midweek. His team didn’t skip a beat with their 5-0 routing of rock bottom Levante. The red card for Les Granotes’ Vyntra made a hard task an impossible one, with five different Barca players scoring.
There was talk in the week of Enrique resting Lionel Messi, but the reports proved unfounded, with Messi one of the three alongside Dani Alves and Neymar to start both European and League games this week. The Argentine played all 180 minutes and made up for a rare penalty miss against Levante with a scoring and an all-round polished performance.
Four League wins out of four for Barcelona is the perfect start, with the only concern being Neymar’s injury-enforced substitution. But with Barca confirming that Neymar – and Ivan Rakitic – did “specific exercises” in training on Monday, it would appear to be only a slight knock.
Spain’s other European participants both had profitable weekends. Sevilla continued their impressive start to the season. After seeing off Feyenoord in the week, a Carlos Bacca brace helped ease Los Rojiblancos to a 3-1 victory over Cordoba, leaving teams neatly mirroring the other – Sevilla up to second, while Cordoba languish second from bottom.
Meanwhile, Villarreal showed little sign of fatigue after a mid-week 3,000km round trip to Monchengladbach. Indeed, it was actually the Yellow Submarine who got stronger as the game progressed. After finding themselves 2-0 down to Rayo Vallecano after half an hour, a quick Javier Espinosa reply put Villarreal back in the game.
However, it was the 58th minute introduction of livewire Argentine Luciano Vietto that really kicked Villarreal into action. A headed goal by Mateo Musacchio drew the teams level and then two goals from Vietto sealed the win.
Friday night saw Elche and Eibar clash in Alicante. The Basque minnows continue to show that they won’t be easy to beat in their debut Primera season, and registered their second-ever top flight win. Gaizka Garitano’s men contained Elche’s attacks and returned home with a well-earned three points.
Elsewhere, an entertaining affair between Espanyol and Malaga left both teams with a share of the spoils. A calm opening developed into an exciting game right to the death, with a last-gasp free kick from Portugal international Duda salvaging a point for Malaga and leaving Espanyol winless and in the relegation zone.
Lastly, Almeria achieved their first win of the season with a nervous victory over Real Sociedad. After weathering a Sociedad storm, it was the Andalusians who took a lead they would never surrender. A late red card for Sebastian Dubarbier and a Gonzalo Castro goal meant a frantic last five minutes – including two shots coming off the bar – but the crucial equaliser never materialised.
A breathless few weeks continue apace, with Getafe falling to Valencia on Monday evening thanks to goals from Paco Alcacer, Andres Gomes and Rodrigo Moreno, later sent off, before another full round of midweek and weekend games.
Then Spain’s European contingent have another batch of European fixtures, further revealing which teams have the squads to cope with competing on two fronts.
