It was a case of goals galore in La Liga Week 5 as Balaidos bore witness to six and Alaves put five past Rayo Vallecano.
However, Real Sociedad’s trip to Huesca yielded just the one, although it was decisive as Mikel Merino’s finish secured a 1-0 win for the Basques.
However, they ended up doing it the hard way, losing both Juanmi and Theo Hernandez to red cards in the final 20 minutes.
Alaves, on the other hand, had no such problems, gatecrashing Vallecas’ grand reopening with a 5-1 victory over Rayo.
Ibai Gomez had just cancelled out Raul de Tomas’ equaliser after Ximo Navarro broke the deadlock when Abdoulaye Ba was sent off.
From that point onwards, it was plain sailing for the visitors as Gomez bagged his second, while Jonathan Calleri and Burgui opened their accounts for the season.
Alaves moved into third place, leapfrogging Celta Vigo, who suffered a late collapse to draw 3-3 with Real Valladolid.
Iago Aspas’ brace and a Maxi Gomez finish gave Celta a seemingly-unassailable lead after Oscar Plano ended Valladolid’s record wait for their first goal of a season.
However, new signings Enes Unal and Leonardo Suarez turned the game on its head to provisionally take the Pucela out of the relegation zone.
Leganes fell to their third successive defeat, going down 1-0 at Eibar to stay bottom of the pile.
Kike’s header in the 52nd minute fired Eibar to a third game unbeaten and left Lega winless under Mauricio Pellegrino, whose side have now failed to score in their last two matches.
Finally, Atletico Madrid were back on the victory trail after they triumphed 2-0 at nearby Getafe.
David Soria’s own goal was complemented by Thomas Lemar’s first in Colchoneros colours, although the match didn’t end without Ivan Alejo becoming Geta’s fastest-ever dismissal, just four minutes after he entered the field.
