La Liga action round-up - Week 4 - September 22-27, 2009
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Barcelona maintained their 100% start to the campaign with wins over Racing Santander and Málaga. The champions travelled to Santander and were 3-0 up at the interval, courtesy of three goals in seven minutes from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué. The home side pulled one back through Óscar Serrano but Messi doubled his tally in the second half, finishing off a comprehensive 4-1 win. Their second match of the week proved to be a tougher encounter, but Barca showed their class to overcome Málaga at La Rosaleda. Ibrahimovic opened the scoring for the visitors, combining with Messi to maintain his run of scoring in every league game so far. Piqué came on to score with his first touch in the 58th minute, latching onto a Xavi free-kick to condemn Málaga to their fourth defeat of the campaign.
Real Madrid replied in typical fashion as they completed a difficult 2-0 win at Villarreal before beating Tenerife at the Bernabéu. Madrid got off to a perfect start when Cristiano Ronaldo scored within the first two minutes against Villarreal, before Kaká converted a contentious penalty in the 72nd minute to seal the win after Ángel López was adjudged to have handled the ball. Villarreal’s woes continued as they lost 1-0 to Deportivo La Coruña at the weekend, leaving the Yellow Submarine struggling with just two points from the campaign.
Madrid then welcomed Tenerife to the Bernabéu, in a fixture which looked appealing after their midweek visit to El Madrigal. But the home side stuttered and looked frustrated in a disappointing first half display in which they failed to create any promising chances. Madrid emerged a different side with the introduction of Kaká at the interval, and it took just two minutes for them to break the deadlock, with Karim Benzema heading in a Xabi Alonso cross to put Los Blancos ahead. The Frenchman then capitalized on poor defending from the visitors to double his side’s lead, before Kaká curled a superb strike past Aragoneses, capping off another fine display from the Brazilian playmaker.
Sevilla continued their impressive run of form with wins over Mallorca and Athletic Bilbao. Sébastien Squillaci and Diego Perotti were on target in the first half against Mallorca, although the 2-0 deficit could have been extended had the home side taken their chances. Renato, Álvaro Negredo, Freddie Kanouté and Jesús Navas then all found the net in an impressive 4-0 victory at Bilbao, consigning their opponents to a second consecutive loss following their midweek defeat at the hands of Tenerife. Sevilla now lie third behind Barca and Madrid with 12 points.
Valencia slumped to their first defeat of the campaign, losing 3-1 at Getafe despite taking the lead in the 22nd minute. David Villa - La Liga’s top goalscorer - was on target for Los Che, but a brace from Del Moral put the home side ahead before Pedro León sealed the points. Valencia then played host to a struggling Atlético Madrid, whose first win is still eluding them after falling victim to a later midweek equalizer against Almeria at the Vicente Calderón. Sergio Agüero opened the scoring for the visitors in the seventh minute, but two goals in three minutes from Pablo and Villa gave Valencia the lead at half-time. Maxi Rodríguez dramatically equalized for the visitors two minutes into injury time, and the points were shared between the two rivals.
Mallorca are fourth despite their loss to Sevilla, as they picked themselves up to gain a 3-0 victory over Valladolid. Deportivo La Coruña lie in fifth position after a successful week, prefacing their impressive win against Villarreal with a 3-0 victory at Xerez. The newly-promoted Andalusians bounced back to claim their first point of the campaign, holding Espanyol to a goalless draw at the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat.
If the top of the table is beginning to look somewhat familiar, the same cannot be said about the bottom. Xerez are joined by the unlikely pairing of Villarreal and Atlético Madrid, both of whom are without a win in the campaign and looking increasingly vulnerable to losing their standing in the upper echelons of the league. Sevilla and Valencia continue to impress, despite the latter lying seventh in the league. October awaits.
Full Results
Tuesday September 22, 2009
Sevilla 2-0 Mallorca
Racing Santander 1-4 Barcelona
Wednesday September 23, 2009
Espanyol 2-1 Málaga
Xerez 0-3 Deportivo La Coruña
Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid
Atlético Madrid 2-2 Almeria
Valladolid 1-2 Osasuna
Tenerife 1-0 Athletic Bilbao
Getafe 3-1 Valencia
Thursday September 24, 2009
Sporting Gijón 1-1 Real Zaragoza
Saturday September 26, 2009
Real Madrid 3-0 Tenerife
Athletic Bilbao 0-4 Sevilla
Málaga 0-2 Barcelona
Valencia 2-2 Atlético Madrid
Sunday September 27, 2009
Osasuna 1-0 Sporting Gijón
Espanyol 0-0 Xerez
Mallorca 3-0 Valladolid
Almeria 2-2 Racing Santander
Real Zaragoza 3-0 Getafe
Deportivo La Coruña 1-0 Villarreal
La Liga action round-ups
Week 1 - August 29/30/31, 2009
Week 2 - September 12/13, 2009
Week 3 - September 19/20, 2009
Week 4 - September 22-27, 2009
See the full list of OLBG's free Football Tips here.
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