Barcelona Maintain Perfect Start To Season
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As expected Barcelona maintained their perfect start to the campaign by beating Almeria 1-0 at the Nou Camp Stadium, but they did not have it all their own way and it was only Pedro’s goal on the half-hour mark that separated the two teams. Barca are now three points clear at the top of the table.
Sevilla pulled off the surprise result of the season so far, by defeating Real Madrid 2-1 thus ending their unbeaten start to the campaign. Headed goals in each half by Jesus Navas and Renato were enough to give Sevilla the win after Pepe had leveled the score for Real just after halftime.
Real Madrid and Sevilla are now both three points adrift of leaders Barcelona though Real still occupy second spot with a superior goal difference.
Deportivo La Coruna kept up their impressive start to the season with a 1-0 away victory over Tenerife and jumped to fourth position in La Liga. Diego Colotto 61st minute goal enough to give the Galician club all three points and hand newly promoted Tenerife their first home defeat off the season.
Atletico Madrid eventually got their first win of the season defeating Real Zaragoza 2-1, though their was an element of luck involved in their first three-pointer of the season as Real Zaragoza missed a first half penalty.Getafe leapfrogged Osasuna in the league standings with a 2-1 home win and now move into eight position in the table with Osasuna dropping to twelfth.
Bottom club Xerez picked up their second point of the campaign by holding third from bottom Malaga to a 1-1 draw. Xerez were only 6 minutes away from their first win of the season before Nigerian striker Victor Nsofor Obinna leveled the score for Malaga before turning from hero to villain by getting himself red-carded in the 90 minute.
Villarreal have had a terrible start to this season and although they picked up a point at the weekend after drawing 0-0 with Espanyol, they still remain just one position off the bottom of the table. For Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni it was another point earned for Espanyol as he kept another clean sheet.
Sporting Gijon had their best result of the season so far as they came from a goal down to hammer Mallorca 4-1 and move into the top half of the table in the process. Mallorca hang on to sixth position though Valencia now move above them after they defeated Racing Santander 1-0 away from home, thanks to a winning strike from Nikola Zigic.
In the weekends remaining fixture Athletic Bilbao and Valladolid played to an entertaining 2-2 draw, Valladolid being the happier to come away with a point and move out of the relegation places at this early stage of the season.All in all it was a fairly quiet weekend for Africa’s finest plying their trade in Spain but next week promises another exciting set of fixtures and another opportunity for Africa’s best to show their stuff in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Results:
3/10 Tenerife 0 Deportivo La Coruna 1
3/10 Barcelona1 Almeria 0
3/10 Atletico Madrid 2 Real Zaragoza 1
4/10 Getafe 2 Osasuna 1
4/10 Villarreal 0 Espanyol 0
4/10 Xerez 1 Malaga 1
4/10 Sporting Gijon 4 Mallorca 1
4/10 Valladolid 2 Athletic Bilbao 2
4/10 Racing Santander 0 Valencia 1
