Well, no one can say La Liga is boring!
A week ago, this SBOTOP scribe was taking in an Atletico Madrid derby romp inspired by Julian Alvarez.
Seven days later, and Real are back at the summit after reigning champions Barcelona were on the receiving end of a pummelling of their own at the hands of a former favourite.
At the start of the week, I had tipped Barcelona to seal a statement win against European champions Paris St Germain but the injury-hit Parisiens had other ideas.
Domestically, most people also expected them to face a tricky encounter at Sevilla for the Andalusians can always prove tough opponents, even when they are not at their best.
But few expected La Liga 2025 highlights to be delivered with such aplomb by Matias Almeyda’s men.
Granted, the outcome remained in the balance until stoppage time when Sevilla scored twice to put a one-sided slant on the scoreline but no-one could argue that the best team won.
When Isaac Romero was fouled inside the penalty area, former Barca boy Alexis Sanchez stepped up from 12 yards to open the scoring against his former club.
It was pretty one-way traffic for the remainder of the first half and Romero added a second that the hosts’ play merited when he clinically converted a Ruben Vargas cross eight minutes before the break.
Despite this, Barca were right back in it on the stroke of half-time when Pedri delivered a wonderful cross into the path of on-loan Man Utd star Marcus Rashford and he expertly volleyed home his first La Liga goal.
At that point, the La Liga 2025 betting odds would have backed a Barca comeback and they had a glorious opportunity to equalise in the 76th minute when Alejandro Balde was fouled inside the penalty area by Adnan Januzaj.
However, the usually prolific Robert Lewandowski fired wide, to the delight of the home support, before Sevilla sealed the victory in stoppage time as, first, Jose Angel Carmona fired across Wojciech Szczesny into the far corner before Akor Adams struck to make it 4-1 and seal a famous home victory.
Sevilla had not beaten Barcelona in La Liga for a decade, October 3, 2015, a run of 19 games.
So is top now I hear you ask.
Well Real Madrid, of course, 3-1 winners at Villarreal the previous day when their firepower was evident.
Bouncing back from their derby day defeat, Vinicius Junior scored twice and Kylian Mbappe grabbed the other against battling opponents.
After a frustrating first half which saw the Real players whistled off at the break, it took Vinicius just 90 seconds to break the deadlock at the start of the second period.
The Brazilian forward collected a flick-on from Mbappe, cut inside from the left flank and hit a shot that took a significant deflection.
Real’s main threat added a second from the penalty spot after he was bundled over in the box.
Villarreal reduced the arrears quickly through Georges Mikautadze but a second yellow card for visiting full-back Santiago Mourino, for pulling back Vinicius, made their task even harder and Mbappe made the victory safe by converting a Brahim Diaz cut-back.
The only disappointment for Real was the sight of Mbappe limping off the pitch moments later with what appeared to be a foot injury, although the international; break may give him a chance to recover.
Elsewhere, Real Sociedad continue to struggle and remain in the drop zone after conceding a late goal at home to spirited Rayo Vallecano – Alfonso Espino with the only goal of the contest six minutes from time.
There was better news for fellow early season strugglers Celta Vigo who fought back from a goal down to check Atletico Madrid’s progress as regular marksman, substitute Iago Aspas, cancelled out an own goal against opponents reduced to 10 men before the break when defender Clement Lenglet was shown a second yellow card for preventing a Celta counter-attack.
Better news too for Girona, the team of 2023-24 who achieved so much in such a short space of time.
That was the campaign when, playing in the Spanish top flight for just the fourth time in their history, they finished third in La Liga and qualified for European football for the first time in their history.
That has proven impossible to maintain but they are out of the drop zone after a 2-1 home success against Valencia.
They didn’t make life easy for themselves with two players dismissed in the final 10 minutes but they held on for their first win in 150 days (granted, much of that was the summer break) with goals from Vladyslav Vanat and Arnau Martinez.
Lift-off for Michel and his players?
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
