La Liga matchweek 3 review: Paco Acacer late winner to historic Cristiano Ronaldo

Spanish Primera Liga Week 3 saw movement on the table with both Real Madrid and Barcelona now taking control.

Real Madrid’s visit to Espanyol was without Danilo and James Rodriguez but there was little or nothing to show they missed the duo. Los Blancos gave a perfect display with the trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all performing at the very best.

Real Madrid moved second on the log with the 6-0 win at Espanyol with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring five and also added an assist. Although, Gareth Bale failed to add to his brace in previous Liga match, the Welshman provided two of Ronaldo’s goals and also won a penalty which the Portuguese attacker converted. 

Benzema got his second of the season in a match dominated by Real Madrid. After failing to find the net consistently, Benitez’s men have now scored eleven goals in the last two matches in the league and will hope to take the same form into the Uefa Champions League in midweek.

The biggest match of the weekend was at Vicente Calderon where two title contenders clashed.

Defending Champions, Barcelona had to come from a goal down to secure all three points over Athletico Madrid which took them to the top of the league table in a match that ended 2-1 in favour of Barcelona. 

Despite falling behind to a Fernando Torres strike early in the second half, Barcelona levelled the match with a brilliant strike from Brazillian captain, Neymar although they needed the introduction of the current European best layer, Lionel Messi to seal three points.

Messi got the winner for Barcelona in the last quarter of the match to place ‘the Catalan’ team in a good position.

It took substitute Paco Alcacer’s late strike for Valencia to get the maximum three points away at Sporting Gijon in a highly contested encounter.

Although both teams created many chances, finding the back of the net proved difficult on a sunny afternoon. Valencia won 1-0 to move up to 7th on the  table on five points leaving Gijon on 15th position with just two points.

Sevilla got their first goal of the season but could only manage a 1-1 away draw at Levante. Former Stoke City midfielder Steven Nzonzi got Sevilla off to a flyer only to see Levante’s Camarasa cancel out the goal in the second half.

Unai Emery will definitely need to work on his team as they sit 18th on the table with two points. Levante also has two points but a better goal difference placed them 14th on the log. Athletico Bilbao did well to get their first win of the season at home to Getafe.

Bilbao’s 3-1 win was enough to place them in the top half of the table where they sit 9th. Getafe
however are yet to get a single point this season with the team currently placed 20th.

Many predicted an easy win for Celta Vigo at home against Las Palmas, but Celta were forced to a 3-3 draw after 10-man Palmas came from 3-1 down to get an important point at the Estadio Municipal de Balaidos.

Villareal also got a 3-1 away win at Granada while a 10-man Real Betis held on to a 1-0 win over David Moyes’ Real Sociedad thanks to lone strike from Ruben Castro.

However, Malaga CF were held to a goalless draw at home by Eibar.

The last fixture of week 3 will be between Rayo Vallecano and Deportivo La Coruna on Monday 14th September, 2015.

Cristiano Ronaldo moved up speedily to the top of Pichichi race with his stunning five goals at the weekend. Nolito and Cedric Bakambu both scored at the weekend with both now having three goals to their names.

Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez were joined on two goals by Karim Benzema while the Barcelona trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all have a goal each to their names.

Written by @zikson_b