La liga week 8 review: Real Madrid and Neymar go top

A highly interesting week in La Liga saw both Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar break records.

Villareal suffered the second successive defeat with the pressure now heaping on David Moyes, Cristiano Ronaldo got one of the three goals for Real Madrid to become Real Madrid all-time club record goal scorer as he moved past Raul Gonzalez to 324 goals.

Real Madrid also move top of the table on goal difference with 18 points when they trashed Levante 3-0 on Saturday.

Goals from Marcelo, Ronaldo and Jese were enough to lift the Los Blancos to the top as they prepare to visit Paris for UEFA Champions League in mid-week. Camp Nou saw Neymar score four goals for the first time in a Barcelona shirt as the Brazilian skipper gave an all-round performance on the night.

Barcelona’s 5-2 win over Rayo Vallecano didn’t come without a scare but the Catalans did well to come back into the game shortly after going behind. An early goal by Javi Guerra was cancelled out by two Neymar first half penalties. The Brazilian added two more in the second half before Luis Suarez got among the act to make it five for Barcelona. Rayo got a late consolation from Jozabed but

Luis Enrique will be excited with the performance of his team as they move joint top with Real Madrid and Celta Vigo although sitting third on goal difference.

Villareal dropped down the log to 5th place after they recorded their second successive defeat in the league. The Yellow Submarines have started the season very well leading the table at some point but another disappointing red card against Celta Vigo proved to be the decisive factor just as last weekend.

Orellana gave Celta Vigo the lead before Bally’s early second half red card. Denis Suarez equalised for Villareal but Celta Vigo scored a late winner by Nolito to get an important 2-1 win awayat the El Madrigal. Celta Vigo is now joint top with Real Madrid and Barcelona with Celta in second place with an inferior goal difference to Real Madrid but superior to Barcelona.

David Moyes will be feeling the pressure now with another home defeat to Athletico Madrid. 9-man Sociedad lost 2-0 at the Anoeta to Diego Simeone’s men with Diego Reyes and Jonathas both seeing red in a match Moyes would have hoped for more.

Antoine Griezmann and Carrasco were the goal scorers for the Madrid based team as they stay 4th on the log moving past Villareal on goal difference.

A 10-man Las Palmas team lost away at Getafe 4-0 with a second half brace from Scepovic after two first half strikes by Rodriguez and Sarabia. Valencia brought Malaga back to earth with an impressive 3-0 home win. A Charles’ own goal together with goals from Gomes and Parejo gave the Los Che a
good home win with Valencia now 8th on the league table.

Deportivo La Coruna did an impressive comeback against Athletic bilbao to stay 6th on the table. Inaki Williams and Aduritz gave Athletic a two goal lead but the host left it late to salvage a point. Goals from Lucas Perez and Arribas in the last 10 minutes earned Deportivo a priceless point.

The battle at Municipal de Ipurua ended 1-1 with Kevin Gameiro scoring the leveller for Sevilla after Baston gave Eibar an early lead. Real Betis lost 1-3 at home to Espanyol with goals from Enzo Roco, Caicedo and Mata before a consolation goal from Betis’ Rennella.

Neymar’s four goals at the weekend moved him to the top of the goal scoring chart with the Brazilian now sitting on 8 goals. The trio of Nolito, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema are all on six goals. Soldado’s influence in Villareal cannot be ignored with the attacker leading the assist chart with four assists to his name.

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