There were big wins for the top three; Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid producing 16 goals between them on a goal-laden Saturday.
Elsewhere there was a disparaging derby defeat for bottom club Real Betis, while one of the Basque sides produced the comeback of the weekend, inspired by a Mexican, to beat Celta Vigo.
Here’s a round up of all the action.
Nine goals, nine scorers
Barcelona and Real Madrid exercised their right to score plenty of goals on Saturday: Gerardo Martino’s men put four past Granada at Camp Nou, before Carlo Ancelotti’s side went to Almeria later and won 5-0.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about those results though, were the names on the score sheets.
Not that they were unusual scorers, just that there was only one goal scored by either Lionel Messi, who was out injured, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who was taken off as a precaution in the second half. Instead the goals were shared around the supporting cast.
Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and Pedro helped themselves to Barcelona’s, while Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Isco and Alvaro Morata joined Ronaldo among the Madrid goals.
Rampant Atleti Keep Up The Heat
Anything Barca and Madrid can do though, Atletico can seemingly do better at the moment.
After witnessing their title rivals record heavy wins, they welcomed Getafe to the Vicente Calderon for a Madrid derby and smashed seven past them – it took the top three’s aggregate score for the weekend to 16-0.
David Villa converted two of his five goal attempts, with Diego Costa emerging from the bench to score a remarkable overhead kick with his only effort of the match.
Two from Raul Garcia, Adrian and an own goal made up Atleti’s seven goals, as Diego Simeone watched his team conjure up 25 shots on goal – luckily for Getafe, Miguel Moya managed to make five saves to keep the score out of double figures.
Mexican magic
When Celta Vigo led 3-1 at Anoeta on Saturday dinnertime, it looked as if Real Sociedad’s renaissance prior to their defeat at the Bernabeu was about to be firmly extinguished from anyone’s thoughts.
Enter Carlos Vela.
More often than not in recent weeks La Real have relied on the goals of Antoine Griezmann, but against Celta the only stat that counted was the four goal haul from their Mexican international, Vela.
The three points lifted Sociedad to sixth in the table, as they look to get back involved with the Champions League race once again.
Managers on the brink?
It’s been a tough run for Pepe Mel at Real Betis of late, and it got even tougher on Sunday night following a derby day mauling at Sevilla.
Betis are now without a win in seven La Liga matches, three points adrift at the bottom of the table and have only mustered one shot on target against Unai Emery’s rejuvenated Sevilla side at the Sanchez Pizjuan.
What is most concerning is their ill-discipline though; Paulao was sent off as Betis racked up an astonishing 21 fouls.
Another manager in the spotlight is Valencia’s Miroslav Djukic.
Los Che lost 2-1 at Elche, who, in turn, moved ahead of them into the top 10, as they continued their wasteful run in front of goal – 23 chances should produce a better return.
Rayo continue conceding, Villarreal keep winning
While the top three did what they do this weekend, a couple of clubs continued their similar patterns too – one more worrying that the other.
Rayo Vallecano had 61 per cent possession against Espanyol, but gave up four goals on their way to a 4-1 defeat – they’ve now conceded 34 goals this season, more than anyone else in La Liga.
Sergio Garcia scored a hat-trick, although two were from the penalty spot.
Meanwhile fourth place Villarreal created 20 chances and kept 58 percent of possession en route to a 3-0 kind-of-derby win against Levante.
The Yellow Submarine have now won eight matches this season following their promotion from La Segunda and are unbeaten in three games.
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