SEVILLA MOVE TOP OF LA LIGA TABLE AS BARCELONA & MADRID STUMBLE

WINDHOEK, 9 OCT. – After a weekend which witnessed 23 goals across ten games, Sevilla moved to the top of Spanish La Liga table while the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid faltered.
The weekend’s action got underway on Friday night with an exciting match in Bilbao as Real Sociedad beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 largely thanks to a brace from Mikel Oyarzabal.
Saturday saw four games taking place with the biggest shock Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss to Ghanaian Mubarak Wakaso’s Alaves which saw Madrid drop to fourth place on the table. A ten-man Rayo Vallecano lost by the same scoreline to Moroccan Nabil El Zhar’s Leganes who, despite the win, remain in the relegation zone in 18th place.
Enis Bardhi scored the only goal of the game as Ghanaian Emmanuel Boateng’s Levante beat Togolese Djene Dakonam’s Getafe 1-0 while the most exciting game on Saturday saw Moroccan goalkeeper Bono concede two goals as Girona lost 3-2 to Eibar who had Senegal’s Pape Diop in their starting line-up.
Sunday is when Sevilla asserted their presence on the La Liga table with a 2-1 win over a ten-man Celta Vigo to go top of the standings, one point above Barcelona who drew 1-1 with Valencia.
Cameroon’s Karl Toko Ekambi did find the back of the net for Villarreal, but it was in vain as he was on the losing side as Espanyol ran out 3-1 winners to move into fifth place on the table.
The final two games on Sunday were both won by 1-0 scorelines as Valladolid beat Huesca and Atletico Madrid got the better of Betis who had Algerian Aissa Mandi in their starting line-up.
La Liga results, 5-7 October
Friday 5 October
21:00: Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Real Sociedad
Saturday 6 October
13:00: Girona 2-3 Eibar
16:15: Getafe 0-1 Levante
18:30: Alaves 1-0 Real Madrid
20:45: Leganes 1-0 Rayo Vallecano
Sunday 7 October
12:00: Valladolid 1-0 Huesca
16:15: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Betis
18:30: Sevilla 2-1 Celta Vigo
18:30: Espanyol 3-1 Villarreal
20:45: Valencia 1-1 Barcelona – Contributed