Barca; Madrid on the Road in Matchday 2

Matchday 1 in La Liga begun with a dreary goalless stalemate as Girona hosted newly promoted Valladolid last Friday. That result was hardly a sign of things to follow as 26 strikes found the back of the net in the remaining nine games in Spain. Barcelona and Real Madrid both got off to winning starts although Sevilla are the early table-toppers with a superior goal difference. Huesca opened their maiden top-flight campaign with a 2-1 win away at Eibar while UEFA Super Cup winners Atletico Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia on Monday.

La Liga 18/19 weekend fixtures:

Friday, August 24^th

Getafe vs Eibar
Leganes vs Sociedad

Saturday, August 25^th

Alaves vs Real Betis
Atletico Madrid vs Vallecano
Valladolid vs Barcelona

Sunday, August 26^th

Espanyol vs Valencia
Sevilla vs Villarreal
Girona vs Real Madrid

Monday, August 27^th

Leganes vs Celta Vigo
Bilbao vs Huesca

REAL VALLADOLID VS FC BARCELONA

STADIO JOSE ZORRILLA, VALLADOLID

Real Valladolid secured promotion back to the top-flight after overcoming the Segunda Division playoff final last season and earned their first precious point of the campaign with the 0-0 draw at Girona, despite mustering just two shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes.

Next up for the Blanquivioleta’s is a home tie against the might of the defending champions Barcelona containing the likes of Lionel Messi and co. The enigmatic Argentinian was twice on target for the Blaugrana as they eased past Alves 3-0 on opening day.



Barcelona will still hold bitter memories from their last trip to Valladolid where they slumped to a 1-0 defeat in March 2014, eventually shipping the league title to Atletico Madrid in the process. In three previous meetings between the pair, Barca have come away victorious on all three occasions scoring nine goals in the process, conceding just three.

SEVILLA VS VILLARREAL

RAMON SANCHEZ PIZJUAN STADIUM, SEVILLE

The early league leaders Sevilla showed early signs of promise with their opening day demolition of newly-promoted Rayo Vallecano. Summer signing from AC Milan Andre Silva netted a superb hat-trick before Vallecano scored a late consolation penalty but it could not take the gloss away from a fine 4-1 win. Los Rojiblancos will still have lots of work to do over the course of the season if they are to improve on their shambolic defensive record from last season when they conceded a whopping 58 times.

The Yellow Submarines opened with a 2-1 home defeat against Real Sociedad despite leading through Gerard Moreno’s 16th minute strike. They came away with a 2-2 draw from Sevilla in the corresponding fixture last season, extending their unbeaten run at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to two games in the process, following on from the 0-0 draw in 2016/17. Villarreal’s last victory over Sevilla came back in October 2010 – now winless in five attempts.

GIRONA VS REAL MADRID

ESTADI MONTILIVI, GIRONA

The Blanquivermell are participating in just the second-ever season in the top-flight having first been promoted at the end of the 2016/17 season. The Gironistes will be praying that lighting does indeed strike twice in the same place following their shock, come-from-behind 2-1 win over Los Blancos in their maiden meeting at the Estadi Montilivi in the corresponding fixture in October last year. Real Madrid returned the favour in the reverse fixture at the Bernabeau turning in a 6-3 trouncing with former forward Cristiano Ronaldo on the scoresheet four times.
 


Julen Lopetegui got his Real Madrid tenure off to a winning start, beating local rivals Getafe 2-0, to put to bed the bad memories of losing out on the UEFA Super Cup to near neighbours Atletico. Girona’s opening 0-0 draw set them on their way to improving on their 10^th placed finish in the last campaign.

ATHLETIC BILBAO VS SD HUESCA

SAN MAMES STADIUM

Two teams with identical records heading into the second matchday are pitted against each other in a mouth-watering Monday Night Football prospect. Athletic Bilbao, courtesy of Iker Muniain’s 93^rd minute winner, claimed all three points and sit fifth, just one place ahead of Huesca who are competing in their debut season in the Primera Division. They begun life in La Liga with a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Eibar. Alejandro Falguera’s first half double ensured they had enough in their locker to survive a second-half onslaught.

This will be the first-ever top-flight meeting between these two clubs.

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