It was a fun-filled week for the the two best football teams in Spain as well as in the world as they both secured all three points against their respective opponents
Image Credit: The Catalan Giants – Twitter
FC Barcelona and their arch-rivals Real Madrid were in action for their their third Liga game of the season with their respective opponents coincidentally clubs from the city of their rivals as Barça faced Madrid club Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid faced Barcelona club Espanyol.
Los Blancos were the first to get into action as they were hosted by Catalan club Espanyol in the afternoon of Saturday. Everyone expected a fight at least from Espanyol but they were totally outclassed and demolished by a ruthless Real Madrid team who even looked unsatisfied with the win.
Cristiano Ronaldo was in blistering form for his team as he scored five times and assisted another goal for Karim Benzema to give Rafa Benitez’ men a comfortable but unlucky 6-0 win over their depleted opponent.
Real Madrid won the game hoping for a slip up from Barcelona four hours later. The Catalans had a tougher task to perform as they were hosted by Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid team. Barça coach Luis Enrique was missing three key players in Dani Alves, Claudio Bravo and Gerard Pique and also started talisman Lionel Messi on the bench. It was the Argentine player that changed the course of the game though when he scored the winning goal after coming off the bench.
Fernando Torres opened the scoring for Los Colchoneros but the goal didn’t last long as Neymar equalised four minutes later from a direct free-kick before Lionel Messi came on to grab the winner in the 77th minute.
The win means Barcelona are two points ahead of Real Madrid on the log and the Catalans are currently top of the table on 9 points with Los Blancos lying in second place on seven.
Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo showed why he is one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the game as he scored 5 times to help Real Madrid to the win. The Portuguese was duly criticised for failing to find the back of the net in four games for club and country this season but scored the goals for those games against Espanyol. Aside from the goal, Ronaldo also provided the assist for the other Real Madrid goal. A brilliant performance for the player who became Real Madrid’s highest ever goal scorer in La Liga.
Lionel Messi was a happy man once again after he welcomed his second son a day before kick-off. However, this made Luis Enrique start him on the bench. He was brought on on 59 minutes and totally took over the game with his fantastic display. He was duly rewarded when he got the game’s winner in the 77th minute, thanks to a fine assist from Luis Suarez. The goal was Messi’s first in the new Liga season as he continues his fantastic career wearing the scarlet and blue of Barça.
