It wasn’t the most satisfying comebacks for Barcelona’s Dani Alves, who made an assist in his first game for the club since departing in 2016. The same wasn’t the case for their arch-rivals Real Madrid, who steered further clear with a sensational 4-1 win against Valencia. They are within Valencia’s catching distance but are maintaining a stronghold on the top position.
The Catalan giants went to the Nuevo Los Carmenes to face Granada, and there was no separating both sides in the first half. In the second half, turning back the clock to the golden era for Barcelona, Daniel Alves delivered an inch-perfect cross to the right side, and Luuk de Jong was there to meet it in the box before steering it past Luis Maximiano.
Blaugrana got their foot off the pedal and allowed the opponents to take control of possession but created some very good chances on the counter. They nearly had the game heading into the final 10 minutes, but Gavi, who was cautioned in the first half, committed another reckless foul, which got him sent off.
With the visiting side down to 10 men, Marc-Andre ter Stegen was asked some serious questions. He made a couple of terrific saves to deny the hosts a goal but couldn’t do it for far too long.
With one minute left in normal time, Granada got their equalizer from Antonio Puertas. Xavi was left with another frustrating draw to his credit, which turned out to be the 12th game in which the Catalan club have dropped points this season out of 20.
Barcelona missed their chance of heading into the top four with this fixture, but Real Sociedad didn’t do that. They had a tricky home clash against Celta Vigo, but they emerged victorious courtesy Mikel Oyarzabal’s solo goal in the first half. Aritz Elustondo had a goal disallowed upon VAR consultation, and Ander Barrenetxea’s men had not a lot of troubles to complete this win.
Roberto Soldado opened the scoring in an action-packed second half between Levante and Mallorca after the scoreline read 0-0 at half-time. Brian Olivan had the chance to put Mallorca back on level terms, but Aitor Fernandez was equal to it and saved his penalty just after the hour mark.
Things got heated when Jose Campana received a straight red for his tackle, but Levante managed to see the game through, and got a late goal in the 97th minute from Jose Morales, to seal a 2-0 win.
Real Madrid’s hunt for the La Liga title had another good chapter on Saturday with the club registering a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Valencia.
The Bats had some control in the proceedings at the Bernabeu, but once they conceded a penalty just minutes before the first half ended, Real kept soaring forward. Karim Benzema converted from the spot imperiously to give them the lead.
Vinicius Junior danced through some defenders with a stroke of luck and steered it home from 10 yards to get his first of the day. Less than 10 minutes later, he made it three for Madrid when Jasper Cillesen could not parry Marco Asensio’s shot too far away, and the Brazilian tapped it home from close range.
Goncalo Guedes netted for the visiting side from the spot with more than 20 minutes remaining, sparking some hopes of a comeback, but Ferlan Mendy and Benzema did very well on the counter to make it 4-1 for the hosts.
The Frenchman picked up Mendy’s ball and took a touch before a composed finish into the bottom corner. This victory took the Los Blancos eight points clear at the top, but second-placed Sevilla have two games in hand.
