Round 9 of La Liga BBVA sees Real Madrid suffer their first loss in a season that has seen the teams at the top of the table look sloppy.
Real Madrid lose in Round 9
Los Blancos continue their inconsistent start to the season by losing to RCD Mallorca in Round 9. The tough part to swallow for Madrid might be that Mallorca scored with their only shot on target of the match. Madrid weren’t much better with only 4 on target themselves after 64% possession. They managed 14 shots total and overall were very wasteful in this contest.
The loss sees Madrid lose their lead at the top and now lay in second place. They’ve only won five out of their first nine matches. That shows you how inconsistent the rest of the league has been.
Barcelona Take Over First Place
Round 9 saw the return of Lionel Messi to the Barcelona lineup and he got back to business as usual after his injury problems. Suarez, Messi and Griezmann all started together and all three scored. If Messi can finally stay healthy, maybe Barcelona can find a level of consistency in their play.
Even though the Catalan club find themselves in first place, they’ve already lost twice to start the season. Real and Atletico must really feel like they’ve wasted a golden opportunity to pull away from Barca to start the season. It remains to be seen if Messi plays during the week in the Champions League after such an extended absence.
Atletico Madrid Drop More Point at Home
Diego Costa opened the scoring for Atletico in their Round 9 clash with Valencia. He converted a penalty in the 36 minute and it appeared for most of the match that it would be enough to get a victory. Dani Parejo had other ideas and he was able to equalize in the 82 minute to earn Los Ches an important away draw.
Valencia are off to a disappointing start to the season after all of the turmoil going on at the club recently. That’s five unbeaten matches after their last loss which came at the hands of Barcelona. Valencia are competing in the Champion’s league this season so they will want to make sure they handle their business domestically.
Rest of the Round 9 La Liga Round Up
The rest of the action in La Liga BBVA saw Sevilla manage to earn a 1-0 win at home. The goal came courtesy of Luuk de Jong in the 86th minute to earn a much needed win for the club from the south of Spain. The three points sees them on 16, only three points behind leaders Barcelona.
The table is wide open at the moment which is rarely the case in Spain after Round 9. This is better for the league as predictability gives fans less reasons to tune in. It’s good to see there be some challengers to the monopoly held by the Madrid and Catalonian teams. It probably won’t last too much longer but it is fun to dream of a new champion in Spain. Valencia were the last team to break up to the duopoly.
