FCBARCELONA.CAT

05.10.2009 12:01

Spanish league roundup – matchday six

Sevilla’s thrilling 2-1 win over Real Madrid on Sunday evening broke the deadlock at the top of the table and left Barça as sole leader. Meanwhile, Valencia’s narrow win away to Racing left them in fifth place ahead of the visit of FC Barcelona.

Barça go clear at the top

Barça now stand alone at the top of the La Liga table after Real Madrid crashed to their first defeat of the league season (2-1) in an intense duel in Sevilla’s Sánchez Pizjuán stadium. This leaves both clubs tied on 15 points in second and third place respectively and sends out a clear signal that Sevilla are determined to have a voice in this year’s league title race. Afterwards, Madrid’s director General Jorge Valdano admitted to reporters that Sevilla had done enough to deserve the three points: “Sevilla’s win was a fair result”.

Win for Valencia ahead of Barça visit

Meanwhile, Deportivo and Valencia both secured narrow away wins (0-1) against Tenerife and Racing to keep up the pressure on the leading group. Serbian international striker, Zigic, scored for Valencia after replacing the injured David Villa, while down in the Canary Islands Deportivo took maximum advantage of Diego Colotto’s set piece goal in the 60th minute.

Alarms bells sound at Villarreal

Atlético Madrid finally won their first league game of the season with a 2-1 home win against Zaragoza to ease the pressure on manager Abel, but Villarreal continued their alarming slide down the table after a goalless draw at home to Espanyol. The Yellow Submarine is now in penultimate position just one point ahead of bottom club Jeréz, who scored their first goal of the season in the 1-1 home draw against Malaga.

In the remaining matches, Getafe beat Osasuna 2-1 to climb into 8th place just a point outside the Europa League places, Sporting hit four against Mallorca (4-1) and Athletic Bilbao held out for a point in their visit to Valladolid (2-2).