Match Day 32 produced a Seville derby classic and some more twists at the bottom but left almost everything still to play for heading into a crunch period of three games in a week. That period commenced over the weekend with some very significant results at the bottom of the table and a big win for Getafe in the race for 4th while red hot Karim Benzema’s fine season continued with a hat-trick for Real Madrid.
Here was the best of the action on match-day 33 in the 2018/19 Spanish Primera Division:
La Liga Match Day 33 Results, Expected Goals & Highlights
Friday 19th April 2019
Alaves 2-2 Real Valladolid (xG 0.70-1.88)
Saturday 20th April 2019
Celta Vigo 2-1 Girona (xG 1.79-0.33)
Eibar 0-1 Atletico Madrid (xG 0.86-1.55)
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Huesca (xG 1.32-1.04)
Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad (xG 1.27-0.88)
Sunday 21st April 2019
Levante 2-2 Espanyol (xG 2.06-2.21)
Getafe 3-0 Sevilla (xG 2.73-0.63)
Real Madrid 3-0 Athletic Club (xG 1.94-0.54)
Villarreal 2-1 Leganes (xG 0.93-1.10)
Real Betis 1-2 Valencia (xG 2.03-0.27)
Links lead to Youtube highlights via the official La Liga channel and may contain ads.
Celta & Villarreal claim Key Wins
Decent response from Leganes to that early scare #VillarrealLeganés pic.twitter.com/YN07vNegpP
— La Liga Expert (@LigaExpert) April 21, 2019
It was a great weekend for surprise strugglers Celta Vigo and Villarreal. Both sides have had very challenging seasons but appear to have found a bit of form at the right time which should now fire them to safety.
Celta Vigo’s success was predictably enough inspired by Iago Aspas. The Galician scored again as Celta won a six-pointer against Girona. They move up to 15th as a result but Girona are now in serious trouble and have another crunch clash away to Valladolid in midweek. Villarreal meanwhile beat Leganes 2-1 on Sunday at the Ceramica to go 14th. Despite a late wobble, they managed to see the game out and it now looks likely that both Celta and Villarreal will be in the top flight again next season.
Sevilla hand victory to Getafe
| ? |
After two VAR penalties & two VAR red cards only one picture symbolizes Getafe? Sevilla. #GETSEV
In what was essentially a Champions League Playoff, Antonio Mateu Lahoz & VAR took centre stage || https://t.co/YFn5jWv8TL pic.twitter.com/8cJguqOUw5
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) April 21, 2019
There was controversy at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez on Saturday. Getafe were awarded two 1st Half penalties by VAR for very similar reasons. Both cases saw Sevilla players jump for the ball and inadvertently strike the ball with their arms. Both penalties were converted and Sevilla’s misery was compounded when Sergio Escudero was sent off for protesting the second penalty. Getafe went on to win 3-0 and reclaim 4th place and pole position in the race for Champions League football.
Betis boo-boys turn on Quique Setién
FINAL | Betis 1-2 Valencia https://t.co/r6ZTzUIhzT #LaLiga #RealBetisValencia pic.twitter.com/bN0vhj2yeh
— MARCA (@marca) April 21, 2019
Just two points now separate Valencia, Getafe and Sevilla in the race for 4th. Los Che made sure of that by winning 2-1 at Real Betis on Sunday evening with Goncalo Guedes continuing his impressive form with a quick-fire double. The result drew fresh ire from the Betis fans who turned on boss Quique Setien, again calling for him to go as they had done when Betis lost by the same margin to Getafe in March. Things may now come to a head in the summer with a change looking very plausible unless Betis can finish the season well and clinch the final European place.
Read more – LLE attended two games this weekend and we’ve a full write-up on the trip to see Levante play Espanyol.
Match Day 33 in Numbers
- Iago Aspas scored his 6th goal in 4 games since returning from injury. He is again the top scoring Spaniard in La Liga despite having only started 21 of his team’s 33 games.
- Villarreal recorded back-to-back league wins for only the 2nd time this season. Both feats have come since the reappointment of Javi Calleja.
- Real Betis have lost 56% of their league games in 2019.
- Valencia won their 4th straight match in all competitions and have now lost just 1 in 22.
- Huesca have drawn all their last 4 in La Liga to all but guarantee they will be playing second tier football next term.
- Karim Benzema’s hat-trick means he has now scored all of Real Madrid’s last 8 goals.
Up Next…
There’s a full midweek schedule in La Liga. We will be previewing all the Thursday games so look out for that. Highlights of the midweek action include a relegation six-pointer between Valladolid and Girona. Barcelona meanwhile can win the title as early as Wednesday if they beat Alaves and Atletico Madrid are defeated at home by Valencia.
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Article via Mark Sochon – Contact: marksochon(at)hotmail.co.uk | @marksoc1 on Twitter
