The second round of fixtures concluded on Sunday evening with a 7 goal thriller at Camp Nou but it was a low-scoring weekend prior to that with not many goals around in the other games. Here was the best of the action from La Liga matchday 2:
La Liga Matchday 2 Results, Expected Goals & Highlights
Friday 23rd August 2019
Granada 0-1 Sevilla (xG 0.43-1.39)
Levante 2-1 Villarreal (xG 2.08-2.83)
Saturday 24th August 2019
Osasuna 0-0 Eibar (xG 0.86-0.65)
Real Madrid 1-1 Valladolid (xG 1.73-1.22)
Celta Vigo 1-0 Valencia (xG 2.38-0.68)
Getafe 1-1 Athletic Club (xG 0.27-0.45)
Sunday 25th August 2019
Alaves 0-0 Espanyol (xG 0.68-0.18)
Mallorca 0-1 Real Sociedad (xG 0.87-1.59)
Leganes 0-1 Atletico Madrid (xG 0.38-1.39)
Barcelona 5-2 Real Betis (xG 2.85-0.15)
Links lead to Youtube highlights via the official LaLiga channel and may contain ads.
Valladolid frustrate Los Blancos
This image of Valladolid’s late equaliser against Real Madrid ? pic.twitter.com/Zw9Y2iw4P0
— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 24, 2019
It was a fine opening weekend for Real Madrid as they won at Celta Vigo despite the sending off of Luka Modric. However things didn’t go to plan on matchday 2. A home game with Valladolid was a distinctly winnable one on paper but again Los Blancos found Sergio’s side tough to break down. As was the case in the fixture last season, the game remained goalless heading into the final ten minutes but again Real did find a late breakthrough courtesy of Karim Benzema. As was the case last term, the first quickly brought a second but this time it was at the other end as Sergi Guardiola pounced to secure a valuable point for Valladolid who have taken an excellent return of 4 points from two tricky opening away games.
Ødegaard strikes for Sociedad
1 – Martin Ødegaard has scored his first goal with his first shot on target in LaLiga. Counterattack. pic.twitter.com/6kHB5SYsL5
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 25, 2019
There was brighter news for one Real Madrid player at least as Martin Ødegaard scored his first goal in La Liga. The Norwegian is on loan at Real Sociedad who have made an excellent start to the season now with 4 points from their opening two fixtures, both of which have been away from home. As was the case at the Mestalla on the opening weekend, Sociedad struck late with a fine counter-attacking goal securing a 1-0 victory at newly promoted Mallorca.
Atleti end Butarque Curse
⏱ 94′ [ 0-1 ] ➕3⃣? FT at Butarque!
? Atleti earn a hard-fought win to make it 2⃣ out of 2⃣ in @LaLigaEN!
? Good job, lads! ?
⚽ #LeganésAtleti
?⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/b40IXzM7YN— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) August 25, 2019
It was also a positive weekend for Atletico Madrid and their bid to compete again at the very top end of the league despite a summer of change at the Wanda Metropolitano. They managed to secure a rare win at Butarque, having dropped point away to local rivals Leganes in each of their previous top flight visits. They were just about value for all three points too with Vitolo coming off the bench to be the unlikely match winner.
Griezmann shines of home Debut
The first magical night for @AntoGriezmann at the Camp Nou ✨ pic.twitter.com/HMRET0CEtd
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 25, 2019
Atletico Madrid’s biggest summer departure also had a good weekend. Antoine Griezmann bagged a brace on his competitive home debut for Barcelona. With Leo Messi and Luis Suarez unfit and looking on from the stands, there was plenty of pressure on the Frenchman to lead Barca’s attacking threat and he did that with real quality as the Catalans came from behind to beat a lacklustre Betis side 5-2. The visitors did score two fine goals of their own but they were far too easily opened up with 21 year old Carles Pérez also on the scoresheet on a good day for La Masia graduates with Sergi Roberto shining in what was almost an attacking midfield role meanwhile from the next generation Ansu Fati made his debut at the age of just 16.
Matchday 2 in Numbers
- 39% of the goals scored in La Liga on matchday 2 came at Camp Nou in the Barca-Betis match (7 out of 18).
- Barcelona handed a debut to Ansu Fati who aged just 16 years and 298 days was their youngest debutant in 78 years.
- Atleti claimed their first competitive win at Butarque in 18 years since a 3-0 victory in the Segunda Division in 2001.
- After the second matchday, 4 teams remain yet to concede a goal in La Liga this season – Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Alaves and Osasuna.
- Osasuna failed to win a home league game for the first time in 11 months having won their final 17 home fixtures in the Segunda Division last term.
Up Next…
La Liga is back for matchday 3, the final round of fixtures before the international break this coming weekend. Again there will be two Friday night games including the big Basque derby between Athletic and Real Sociedad, one of Spanish football’s biggest rivalries. Barcelona travel to newly promoted Osasuna on Saturday while the weekend concludes with Real Madrid’s game at Villarreal on Sunday evening.
Check out our Spanish football blog for more analysis and opinion on events on and off the pitch around La Liga.
Follow La Liga Expert on Twitter | Like us on Facebook
could this be a problem for laliga teams ?? last weekend every league averaged 30-33 goals while laliga averaged only 18.is there shortage of goalscorers in laliga ??because i think this will affect the champions league teams
Not sure how it ended, but we did a piece last season on how La Liga seems to be produced less goals than in previous years. Perhaps a bit of a concern for the overall entertainment value of the league. However in terms of the Champions League teams, both Barcelona and Real Madrid are missing their best attacking players at the moment so wouldn’t read too much into it. Atletico are always more defence-orientated – Valencia probably need a bit of time to find their best formula in attack.
by “this will affect champions league team” i mean how the top teams are going to know how good their defense is if the opposite team is not gonna give them a proper test…..well i might be overthinking