La Liga Santander Matchweek 3

Matchweek 3 just concluded in the La Liga Santander, and all of us can agree there were a few surprise results. Although it is fairly early in the season, teams do thrive in these early matches to perform well, as it sets the tone for the upcoming season. 

Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid dropped points as they only managed to draw 1-1 against the recently promoted Levante. Even though Levante were the previous champions of the Segunda Division, Real Madrid, the defending champions, were the clear favorites going into the matchup. Zizou's experimentation with the squad didn't seem to pay off quite as much as he suspected. With the star man Cristiano Ronaldo serving a 5- match ban, Benzema started upfront with Asensio and Vasquez. Levante's Ivi opened scoring before the Madrid team even settled down and hit their rhythm. But it didn't take long for the Blancos to draw level with Lucas Vasquez netting one home after the ball was parried away by the keeper during a set piece routine. However the biggest talking point of the match was Marcelo's sending off towards the end which also earned him a 4-Match ban. Benzema also suffers from a hamstring injury only to add to the woes. Nevertheless it shouldn't take long for the reigning champions to get their act together and get back to their winning ways.

 

On the other hand Barcelona Came out all cylinders firing, to thump their local rivals Espanyol 5-0. The Right Back issue of Barcelona seemed like a thing of the past as the new boy Nelson Semedo seemed to have gelled right into the team. The immediate pressing and intricate passing seemed reminiscent of Guardiola's mighty Barcelona. Leo Messi bagged a hat trick while Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez got one a piece. But the talking point was the introduction of Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona's most expensive signing ever. Although he played for a brief period of time there were a few wonderful sparkling runs and an all important assisst to setup Suarez's goal. Barcelona seemed to have hit their stride after last year's disappointing campaign.  

Another big result from the matchweek was Las Palmas beating Malaga 3 goals to 1. Even though Las Palmas finished 14th last season they showed a lot of promise with the beautiful football they played. Quique Setien set up a wonderful project to revamp the footballing side with new principle's, tactics and understandings. New boss Manolo Marquez seems to have hit the correct note and seems to be heading in the right direction with the club.

Here are the full results from Matchweek 3:

A look at the League table as it stands: