The Spanish Take: La Liga Roundup Matchday 9

The biggest match in football was played this week, it was the El Clasico. Madrid delivered a big blow in the title race as they went into a 3-point lead at the top of the table. Atleti had their new signing Griezmann to thank as they ran out 1-0 winners against Bilbao and a lot more in this week’s Spanish Take.

Also read: Predicting The Top 5 Premier League Strikers 2022/23 Other Than Erling Haaland

El Clasico

The first real test for Barca in the league this season, and they were handed a bitter reality check. The European and Spanish Champions are still the big dogs around here. Benzema, Valverde, and Rodrygo got on the scoresheet for Los Blancos, while Ferran’s goal ultimately was only a consolation. The victory leaves Madrid as the only unbeaten side in the league.

This loss was entirely down to the wastefulness of Barca in front of the goal. To their credit, Xavi’s men really started turning the screws on Madrid and had a few clearcut chances but lacked the criticality of Madrid in front of goal.  The game actually ended 1.18 – 2.16 in Barca’s favour on xG, showing that on another day, things could have been very different.

But c’est la vie, games like these are all about the fine margins, and once again, it is Madrid who makes the most of their chances and gets the win. In a week that Madrid secured their qualification to the R16 of the UCL and won the El Clasico, Barca has pretty much been knocked out of the UCL and lost the biggest match of their season.

The Barca frontline was ultimately toothless as they barely tested Lunin. Lewandoski in particular was kept extremely silent by the Madrid defenders. Dembele did his tricks but lacked the final pass, Raphinha looked like Barca’s main threat going forward till he was taken off. Fati was full of life and ultimately created the only goal Barca scored.

Valverde is truly a class apart, a big game player who delivers when it matters. At the start of the season, Don Carlo had told him that he needed to add goals to his game, and the Uruguayan has gone and done just that. 4G and 1A in 9 games so far.

Fede Valverde always shows up in El Clasico pic.twitter.com/jqF1ZMe7FR

— 🕊️ (@idoxzi) October 16, 2022

The Prodigal Son Rescues Atleti

Having put the contract shenanigans behind him, Griezmann started a key match for Atleti and scored the winning goal. This was an important match for the standings and to be fair, the first half was a dull affair. Morata had his goal ruled out early in the first half, but baring that nothing much to report.

I don’t know what Simione did in the dressing room, but it seemed to have done the trick. 78s into the second half, Griezmann cooly slotted home a shot to send the tiny section of Atleti fans tucked high up in the San Mames. The home fans roared their team on who thew the kitchen sink at Atleti, but they held firm. The Basque outfit thought they had their chance right at the death, being awarded a penalty, but VAR ruled it out.

Atleti held on and leapfrogged Bilbao into third place 3 points off Barca in second.