Real Madrid claimed a vital and fortunate win away to Sevilla on Saturday afternoon that saves coach Zinedine Zidane’s job until at least Wednesday.
The only goal of a game which saw Sevilla control most of the ball came after 55 minutes when Ferland Mendy crossed from the left. Vinicius Jr failed to get a decent contact on the ball, but Sevilla keeper Bono was completely fooled by his miss hit and directed the ball into the back of his own goal.
Sevilla struggled to create clear chances afterwards and any chances they did create were dealt with by Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois.
Atletico Madrid moved top of the table (for 24 hours at least) after a 2-0 home win over Valladolid.
Kieran Trippier was decisive for Atletico Madrid with two assists in the game, setting up Thomas Lemar to open the scoring in the 55th minute and then for Marcos Llorente to seal the win in the 71st minute after the full back put him clean through on goal.
Llorente’s energy changed the game completely after he was brought into the game as a half time substitute by Diego Simeone.
FC Barcelona crashed to a shock 2-1 defeat away to Cadiz, who had not won in their Ramon de Caranza Stadium all season.
The home side took the lead from a corner when Alvaro Gonzalez scored from almost on the line after the ball had been flicked on at the near post. Barca then controlled nearly all of the play, but could find no way through a packed and well organized Cadiz defense until Jordi Alba’s deflected 57th-minute shot beat the impressive Ledesma in the Cadiz goal.
Most would have expected Barca to go on and win the game, but a horrific chain of mistakes from Clement Lenglet and Ter Stegen following an Alba throw in allowed Alvaro Negredo to score the winning goal seconds after coming on as a substitute.
Barca threw everything forward, but Cadiz defended heroically to claim a historic win.
Levante claimed a much-needed three points with a 2-0 win at home to Getafe, which was much easier than expected.
Roger Marti opened the scoring for the home side in the fourth minute and Getafe defender Chema was sent off for a high foot at the start of the move that led to the goal.
It was virtually over as a contest in the 16th minute when Dani Gomez keep his cool to make it 2-0 after being sent through and Jorge de Frutos added a third with a powerful show 10 minutes after the break.
Things turned even worse for Getafe after Djene was also sent off leaving the visitors to end the game with just 9 men.
Celta Vigo climbed out of the bottom three on Friday night with a deserved 2-0 win away to Athletic Club Bilbao thanks to second half goals from Hugo Mallo and Iago Aspas, who took advantage of a poor throw out from home keeper Unai Simon to assure the win.