Real Madrid maintain perfect start, Barca and Villarreal pushing hard

Real Madrid are on top of La Liga with the only 100 percent record in Spain after beating Real Betis 2-1 in the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday afternoon.

Vinicius Jr opened the scoring following David Alaba’s long pass and things looked bad for Betis when Nabil Fekir – who previously had a valid penalty appeal turned town – was forced off injured.

Sergio Canales’ crisp finish leveled the scores in the 17th minute, but Rodrygo won the game for Real Madrid in the 65th minute after a good cross from Fede Valverde.

The Brazilian went close to a third as he hit the woodwork as Madrid saw out the game without too many problems.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a couple of excellent saves to keep the scores level in the first 20 minutes as Barcelona won 3-1 away to Sevilla.

Sevilla started well but once Raphinha nodded Barca ahead in the 20th minute, it was all one-way traffic in the other direction.

Robert Lewandowski doubled Barca’s lead in the 36th minute after being given acres of space in the Sevilla area, and Eric Garcia headed in the third five minutes into the second half.

Villarreal’s promising start to the season continues with a comfortable 4-0 win at home to struggling Elche.

Gerard Moreno and Giovani Lo Celso had Villarreal cruising with goals before the break, before late strikes from Francis Coquelin and Jose Luis Morales sealed a win that leaves Unai Emery’s side with 10 points from 12.

Real Sociedad’s new signing Umar Sadiq headed in a second-half equalizer to give his side a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid, who had opened the scoring through Alvaro Morata in the fifth minute.

Morata then had a goal ruled out for offside, and Atletico were unhappy when TV replays showed Sadiq’s header had gone in after rebounding off his hand.

There was further bad news for Atletico when goalkeeper Jan Oblak limped off in the second half with a possible groin injury.

Martin Braithwaite’s first goal since joining Espanyol from FC Barcelona during the week allowed his side to complete a smash-and-grab raid away to Athletic Bilbao, who failed to take chances in the first half and looked to tire in temperatures of over 30 degrees in the second half.

Osasuna beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 thanks to goals from Aimar Oroz and Ruben Sanchez, who was left with a tap-in after a brilliant run and cross by Ez Abde, who arrived on loan from Barcelona during the week.

Florian Lejeune had leveled for Rayo with a free kick, with all the goals coming in the second half.

Valencia found their form with a 5-1 thrashing of Getafe in the Mestalla Stadium. The home side were 3-0 up after just 15 minutes, with Toni Lato, Samuel Limo and Samu Castellejo all scoring, with the second and third goals within seconds of each other.

Goals from Nico Gonzalez and Hugo Duro after 64 and 67 minutes made it 5-0, before Gaston Alvarez netted a consolation for Getafe and Ilaix Moriba was sent off for two needless yellow cards in just 18 minutes.

There were two late goals as Mallorca drew 1-1 at home to Girona, with Antonio Raillo putting the home side ahead in the 86th minute, before Samu Saiz leveled from the penalty spot in the first minute of injury time to save a point for Girona.

On Friday, Iago Aspas took his goals tally for the season to five after scoring twice in Celta Vigo’s 3-0 win at home to Cadiz. Oscar netted Celta’s second goal of the match against a team that have four defeats from four games and no goals this season.