LaLiga Hangover: Real, Barcelona and Atletico Take Turns Showing Little Chinks

The great British philosopher Bernard Williams once said: "We grow a little every time we do not take advantage of somebody's weakness." A leading voice on the concept of morality, Williams probably nailed it with that one, but you sense LaLiga had its earmuffs on at the time. 

Spain's top division is a place where morality is a loose concept; where what you do only matters through the prism of what the other lot does; where taking another's weakness and parading it through the streets on a stick is the modus operandi. 

Except on Wednesday. 

On an evening that was only missing a coined slogan dreamed up by an overly aroused marketing department, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid all went home not so much celebrating weaknesses but quietly lamenting them—their own, that is.

For each, this had been an opportunity, not the decisive sort but more a setting-of-the-tone kind. Real's centred on establishing a more-than-handy early lead, Barcelona's was to atone for Alaves and maintain a grip, and Atleti's was to do what they'd never done. But in a way, all of them undid themselves. 

Not that we minded. Real Madrid's continuing habit for starting games rather sleepily gave us Raphael Varane's memorable/forgettable (cross out as you wish) attempt at a Cruyff turn, Sergio Ramos' ongoing evolution into a caricature of himself, Bruno's "Panenka" and a furious late barrage from Real. 

It was a lot of fun, particularly with Ramos. The Real Madrid captain is supposed to be one of the world's finest defenders, but in truth it's been quite a while since he's looked anything like that. But what he lacks in guile, he compensates for in entertainment.

On Wednesday, his giving away of a penalty stemmed from a moment in which he looked to be playing a different sport, handling the ball above his head as though he was completing a layup. But only he can respond by heading in the equaliser a couple of minutes later, giving the world a new verb in the process. Still, 1-1 wasn't what the Ramos ordered. 

By 10:40 p.m., that result looked damaging. At the Camp Nou, Barcelona's early dominance over Atletico was extreme, and you wondered where the Atletico you've known had gone.

On the touchline, Diego Simeone's new preference for a messy sort of mop didn't emit the same menace of his old look that could have slotted him nicely into Scarface. He just looks a bit nicer now, and we're not sure how we feel about that. 

It wasn't just him, either. For the opening half, Simeone's players were without that lacing of nastiness that we've grown to take a weird comfort in. Atleti had a lot of talent on the pitch in Antoine Griezmann, Koke, Saul Niguez, Kevin Gameiro and Yannick Carrasco, but there was a bit of that word that's not allowed here that was missing. 

Barcelona moved the ball around with speed and found little pockets of space that Atleti normally don't give up. Lionel Messi and Neymar tested Jan Oblak frequently before Ivan Rakitic did what Ivan Rakitic now does. 

Like their neighbours from the capital, Atleti had revealed their own chinks rather than having them found by others. Simeone knew it, too. 

"The key was the change in the second half, when we became ourselves again," the Argentinian said afterwards, per Marca. "We couldn't show that in the first half, but in the second half we returned to who we are, pressed and attacked more intensely."

Those changes he spoke of were the introductions of Angel Correa and Fernando Torres, but privately Simeone might concede it was those forced upon Luis Enrique that really made the difference.

Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi had to go off; Andre Gomes and Arda Turan replaced them, respectively. Losing the blond fella is always tough, but having to swap Busquets for Gomes is like being asked to trade tomato sauce for Nando's Extra Hot—they're both good, but the latter is not what you need when trying to keep a lid on it. 

Immediately, Atleti found ways through the Barcelona midfield on the break. Griezmann led the charge, the typically defensive Simeone threw the kitchen sink and accompanying plumbing at Barcelona, and Correa scored within a minute of Messi going off to get his team a point. It helped that Javier Mascherano's issue with friction continued, as did the rediscovery of that word again from Diego Godin and Filipe Luis. 

Luis, though, didn't look quite so hard later on when using injuries from the playground at Show and Tell. Luis Suarez, ever the class bully, was quite happy to pull him up on it. 

So where does it all leave us? "Exactly where we were," you can hear the smartarses muttering up the back, and in numerical terms that's true. But this was a night—"Wild Wednesday," if it was up to Sky Sports—that shone an intriguing light on each of LaLiga's behemoths. 

As this season approached, perhaps the overriding theme of the summer in Spain was the ominous serenity emanating from those at the top of the league. Though Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico all had their tasks to tick off, it was the concurrent stability that stood out. The reason? It was new.  

Since Simeone's rise at the Vicente Calderon, never had all three title contenders entered a season with the same managers and largely untouched starting XIs. But this time they did.

The anticipation became that blistering starts and a squash-everything-else dash to the line would follow, vulnerabilities as abundant as Nissan Micras in their car parks. And yet, five weeks in, we can see some—the vulnerabilities, not the Micras (don't be silly). 

At Real Madrid, the lethargy of Wednesday's opening half is something Zinedine Zidane has seen before but hasn't quite eradicated. "We started complacently," he said at the post-match press conference. "We have to work on it because it's not the first time we've started a game in this manner."

The Frenchman will also be concerned that his captain is becoming part-footballer, part-stooge, and that Varane's development isn't progressing at the rate it once was. Zidane might also wonder why he chose to rest Luka Modric against a team as organised as Villarreal.

At least he didn't lose his lead. He has his rivals to thank for that. 

At Barcelona, Mascherano is enduring a difficult period, and the drop-off when Busquets is taken out remains a little too large for comfort. Messi's injury complicates things, too, and though the initial inclination was not to believe Suarez when he told TV3 (h/t Sport) during the week that Barcelona were "human beings," maybe he was right after all. 

It's not just them who look like such, either. Two years ago when they lifted the league title, there was an animalistic snarl to Atletico that said, "Is that all ya got?" while spitting at your feet. Since then, Simeone's side has grown technically and tactically, but they have lost a little of their old selves in the process.

No longer are the likes of Diego Costa, Raul Garcia, Miranda, Mario Suarez and Mario Mandzukic demolishing ankles and spreading noses; now it's faster and sharper but a bit less unpleasant, and you sense Barcelona and Real Madrid might prefer that. 

On Wednesday, all of them showed just enough of a weakness, and yet none took advantage. Williams might have smiled. Or not. 

Demolition Derby 

There wasn't a lot of football played, but that's never the point. The Seville derby was everything we expected of a Seville derby. 

Hours before kick-off, the customary march of Real Betis fans to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan put that edge in the air that's unique to this fixture in LaLiga. Inside, Sevilla's hymn, with its crescendo into "y es por eso que hoy vengo a verte, Sevillista sere hasta la muerte"—"And that is why I came here today to see you, I'll be a Sevillista until death"—was its usual spine-tingling affair.

Then kick-off arrived, and it kicked off alright. 

Fewer than two minutes were needed for the first appearance of the yellow card, and they came thick and fast thereafter as players from both sides engaged in white-line-housed combat. Betis' Bruno embraced that more than anyone, giving, as described by AS, his "best Bruce Lee impression" by putting a boot in the face of Luciano Vietto. "That's just a passing incident [in this one]," AS added.

Referee Estrada Fernandez only needed a bowtie to complete the picture. 

In the end, a scrappy goal from Gabriel Mercado—cue the cheesy headlines, just like this one—settled a rumble that was exactly that. That shouldn't have settled it, though, as Betis were wrongly denied an equaliser for Alex Alegria.

The decision was, well...

Understandably, Betis manager Gus Poyet was livid. "Five games so far, and I'm already fed up with all of the mistakes against us," he said at the post-match press conference, per ESPN FC. "I want the head of referees to give me an explanation, because it was so evident that I want to know."

The best part, however, was Poyet taking his laptop into the press conference for evidence. 

Not Forgotten Amid the Hangover

• The biggest story of the round came before a ball had even been kicked, not that we hadn't all seen it coming. Valencia sacked manager Pako Ayestaran on Tuesday following four straight defeats to start the season and seven straight dating back to last. It was Los Che's worst run in LaLiga, and someone was going to pay for it. Of course, sacking Ayestaran is not the answer, but Valencia don't know the answer because they first haven't identified the question. 

• Juande Ramos' Malaga are now off and running. After opening the season without a win in four, the Andalusians fought past Eibar on Tuesday with two brilliant goals from Sandro Ramirez and Youssef En-Nesyri. Is this the start of something for the ex-Barcelona man? 

• Iago Aspas' 87th-minute penalty against Sporting Gijon felt like an important moment in Celta Vigo's season. Eduardo Berizzo's men had one point from 12 heading into Wednesday, and now stripped of Nolito and Augusto Fernandez, there's a lightweight look about them. Three points just ease the tension a little. 

• We're only five weeks in, but already it looks as though Granada will need another late rescue job this season. 

• Raul Garcia is at it again. 

• Hands up who saw Real Sociedad's mauling of Las Palmas coming? That's right, no one. 

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