La Liga Results 2014 Week 8: Tracking Final Scores, Top Scorers for Matchday 8
La Liga's top scorers kept up fine form in adding to their tallies with competition resuming in Matchday 8, following a short absence due to the international break.
The likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar were among those featured on the scoresheets once again, but there were a host of others stars out to dazzle in front of goal, too.
Here's the full schedule for Matchday 8:
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| Friday, October 17 | Granada | 0 - 1 | Rayo Vallecano |
| Saturday, October 18 | Levante | 0-5 | Real Madrid |
| Saturday, October 18 | Athletic Bilbao | 1-1 | Celta Vigo |
| Saturday, October 18 | Barcelona | 3-0 | Eibar |
| Saturday, October 18 | Cordoba | 1-2 | Malaga |
| Sunday, October 19 | Atletico Madrid | 2-0 | Espanyol |
| Sunday, October 19 | Deportivo La Coruna | 3-0 | Valencia |
| Sunday, October 19 | Elche | 0-2 | Sevilla |
| Sunday, October 19 | Villarreal | 2-0 | Almeria |
| Monday, October 20 | Real Sociedad | 1-2 | Getafe |
The current top scorer's rankings:
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 15 |
| 2 | Neymar | Barcelona | 8 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 7 |
| 4 | Carlos Bacca | Sevila | 6 |
| 5 | Nolito | Celta Vigo | 5 |
| 6 | Paco Alcacer | Valencia | 4 |
| Alberto Bueno | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | |
| Leo Baptistao | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | |
| Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | 4 | |
| Joaquin Larrivey | Celta Vigo | 4 |
Monday, Oct. 20 Update
Karim Yoda's late double saw Getafe snatch all three points with a 2-1 win away to Real Sociedad on Monday and moved the visitors into the top half of the La Liga table.
It was a very dramatic final ten minutes at Anoeta Stadium as Sociedad substitute Pablo Hervias finally broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute.
The hosts looked to have won it with that strike, only for Yoda to fire into the bottom corner on 90 minutes and tie things up with just stoppage-time remaining.
The deflated home side were then punished further as the Frenchman received the ball in space in the penalty area and side-footed home to claim the win.
As AS alludes to, it was a disaster result for Sociedad and particularly for their manager Jagoba Arrasate as they sit a lowly 16th in the Spanish top-flight:
For Getafe, it was their third win of the season and they now sit in 10th on 10 points with reigning champions Atletico Madrid up next at home.
Sunday, Oct. 19 Update
Sunday brought with it a raft of one-sided affairs in which each match produced a victor and the loser failing to respond.
Atletico Madrid's early kickoff saw Diego Simeone's men get the better of Espanyol thanks to yet more set-piece brilliance, walking away from the Vicente Calderon as 2-0 victors.
OptaJose confirms Atleti's position atop the La Liga pile in terms of set-piece efficiency, their win enough to see them finish Sunday's drama in fifth:
Los Rojiblancos had been higher in the standings for several hours, but Sevilla and Valencia had their opportunities to depose the Madrid outfit, the former taking their chances while the latter could not.
Valencia were handed a 3-0 defeat at the Riazor, Deportivo La Coruna climbing back out of the bottom three after keeping just their second clean sheet of the 2014-15 campaign.
Not only did the result bring an end to Valencia's unbeaten start to the season, but it was also a landmark victory for Depor in terms of scoring margin:
Sevilla would later pounce on that stumble, too, and climbed into second place by virtue of Los Che's loss beating Elche 2-0 away from home to make it seven wins in their last 10 games.
In typical fashion, Carlos Bacca and Kevin Gameiro played their parts as reliable striker partners perfectly, linking up to register a goal each and see their side past another opponent, per Inside Spanish Football:
And joining them in the top six following the late fixture comes Villarreal, who took home a 2-0 win of their own after fending off Almeria.
Ikechukwu Uche was in fine form as the Nigerian netted a brace to take his team past the threat of mid-table Almeria and ascend into sixth, just one point above Celta Vigo.
Saturday, Oct. 18 Update
Real Madrid and Barcelona maintained pace at the summit of La Liga on Saturday, with the star scorers of each outfit getting in on the goal action once again.
Cristiano Ronaldo's brace helped take Real to a 5-0 win over Levante, and it was no surprise that his performance was enough to earn Man of the Match honours from WhoScored.com:
With that, Ronaldo's tally already stands at 15 for the campaign, despite the fact he's only played seven games, which as BBC broadcaster Gary Lineker correctly points out, is rather stupendous:
After the display, Ancelotti was quoted by Goal.com's Stefan Coerts in saying: "What Ronaldo does is impossible. He has to continue with his condition and we will help to keep it that way."
Later in the day, Lionel Messi did his best to match those standards en route to a 3-0 thumping of Eibar, where him, Xavi and Neymar provided the means for victory.
As he so often does, Messi slotted home from a nigh impossible angle to net his 250th Liga goal, Messi Stats showing just how close the Argentinian is to breaking Telmo Zarra's all-time record:
"Video: Goal Messi (3-0) https://t.co/j4S8TMWinP [via @2cules1account]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) October 18, 2014"
"UPDATE | Messi is only 1 goal shy of equalling Telmo Zarra as Spanish all-time goalscorer pic.twitter.com/5aOsiTkAOk
— MESSISTATS (@MessiStats) October 18, 2014"
While those matches had clear victors, Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo failed to produce a winner as they ran to a 1-1 draw, Aritz Aduriz netting for the Basque hosts before Nolito salvaged the point 17 minutes from time.
Malaga gave some hope to their hopes of a top-six finish by winning successive games for the first time this season, beating Cordoba on their own turf 2-0 in Saturday's late fixture.
After a five-match winless streak earlier in the campaign, the Anchovies now look far healthier and are in seventh spot as a result of their most recent triumph, Nordin Amrabat and Samuel providing their goals on the night. Nabil Ghilas struck in the 93rd minute to provide the home team a late consolation.
Friday, Oct. 17 Update
Rayo Vallecano left it late to beat Granada 1-0, with substitute Manucho scoring the winning goal deep in extra time.
Fans of exciting and attacking football were left utterly disappointed on Friday, as both teams served up arguably the least interesting 90 minutes of the young season. The visitors had two small chances during the opening 15 through Luis Carlos Lica and Leo Baptistao, but the match soon settled into a slow rhythm.
Fouls and challenges in the centre of the park ruled the day, and via Marca's Javier Estepa, Baptistao took the full brunt of a Manuel Iturra kick to the back:
The hosts took control of possession late in the first half but failed to do anything in the attacking third, and the teams went into half-time tied 0-0 after running into three yellow cards in eight minutes.
The second half saw much of the same—Granada held the ball and did nothing with it, while Rayo didn't appear to be interested in making anything happen. Emiliano Insua had a half-chance after 65 minutes, but this drab affair appeared destined to end in a 0-0 tie.
Substitute Manucho had other ideas, however. The Angolan appeared to have won it in the 86th minute when he deviated a ball into the back of the net, but he was rightfully judged offside.
Minutes later he got his goal, giving Roberto Fernandez no chance from close range, via Soccer-Spain:
Saturday will see the three top scorers in La Liga all take to the field, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid will visit Levante and Neymar and Lionel Messi will host Eibar with Barcelona.
Ronaldo still holds a big lead in the race to be this year's top scorer and has found the back of the net in eight consecutive matches for his club, per WhoScored.com, and a matchup against lowly Levante should only help his situation.
Carlo Ancelotti confirmed he will change as little as possible concerning his in-form forward, via AS English's Nicholas Rigg:
Neymar and Messi will face Eibar, who have yet to play one of the truly explosive attacking units but have so far held their own against the likes of Atletico Madrid and Villarreal.
