La Liga Results 2014 Week 9: Tracking Final Scores, Top Scorers for Matchday 9
La Liga's three top scorers will take to the pitch together on Saturday, as Real Madrid and Barcelona will battle it out in 2014-15's first Clasico.
The hosts have been scoring almost at will and field the most in-form forward on the planet in Cristiano Ronaldo, but the duo of Lionel Messi and Neymar have combined for just as many goals as the Portuguese star, setting the stage for an epic match.
Elsewhere, Paco Alcacer will have a great opportunity to add to his tally when Valencia host Elche, while Carlos Bacca won't have it easy as Villarreal pay Sevilla a visit.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
The full schedule for Matchday 9:
| Friday, Oct. 24 | Celta Vigo | 3-0 | Levante |
| Saturday, Oct. 25 | Almeria | 0-1 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Saturday, Oct. 25 | Real Madrid | 3-1 | Barcelona |
| Saturday, Oct. 25 | Valencia | 3-1 | Elche |
| Saturday, Oct. 25 | Cordoba | 1-1 | Real Sociedad |
| Saturday, Oct. 25 | Eibar | 1-1 | Granada |
| Sunday, Oct. 26 | Malaga | 4-0 | Rayo Vallecano |
| Sunday, Oct. 26 | Espanyol | 0-0 | Deportivo La Coruna |
| Sunday, Oct. 26 | Sevilla | 2-1 | Villarreal |
| Sunday, Oct. 26 | Getafe | 0-1 | Atletico Madrid |
Updated league standings:
| 1 | Barcelona | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 3 | +20 | 22 |
| 2 | Sevilla | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 9 | +8 | 22 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 10 | +23 | 21 |
| 4 | Valencia | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 20 |
| 5 | Atletico Madrid | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 20 |
| 6 | Celta Vigo | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 16 |
| 7 | Malaga | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 15 |
| 8 | Villarreal | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 14 |
| 9 | Rayo Vallecano | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 16 | -5 | 11 |
| 10 | Espanyol | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 10 |
| 11 | Getafe | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 10 |
| 12 | Eibar | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 10 |
| 13 | Granada | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 9 |
| 14 | Almeria | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 9 |
| 15 | Athletic Club | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 8 |
| 16 | Deportivo La Coruna | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 8 |
| 17 | Real Sociedad | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | -4 | 6 |
| 18 | Levante | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 23 | -19 | 5 |
| 19 | Elche | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 21 | -13 | 5 |
| 20 | Cordoba | 9 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 5 |
The updated top-scorer's list:
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 16 |
| 2 | Neymar | Barcelona | 9 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 7 |
| Carlos Bacca | Sevila | 7 | |
| 5 | Joaquin Larrivey | Celta Vigo | 6 |
| 6 | Nolito | Celta Vigo | 5 |
| 7 | Paco Alcacer | Valencia | 4 |
| Alberto Bueno | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | |
| Leo Baptistao | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | |
| Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | 4 |
Sunday, Oct. 26 Recap
Sunday's schedule featured a varying mix of fixtures both closely fought and otherwise, but by far the most dominant performance came from Malaga, who drilled Ray Vallecano 4-0 in Andalusia.
Nordin Amrabat was on fine form as the winger set up two goals before netting the Anchovies' fourth with a second-half penalty. OptaJose confirms Malaga's winning when facing Rayo at home in recent years:
Rayo defender Antonio Amaya spoke to La Liga TV (h/t Inside Spanish Football) after the match and admitted his side were bested in every portion of the match:
"The scoreboard doesn’t just tell the story, Málaga were superior to us in every respect and were deserving victors. Now we’ll just have to turn the page on this and correct all the mistakes we’ve made today. I think we’re a great team, but today we haven’t demonstrated that or gone out there with enough intensity.
"
Later in the day, Sevilla secured arguably their most important points of the season thus far with an extremely late comeback to beat Villarreal 2-1, points that the visitors will feel should have been theirs.
Luciano Vietto opened the scoring in the 79th minute, but a wave of Sevilla pressure told as the home team struck twice in the final five minutes to grasp victory from their foes.
Denis Suarez equalised with two minutes of normal time remaining before a controversially awarded penalty in the 93rd minute was converted by Carlos Bacca, Sevilla possibly rediscovering a new era of title contention:
In a fixture almost as tight, Deportivo La Coruna managed to come away from Espanyol with a point to their name following Sunday's goalless draw at Estadio Cordelia-El Prat.
After last weekend's shock 3-0 win over Valencia, the result is a far better one for Depor, who are now three points away from the relegation zone while Espanyol miss the chance to cement their top-half status further.
Espanyol will be particularly frustrated with the result considering they held almost 60 percent of possession and more than three times (16) the amount of shots that their opponents did (5), per WhoScored.com.
In Sunday's final meeting, Atletico Madrid beat Cosmin Contra's Getafe side 1-0 thanks to a first-half effort from Mario Mandzukic, who is beginning to come upon his first steady streak of scoring form under Diego Simeone:
Getafe centre-back Alexis was sent off 10 minutes into the second half, but the hosts surprisingly prevented the floodgates from open and managed to go toe-to-toe with their city rivals for a majority of the tie.
Atleti could have done with more scoring, too, as they go back level on points with Valencia but miss out on the top four due to goal difference.
Saturday, Oct. 25 Recap
Two of La Liga's three top scorers were on target during El Clasico, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar both found the net in Real Madrid's 3-1 win over Barcelona.
The Brazil international struck first after just four minutes, finding himself with space after a clever pass from debutant Luis Suarez. Neymar cut inside and tucked his effort into the bottom corner, well out of the reach of Iker Casillas.
Karim Benzema nearly ended Claudio Bravo's clean streak after 10 minutes, hitting the cross bar and the post just seconds apart. It was just a stay of execution, however, as a Gerard Pique hand ball gave Ronaldo the chance to equalise from the penalty spot.
As shared by Squawka Football, the Portugal international is averaging an astonishing two goals per match:
Pepe was left wide open to head home the 2-1 off a corner, and Benzema got his name on the scoresheet midway through the second half after a nifty little ball from James Rodriguez.
Los Blancos fully deserved the win on Saturday, as the Blaugrana were a shell of the team that had dominated La Liga up to this point in the second half. Manager Carlo Ancelotti was full of praise for his troops:
ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan couldn't help but note the Catalans have struggled against the two world-class opponents they've played this season:
Valencia continued their hot start to the season with a 3-1 win over Elche, taking full advantage of the visitors' inability to defend set pieces. Shokdran Mustafi and Daniel Parejo converted on corner kicks just minutes apart, killing the fixture early in the first half.
The hosts were happy to calmly close out the match, and Pablo Piatti forced an own-goal from David Lomban in the second half to build the lead even further. Elche pulled one back through Jonathas late, but the win was never in doubt for Valencia.
As shared by OptaJose, the Mestalla stadium is quickly becoming somewhat of an impregnable fortress:
Xabier Etxeira's lone goal gave Athletic Bilbao three pivotal points visiting Almeria, as the Basques picked up only their second win of the season. The visitors have struggled tremendously since the loss of Ander Herrera to Manchester United, and their performance against Almeria was far from ideal.
Manager Ernesto Valverde will hardly care, however—Athletic have finally put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone, and Saturday's win could help spark a run of results that sees the Basques return to the top part of the standings.
Friday, Oct. 24 Recap
Celta Vigo's Joaquin Larrivey continued his fine form in Friday's opening fixture of Matchday 9, scoring twice to help his team beat lowly Levante 3-0.
The 30-year-old Argentine was as clinical as ever when he opened the score in the 27th minute, converting from close range after some quality buildup play from the hosts. Diego Marino received no help from his defenders, who were woefully caught out of position when Larrivey received the ball.
Celta were happy to take their foot off the gas and hardly pressed for a second goal, and it nearly cost them in the 71st minute. Andreas Ivanschitz unleashed a devastating shot from 20 yards out, hitting the cross bar with Sergio Alvarez beaten.
The hosts responded just minutes later, Larrivey finding himself in the perfect position to slot home the rebound after Marino parried Nolito's initial effort. As shared by OptaJose, Larrivey has made a bit of a habit out of scoring in these meetings:
The match now died down and Celta Vigo added a third in injury time, with stopper Marino making the kind of error goalkeepers never wish to make. Alex Lopez's shot was a poor one with little power and aimed right at the stopper, who somehow fumbled the ball into his own net.
As shared by AS English, it was almost fitting considering the dreadful season Los Granotes are suffering through:
With the win, Vigo enter the top six at the expense of Villarreal, who face a difficult trip to Sevilla on Matchday 9. Levante stay near the bottom of the standings, in dire need of a string of results to avoid relegation.
Saturday's round of fixtures will see Alcacer and Valencia host Elche, who have conceded the third most goals in La Liga this season, per WhoScored.com.
The youngster will have a great chance to add to his numbers, but manager Nuno Espirito Santo warned his players not to take Elche lightly, via Inside Spanish Football's Heath Chesters:
"They’re a difficult opponent, well organised, with two good full-backs, a good midfield and fast on the wings. A difficult team to beat, but we’ve prepared thoroughly and we’re ready. We really want to win this game.
I have faith and trust in the Mestalla, in the support of the fans. We’re motivated, prepared and we want to have a good game in front of our fans, that’s what matters most to us. We’re assured and we have the utmost confidence that the Mestalla will help us and we want our fans to enjoy themselves with the team.
"
Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar will entertain an audience of millions in the biggest match of the young 2014-15 season, as Barcelona and Real Madrid get set to renew their decades-long rivalry at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
