La Liga Table 2015 Week 5: Updated Standings Following Tuesday's Results
Atletico Madrid climbed to the summit of La Liga on Tuesday evening after defeating Getafe 2-0 at the Vicente Calderon, while Valencia suffered their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Espanyol.
Elsewhere, Real Sociedad wheeled away from Granada with a 3-0 victory, their first win of the campaign and a result that moves them off the bottom of the standings and up a massive nine spots to 11th place.
Antoine Griezmann bagged a brace for Diego Simeone's title contenders but was forced to wait 86 minutes between his first and second goals of the night as Getafe did their utmost to clinch a result in the Madrid derby.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Elsewhere, Victor Alvarez opened his account for the season against Valencia in what proved to be a critical strike for Espanyol, who move back into Spain's top six with their third win of the campaign.
Atleti sit joint alongside Barcelona atop La Liga's perch, with full recap of Tuesday's results and a look at the current standings included ahead.
| Atletico Madrid | 2-0 | Getafe |
| Espanyol | 1-0 | Valencia |
| Granada | Real Sociedad |
| 1 | Barcelona | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 12 |
| 2 | Atletico Madrid | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 12 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | +12 | 10 |
| 4 | Villarreal | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 10 |
| 5 | Celta Vigo | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 10 |
| 6 | Espanyol | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 9 |
| 7 | Eibar | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 |
| 8 | Valencia | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 | Sporting Gijon | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Real Betis | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 5 |
| 11 | Real Sociedad | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 |
| 12 | Deportivo La Coruna | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 |
| 13 | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 4 |
| 14 | Athletic Club | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| 15 | Granada | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 3 |
| 16 | Getafe | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 |
| 17 | Sevilla | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 2 |
| 18 | Levante | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 2 |
| 19 | Las Palmas | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 |
| 20 | Malaga | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 2 |
Recap
Atleti came into Tuesday's home fixture on the fringe of La Liga's top six but came away with a comfortable 2-0 victory that saw them back into top-spot contention thanks to the fine form of Griezmann.
Bleacher Report's Rik Sharma insisted there was an air of predictability about the whole result, where Atletico boasted twice as many shots (12) as visitors Getafe (six), per WhoScored.com:
Veteran midfielder Gabi played a star role in the performance, teeing striker Griezmann up on the fourth minute to prod home his first of the night, shoring up the hosts' core throughout the tie.
Getafe were constantly left to operate on the counter and found it nigh impossible to carve out any real goalscoring chances, with Griezmann sweeping home a second in the 90th minute thanks to a cross from substitute Jackson Martinez.
Meanwhile, the Power8 Stadium played host to a lacklustre Valencia team as home outfit Espanyol built on Saturday's victory at Real Sociedad to claim back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
Youngster Santi Mina, 19, was at fault in gifting Alvarez the game's only goal after 18 minutes, with Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC illustrating the concerning pattern being built by Valencia this season:
Espanyol scraped their second 1-0 home win of the campaign on Tuesday, but it came through tenacious means after the match produced no fewer than 11 yellow cards. OptaJose attested to that being a record this season:
Los Che—struggling to recapture the same free-flowing spirit that brought about such promise last term—were responsible for seven of those cautions as their 2015-16 frustrations lingered on.
David Moyes' Real Sociedad ended the evening in a more encouraging mood as they overcame poor form to thrash Granada 3-0 away from home, a result the Mirror's Ed Malyon said has saved the manager's job for now:
Imanol Agirretxe scored a hat-trick on the night after putting one past Espanyol over the weekend—except this time his fine form in front of goal was enough to bag the three points along with it.
Football365's Daniel Storey confirmed this was the first time La Real have scored multiple goals in back-to-back games since February, and they couldn't have timed it better with a Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao this Sunday.
