It’s an early five-horse race for the La Liga title. Although it’s way too soon, of course, to talk of a long-lasting battle to the crown but so far
ADVERTISEMENTIt’s an early five-horse race for the La Liga title.
Although it’s way too soon, of course, to talk of a long-lasting battle to the crown but so far Real Madrid, Celta Vigo, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal are separated by just two points after eight games played.
It has formed an interesting early dynamic at the summit of a league that usually turns into a two-team battle for glory.
Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Raul as Real Madrid’s all-time leading goal scorer after the Portugal international netted in the Spanish giants’ 3-0 win over Levante.
Marcelo and Jese scored the others as Real Madrid went top on goal difference.
Ronaldo meanwhile reached 324 goals for the club – one more than legend Raul who announced his retirement from football last week.
Thanks team mates and Real Madrid fans for this beautiful moment. ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/X2g9ZNwBim
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) 17 Octobre 2015
Next in Real Madrid’s La Liga sights is surprise package Celta Vigo who warmed up nicely for the top-of-the-table clash next Saturday weekend with a 2-1 victory at 10-man Villarreal.
Fabian Orellana saw his opener cancelled out by Villarreal’s Denis Suárez but forward Nolito hit home a 90th minute goal to hand Cleta the win and send the club level on points with Real Madrid and Barcelona.
They remain unbeaten in their first eight league games winning five and drawing three.
Making the trio of teams at the top of the table on 18 points is Barcelona who enjoyed a 5-2 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.
Atletico Madrid and Villarreal are both two points adrift in fourth and fifth respectively.
Up and Down
For our Up and down list this week we have concentrated solely on the up, although the Netherlands national team would have largely deserved a spot on the down list after their Euro 2016 qualification failure.
Nonetheless Bayern Munich beat Werder Bremen at the weekend and in doing so became the first club to start a Bundesliga season with nine consecutive victories.
The win and record set the Bavarians up nicely for their trip to Arsenal in the Champions League in midweek.
Neymar makes the up list this week after scoring four goal for Barcelona in their win against Rayo Vallecano.
The young Brazilian hit two of the four goals from the spot and now has a team-leading eight goals this La Liga season.
Not to be outdone by the Barcelona superstar Newcastle United’s Georginio Wijnaldum also hit four as the Magpies beat Norwich City 6-2 for the club’s first win of the campaign.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Dutchman ran riot at St James’ Park to finally make his mark after an indifferent start to his Premier League career.
He became only the second player in the club’s history to score four times in a single game following the feat of club legend Alan Shearer in 1999.
— Georginio Wijnaldum (@GWijnaldum) 19 Octobre 2015
Road to Euro
Johan Cruyff, one of the finest in footballing history, made his debut for the Dutch national team during the Euro 68 qualifiers but there was another of the sport’s greats who made his international bow that edition. Let’s see who that was.
Gerd Müller, one of the world’s greatest living players, made his competition debut for West Germany on April the 8th 1967, scoring four goals, in a 6-0 qualifying victory over Albania, in Dortmund.
ADVERTISEMENTMuller helped West Germany win the World Cup in 1974 and European Championship in 1972. Muller’s 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany was a national record only surpassed by Miroslav Klose in 2014. Klose needed 129 appearances to match him.
Bayern Munich announced earlier this month that Muller, who ended his playing career in 1981 after a spell with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, is suffering with Alzheimer’s disease.
We might be wrong
This week the Champions League enters its third matchday, but for We Might Be Wrong we have skip ahead a few days to next weekend’s domestic league battles across Europe. Take a look at our predictions, if you think we are wrong send us yours, even for this week’s Champions League ties. Use #TheCornerScores.
Manchester United 1-1 Manchester City
Celta Vigo 1-2 Real Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 Saint-Étienne
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