Table-toppers Barcelona, Real Madrid continue their charge for LaLiga title

Table toppers Barcelona and Real Madrid continued their charge for La Liga title after winning their encounters on Matchday 28 as the Spanish league has resumed after three-month layoff due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

FC Barcelona returned to action with a comfortable 4-0 away win to Real Mallorca while, the arch-rival Real Madrid has secured an easy 3-0 victory over Eibar on Sunday.

 

The race for the title has been spiced up as Real Madrid is just two points away from arch-rival Barcelona after both the teams played 28 matches each.

 

La Liga Points table:

Clubs	Matches played	Won	Draw	Lost	Goal for	Goal against	Goal difference	Points
Barcelona	28	19	4	5	67	31	36	61
Real Madrid	28	17	8	3	52	20	32	59
Sevilla	28	14	8	6	41	29	12	50
Real Sociedad	28	14	5	9	46	34	12	47
Getafe	28	13	7	8	38	27	11	46
Atletico Madrid	28	11	13	4	32	22	10	46
Valencia	28	11	10	7	39	40	-1	43
Villarreal	28	12	5	11	45	38	7	41
Granada	28	12	5	11	35	33	2	41
Athletic Club	28	9	11	8	30	24	6	38
Osasuna	28	8	11	9	35	39	-4	35
Levante	28	10	4	14	33	41	-8	34
Real Betis	28	8	9	11	38	45	-7	33
Valladolid	28	7	11	10	25	34	-9	32
Alaves	28	8	8	12	29	39	-10	32
Eibar	28	7	6	15	28	44	-16	27
Celta Vigo	28	5	11	12	22	35	-13	26
Mallorca	28	7	4	17	28	48	-20	25
Leganes	28	5	8	15	22	41	-19	23
Espanyol	28	5	8	15	25	46	-21	23

 

Barcelona vs Real Mallorca

 

Arturo Vidal, Martin Braithwaite, Jordi Alba and Lionel Messi scored one goal each. Barca coach Quique Setien produced two surprises in his starting 11 with Ronald Araujo starting in central defense and Vidal in midfield, and it worked perfectly as Vidal opened the scoring in the second minute with a powerful header from an Alba cross.

 

The league leaders dominated for 15 minutes, before Takefusa Kubo produced a left foot shot that Marc-Andre ter Stegen needed to be at full stretch to keep out, and the Japanese winger later forced the Barca keeper into another good save with a powerful free kick, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

Barca weren't comfortable, but doubled its lead in the 36th minute when Braithwaite scored his first goal for the club with a smart finish after a ball from the left was flicked on by Messi.

 

Mallorca started the second half well, but ter Stegen produced another good save to deny Budimir, before Mallorca keeper Manolo Reina did well to save from Braithwaite and Araujo hit the post at the other end.

 

Alba scored Barca's third of the night in the 79th minute after beating the Mallorca offside trap to slide the ball past Reina at the keeper's near post, and Messi finished the scoring after taking a pass from Luis Suarez, who returned to action after his knee operation in January.

Real Madrid vs Eibar

 

Real Madrid secured a commanding 3-1 win against Eibar in the ongoing La Liga at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on Sunday.

 

Both the clubs were playing their first match after the resumption of La Liga, which returned to action on June 12.

 

Real Madrid completely dominated Eibar in the first half. Toni Kroos just took four minutes to hand his side a one-goal lead.

 

Eden Hazard was also back in action and was heavily involved in the early attacks for the home side. Eibar looked for a quick reply, but Madrid controlled the game with long spells of possession.

 

The hosts doubled the lead with the help of Sergio Ramos' stunning strike in the 30th minute. Seven minutes later, Marcelo Vieira netted a goal, taking the scoreline to 3-0.

 

In the second half, Eibar succeeded in cutting the deficit as Pedro Bigas scored the opening goal for his side. However, Eibar failed to capitalize on the same as they could not score more goals.

 

Real Madrid hold the second spot on the La Liga points table with 59 points, just two points behind the top-placed club, Barcelona.

Espanyol vs Alaves

 

Earlier in the day, Wu Lei was on target as bottom side Espanyol won 2-0 at home to Alaves, who had to play for over 70 minutes with ten men after goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco was sent off for handling outside of his area.

 

Substitute Roberto Jimenez produced a series of impressive saves, but could do nothing to stop Bernardo opening the scoring in first-half injury-time, and Wu's calm finish at the start of the second half ensured three vital points for Espanyol.

 

Villarreal vs Celta Vigo

 

Manu Triguero's injury-time winner gave Villarreal a 1-0 win away to Celta Vigo, who remain deep in relegation trouble, while Enes Unal and Ruben Alcaraz gave Real Valladolid a vital three points away to Leganes, who netted a late consolation goal through Oscar Rodriguez's penalty.

 

Other match results on Matchday 28

 

Friday saw Granada come back from a goal down to beat Getafe 2-1, while Valencia and Levante drew 1-1 in the Valencia city derby.