Madrid, Oct 25 (IANS): Real Madrid continued to steamroller over their rivals, while Barcelona claimed a convincing win over Athletic Club Bilbao in Matchday 11 in La Liga. Here are some things we learned this weekend in Spain.
NO CHANGE AS REAL MADRID ROLL PAST SEVILLA
Federico Valverde scored another powerful shot to round off Real Madrid's 3-1 win at home to Sevilla, which was more comfortable than the final score suggested.
Only for a brief while after Erik Lamela's 53rd-minute equaliser did the game threaten to escape Carlo Ancelotti's men and once they recovered their balance, there was never the feeling they would not win the game.
There is a total belief in this Real Madrid side that they have the talent and the energy to beat their rivals and currently, nobody epitomizes that more than Valverde, who once again was a ball of non-stop energy, and who produced the third goal from nowhere.
BARCA RECOVER AS RIVALS MAKE IT EASY
Barca recovered this week from their 3-3 draw at home with Inter Milan and their defeat to Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at home over Villarreal on Thursday and a 4-0 victory over Athletic Club on Sunday.
On both occasions, their rivals made it easy for them, with Villarreal sitting way too deep and Athletic more concerned about stopping Barca playing than trying to play their own brand of attacking football, reports Xinhua.
Barca led 3-0 after 22 minutes on Sunday, as Athletic gave their worst display of the season, allowing space to Ousmane Dembele, who scored one goal and assisted the other three.
It was an excellent day for the Frenchman, who was dropped in midweek after several indifferent performances.
GRIEZMANN SHOWS HIS WORTH TO ATLETICO
Diego Simeone's big frustration at the start of the season was being unable to field Antoine Griezmann for more than 30 minutes per game, due to the conditions of his loan deal from Barcelona.
However, since that issue was resolved with Atletico buying Griezmann for around 20 million euros, the French striker has shown just how important he is, with a goal in Bilbao last weekend and the two goals that saw host Atletico beat Real Betis on Sunday.