La Liga returned this weekend, and it already looks set to be another great season.
England right-back Kieran Trippier assisted Alvaro Morata‘s winning goal as Atletico Madrid defeated Getafe in their opening match, played late on Sunday night.
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A £20m signing from Tottenham in July, Trippier marked his La Liga debut by crossing for Morata to head in after 23 minutes.
Morata missed a 56th-minute penalty which resulted from £113m club record signing Joao Felix‘s weaving run towards goal from deep inside his own half.
After losing Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona, Atletico have spent close to 250 million euros this summer, just over half of that on Felix, whose electric run lit up an otherwise rather disjointed contest.
The 19-year-old is supposed to be the heartbeat not only of a new team but a different style too, one that is more attractive to watch and that could even pip Barcelona and Real Madrid to the title.
Both Atletico and Getafe had a man sent off. Atletico debutant Renan Lodi was dismissed for two bookable offences in two minutes shortly before half-time – just four minutes after Getafe’s Jorge Molina Vidal had received a straight red card.
Champions Barcelona were beaten 1-0 by Athletic Bilbao on the opening day of the season on Friday, while Zinedine Zidane‘s Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo 3-1 on Saturday.
La Liga results for the Matchday 1 (of 38) played between 16-18 August:
Played Friday 16 August
Athletic Bilbao 1 Barcelona 0
Played Saturday 17 August
Celta Vigo 1 Real Madrid 3
Valencia 1 Real Sociedad 1
Mallorca 2 Eibar 1
Leganés 0 Osasuna 1
Villarreal 4 Granada 4
Played Sunday 18 August
Alaves 1 Levante 0
Espanyol 0 Sevilla 2
Real Betis 1 Real Valladolid 2
Atletico Madrid 1 Getafe 0
La Liga Table – Monday 19 August 2019
(Played, Won, Drawn, Lost, Goals For/Against, Points)
Real Madrid 1 1 0 0 3 1 3
Sevilla 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Mallorca 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
Valladolid 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
Alaves 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Athletic Bilbao 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Atletico Madrid 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Osasuna 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Granada 1 0 1 0 4 4 1
Villarreal 1 0 1 0 4 4 1
Real Sociedad 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Valencia 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Eibar 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
Real Betis 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
Barcelona 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Getafe 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Leganes 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Levante 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Celta Vigo 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
Espanyol 1 0 0 1 0 2 0