La Liga Matchday 6: Valencia and Villarreal lead the way

Valencia 2 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

(1-0) 10' Aduriz, (2-0) 91' Vicente, (2-1) 93' Gabilondo

Valencia are showing no signs of letting up at the top of La Liga as they made it 16 points out of 18 with a win over Athletic Bilbao that should have been wrapped up before half-time. Aduriz and Soldado combined for the first but having faded badly after the break they had to wait until injury time to confirm the three points. Unai Emerys team have been unstoppable in the league and after Barcas recent home form they'll be confident of getting something from the Camp Nou in two weeks time.

Villarreal 2 - 0 Racing Santander

(1-0) 8' Nilmar, (2-0) 13' Rossi

The hottest front pairing in La Liga scored two early goals that were enough for Villarreal to see of Racing Santander at the Madrigal. Racing never looked like scoring in a million years and so it was that Nilmar and Rossi, aided by the talented Cazorla and Valero, settled the match after only 13 minutes. Five wins in the last five for the Yellow Submarine sees them jump up to second.

Sevilla 3 - 1 Atletico Madrid

(1-0) 28' Negredo, (2-0) 35' Perotti, (3-0) 51' Kanoute, (3-1) 57' Diego Costa

In a match that was presided by a verbal battle between Gregorio Manzano and Quique Sanchez Flores, Atleticos defensive lapses reappeared as they were ripped apart by a rampant Sevilla. Alvaro Negredo was a constant thorn in their side, curling home a stunning first and laying on the third for Kanoute. It's amazing what a change of manager can do to a team in crisis.

Real Zaragoza 2 - 2 Sporting Gijon

(0-1) 32' Obradevic (o.g), (0-2) 48' Diego Castro (p), (1-2) 56' Sinama-Pongolle, (2-2) 61' Sinama-Pongolle

Real Zaragoza may be second bottom. And they may be in the midst of their third worst start to a season ever, but they can take a huge amount of credit from this match as they came from two down and a man down to rescue a point against the wasteful Sporting Gijon. Jiri Jarosiks ludicrous tackle from behind seemed to have killed off Zaragoza, and Jose Aurelio Gays stay on the Romareda bench, but Sinama-Pongolle, who hadnt netted in La Liga since January 2009, blasted in two goals in five minutes to save his managers bacon and lift his team off the foot of the table. Still, this shouldn't disguise yet another sub-standard performance which only served the confirm the monumental struggle Real Zaragoza are going to endure this season.

Almeria 1 - 1 Malaga

(0-1) 50' Quincy, (1-1) 76' Uche

Osasuna 1 - 1 Levante

(1-0) 72' Pandiani, (1-1) 79' Sergio

Getafe 3 - 0 Hercules

(1-0) 20' Parejo, (2-0) 42' Manu, (3-0) 81' Miku

Real Sociedad 1 - 0 Espanyol

(1-0) 83' Forlin (o.g)

Real Madrid 6 - 1 Deportivo La Coruña (Highlights)

Real Madrid 6 - 1 Deportivo La Coruña

(1-0) 5' Cristiano, (2-0) 24' Ozil, (3-0) 34' Di Maria, (4-0) 53' Higuain, (5-0) 60' Ze Castro, (5-1) 78' Juan Rodriguez, (6-1) 89' Cristiano Ronaldo

Six games into the new season and we finally get a Real Madrid exhibition. As poor as Depor were, and they really were atrocious, Real Madrid circulated the ball aroud the Bernabeu turf with renewed purpose and intent. Xavi Alonso and Mesut Ozil directed from behind the fearsome front three of Cristiano, Di Maria and Higuain, with the defense as sound as ever lead by the imposing figures of Carvalho and Pepe. Angel Di Maria continued his rich vein of form with a beauty of a header while Cristiano was back to something like his best, nodding in an early opener and storming through in the last minute to cap off Madrids six goal thriller. The only thing that will still concern the Madridistas is the anonymous form of Sami Khedira. Perhaps there's something I'm missing, but what does he do? Mourinho probably thinks the same, as he hauled off the invisible man for Lass Diarra at half time. All in all it was plain sailing in the rain for Real Madrid as their goal drought came to an emphatic end. Will they now push on from here?

Barcelona 1 - 1 Mallorca (Highlights)

Barcelona 1 - 1 Mallorca

(1-0) 20' Messi, (1-1) 42' N'Sue

The Camp Nou is no longer the fortress of recent times. Barcelona, minus Xavi Hernandez and David Villa, wasted several first half opportunities to kill off Mallorca, but they only had Lionel Messis beautiful effort to show for the efforts, when Emilio N'Sue powered in a header from a corner to set the alarm bells ringing. And despite plenty of endeavour the winner never came despite Bojan striking the post and young Nolito coming close after entering late on as a sub. Mallorca, lead by ex-Barca legend Michael Laudrup, even came close to wrapping up an unlikely win themselves, although they were unable to take advantage of Barcas high defensive line as they pushed desparately forward. And you can't say that this was simply a case of Barca missing Xavi and Villa. For the third consecutive home match (Loss v Hercules, tight win v Sporting) they've looked lethargic and lacking in ideas in the final third. Are two trophy-filled seasons of hard graft beginning to take their toll?

EUROPA LEAGUE: Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 Bayern Leverkusen (Highlights)

Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 Bayern Leverkusen
(0-1) 39' Derdiyok, (1-1) 51' Simao (p)

Atletico Madrid complicate matters with a draw against Bayer Leverkusen in their second group tie of the competition. With Sergio Agüero left out as a precaution, Bayer took the lead just before half-time with a well drilled shot in the area. After a dismal first 45 minutes, Atletico came out a different side in the second half and it didn't take them long to draw level through Simaos penalty. Tiago made an impression when he came on, but with the game wide open any one of the two teams could have gone on to get a decisive winner. As it was the match ended in a draw and Atletico are now obliged to start picking up wins if they want to make it out of the group.

Borussia Dortmund 0 - 1 Sevilla

(0-1) 46' Cigarini

Vital win for Sevilla in Germany as Italian Luca Cigarini grabbed the all-important goal in the Westfalenstadion. Gregorio Manzano didn't waste any time in his first match on the Sevilla bench, breathing new life into a souless set of players at half time. And it only took them a matter of seconds to get the winning goal, Cigarini taking advantage of a loose ball in the area to slot in and put his team back on track in the Europe League. Soon after Dortmund defender Schmelzer saw red, which allowed the Nervionenses to dominate the second half and leave with the three points that were so essential to any hopes they had of staying in the Europa League beyond the group stages.



Young Boys 2 - 0 Getafe

(1-0) 10' Degen, (2-0) 63' Degen

Shocking performance from Michels Getafe team which sees the Madrid outfit take a step backwards after their opening round win. With Pedro Leon and Roberto Soldado sold over the summer, Getafe are seriously lacking in quality this year, so it will be a test of Michels managerial ability whether or not 'Eurogeta' suffer this season.

Villarreal 2 - 1 Club Brugge

(1-0) 10' Rossi, (1-1) 46' Donk, (2-1) 56' Gonzalo

Villarreal survived a barrage of brutal tackles from Brugge to sneak past the Belgians courtesy of Gonzalos 56th minute strike. Villarreal outclassed their rivals who were left with no choice but to resort to dirty tactics to stop the Yellow Submarine. Cani was injured by a shocking challenge and Vargas was sent off for Brugge. Guiseppe Rossi continues his impressive start to the season with another goal. The Italian/American is on fire.