Matchday 10 - Round-up

Joseba Llorente's fine scoring run continued on matchday ten as his early first half goal gave Real Sociedad a 1-0 win over Racing Santander at Anoeta. Sociedad's excellent home form has helped them rise to 6th in the league standings, putting them inside the Europa League qualification bracket at this early stage.

Espanyol occupy a Champions League qualifying position (4th) thanks to their 1-0 win over Malaga at the Cornella El Prat on Saturday night. Javi Marquez scored with a blistering strike in the first minute and Mauricio Pochettino's side held on but it was an evenly fought tie and Malaga may even feel a little hard done by that they couldn’t get the draw their superior possession deserved. Manuel Pellegrini, who was watching on from the stands, takes over at Malaga this week and he has a lot of work to do to get Los Boquerones out of the relegation zone where they currently reside in last place.

Villarreal came from a goal down to thrash Athletic Bilbao 4-1 at the Madrigal. Fernando Llorente squeezed the Basque club into an early lead but Juan Carlos Garrido's team continues to prove unassailable at home and they came back with goals from internationals Nilmar, Santiago Cazorla, Giuseppe Rossi and Jefferson Montero.

Real Zaragoza recorded their first win of the season in a topsy-turvy 3-2 win over Real Mallorca at the Romareda on Sunday afternoon. Mallorca led twice thanks to goals from Pierre Webo and Michael Perreira, with an Angel Lafita equaliser sandwiched in between and that was how the game was poised with just over five minutes left on the clock. An explosive finish, however, which saw Nicolo Bertolo equalise and then Zaragoza skipper Gabi slot home a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time, shifted the game in the Aragonese club's favour.

Consecutive wins on matchday nine and ten have lifted Deportivo La Coruna away from the relegation zone and alleviated some of the pressure on Miguel Angel Lotina. The second of those back to back victories came at the Ciutat de Valencia on Sunday as the Galicians beat Levante 1-2. The return to full fitness of Riki has been instrumental in Depor's resurgence. He scored the first and was involved in the build up for Aythami's second. Juanlu cut the deficit midway through the second half but Levante were not convincing and their punishment is to be re-acquainted with the relegation zone.

A woeful defensive performance from Hercules saw them crash to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Osasuna at the Reyno de Navarra. Jose Antonio Camacho's men might win the award for inconsistency so far this season but their glimpses of quality continue to keep the drop zone at arms length. Nacho Monreal, Lolo and Krisztian Vadocz were on the score sheet as the Pamplonans did untold damage at set plays. Esteban Vigo's men failed to produce anything in attack.

Almeria are yet to win at home and Sporting de Gijon are yet to win on the road so it should have come as no surprise that these two teams shared the spoils on matchday ten with a 1-1 draw. Pablo Piatti failed to convert a one on one which would have buried the game after Corona had given the Andalusians the lead and Manuel Preciado's second half changes paid off as Miguel de las Cuevas gave Sporting a big lift before Nacho Novo hit a volleyed equaliser.

Lionel Messi was unplayable again this weekend as he helped Barcelona to a 1-3 win over Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Messi, David Villa and Pedro propelled Barca into a three goal lead before Getafe's all time leading scorer in the top flight Manu del Moral cut the margin from the penalty spot. Gerard Pique saw two yellows and a subsequent red in the second half but the Madrilenos only held a numerical advantage for about ten minutes as Derek Boateng was also dismissed for a second bookable offence late on.

Jose Antonio Reyes suffered a disappointing return to the Santiago Bernabeu as two errors in the opening twenty minutes led to two goals which won the game for Real Madrid. Ricardo Carvalho, who is fast becoming the bargain of the season, scored the first and was a rock in defence as Sergio Aguero threatened plenty of menace. Mesut Ozil scored the other to give Real a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid, which was too comfortable for this to be remembered as a derby classic. Jose Mourinho's team, who are still unbeaten, are clearly laying down the gauntlet to their rivals.

Alexis stole the headlines in the build up as he faced his former team but it was his central defensive partner Martin Caceres who put on a man-of-the-match display to help Sevilla to a 2-0 win over Valencia. Mehmet Topal saw a straight red for a foul on Caceres midway through the first half but that was not the Uruguayan's only contribution. He was solid in defence and surprisingly dangerous in attack. At half time the game was still deadlocked by Gregory Manzano threw caution to the wind in the second period and goals from Alvaro Negredo and Alejandro Alfaro eventually did the trick against a team which suffered with the personnel deficit.