Madrid, Feb 5 (IANS) Atletico Madrid dropped two points in their home game against Getafe, who kicked off the weekend second from bottom.
Angel Correa opened the scoring with a few moments of suspense. The striker put the ball in the Getafe net in the 60th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. While the VAR was revising the play, Atletico coach Diego Simeone substituted the striker, who was in his tracksuit in the dugout when the VAR gave the goal as legal, reports Xinhua news agency.
Enes Unal saved a vital point for Getafe with an 82nd minute penalty after the ball hit Saul Niguez’s outstretched arm in the penalty area.
Gabriel Veiga scored twice as Celta Vigo climbed away from the bottom three with a thrilling 4-3 win away to Betis.
The game got off to a flying start with Jorgen Strand Larsen putting Celta ahead in the fifth minute only for Juanmi to level three minutes later.
Sergio Canales put Betis ahead in the 22nd minute, but Veiga’s first goal of the night leveled the scores before halftime. Veiga’s second and a further goal from Joseph Aidoo put Celta 4-2 up before Nabil Fekir scored in the 83rd minute.
There was further drama in the 94th minute when Betis defender Luis Felipe was sent off after punching Celta’s Iago Aspas, with the tension spilling over to the dugouts.
Pere Milla scored a hat-trick, which included two penalties as bottom of the table Elche claimed their first win of the season 3-1 at home to Villarreal.
Villarreal produced a display packed with individual errors as they slipped to defeat against a rival that has improved since the arrival of Pablo Machin as coach, even though they had less than 30 percent of the ball during the match.
Espanyol and Osasuna drew 1-1 in a game which saw both teams play the second half with 10 players after Osasuna winger Ez Abde and Espanyol defender Ronael Pierre-Gabriel were both sent off for squaring up to each other.
Ante Budimir had put Osasuna ahead just before the sending off, but Martin Braithwaite equalized for Espanyol in the 59th minute.
Oihan Sancet was the hero as Athletic Club Bilbao claimed their first league win of 2023, with a 4-1 victory at home to Cadiz on Friday night.
Sancet scored a hat-trick in the win, with Yeray Alvarez also scoring in a result that leaves Cadiz struggling in the relegation zone.
–IANS
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