Granada on Sunday moved top of La Liga with a 1-0 victory over Real Betis Balompie that continues a magical start to the season, while Sevilla and Real Sociedad joined a group of four teams just a point behind the surprise leaders.
Alvaro Vadillo’s smart finish in the 61st minute was enough to give Granada a sixth win of the season and take advantage of Barcelona not playing this week to take first place, while fellow Andalusians Betis stayed in the relegation zone.
The win was also Granada’s third in their past four La Liga matches, all of which have been single-goal victories.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Vadillo’s strike was his second of the season after he scored the second in his side’s shock 2-0 win over Barca last month.
“I’m very proud of the players, you know that we’re not looking at the table, the only thing we see is 20 points,” Granada coach Diego Martinez said. “Hopefully, we will win more games and we continue improving, but we are enjoying this ride and the fans are enjoying it with us.”
The four sides trailing Granada are led by Barca, who did not play after El Clasico was postponed amid mass protests in Catalonia.
Real Sociedad are third after winning 1-0 at RC Celta de Vigo thanks to Swedish substitute Alexander Isak scoring the only goal with eight minutes left.
Sevilla joined the pair and Atletico Madrid, who are in fourth after beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Saturday, on 19 points thanks to a 2-0 home win over Getafe that gave them their third straight win in all competitions.
Javier Hernandez got the ball rolling in the 69th minute with his first league goal for the club when he latched on to Franco Vazquez’s through-ball and slammed home a powerful finish.
Nine minutes later Lucas Ocampos sealed the three points, assisted by a huge gap in the Getafe defense and Jesus Navas’ through-ball, which left him with the easy task of rounding David Soria and rolling home his third of the season.
“Getafe are a very tough team and the game was getting very complicated,” Hernandez said. “It felt great to score at that time and that we rounded it up with Ocampos’ good goal.”
Elsewhere, RCD Espanyol won 1-0 at Levante UD and CA Osasuna defeated Valencia 3-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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