Antoine Griezmann made a memorable debut for the La Liga team Barcelona as he scored a brace and played a key role in his team’s comfortable win over Real Betis. With star players like Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez not available for the match owing to injuries, Griezmann was the key player for Barcelona and when it mattered the most; he did not disappoint!
When Barca were trailing 1-0, courtesy a 15th-minute opening goal from Nabil Fekir of Real Betis, Griezmann’s acrobatic brilliance helped them net their first goal of the day and equalise. However, his second goal was arguably the highlight of the match which saw as many as 7 goals being scored in a 5-2 result in Barcelona’s favour.
In the second half, when Barcelona had forced their opponents Real Betis to play defensively, the French football player produced his best run of play and gave Barcelona their second goal. Soon after, Perez, Alba and Vidal scored to make the lead 5-1 and although Lorenzo Jesús Morón scored a 79th-minute goal for Real Betis, Barcelona had already caused enough damage by then.
It will now be interesting to note how Barcelona perform when their star players return.
In the match between Leganes and Atletico Madrid, a 70th-minute goal from Vitolo made him the hero for Atletico Madrid in his team’s 1-0 win over Leganes. After a relatively smooth lay-off from Joao Felix, the Spanish football player looked composed as he slotted the ball past Juan Soriano, minutes after he substituted Mario Hermoso on the field.
Vitolo’s goal meant that they, along with Sevilla, are the only teams who will have six points after the completion of two weeks- a perfect start for a long season ahead.
In other matches of the day, Alaves and Espanyol produced a goalless draw while RCD Sociedad defeated RCD Mallorca 1-0 with the help of a Martin Ødegaard goal.