Primera Iberdrola Week 15 Round-Up: Barcelona run riot as Granadilla Tenerife continue with fine run
Barcelona have scored 86 goals at the halfway mark of the Primera Iberdrola after a 7-0 riot against Madrid CFF yesterday.
The defending champions put seven goals past Madrid CFF yesterday at the Estadi Johan Cruyff to go to the break at the top of the log standings.
The hosts opened the scoring in the 12th minute when skipper and midfield mastermind Alexia Putellas pounced on a Lieke Martens pass.
The home side increased the lead 10 minutes after the opener through an own goal by the visitors’ goalkeeper after the ball had hit her back from a shot by winger Caroline Graham Hansen.
Barcelona added two more goals before the break as forwards Jenni Hermoso and Lieke Martens scored in the 26th and 29th minutes respectively.
They came back stronger to add a fifth in the 53rd minute when Putellas got her brace from the penalty spot.
The skipper capped off her outstanding performance by completing a hattrick in the 66th minute to give the hosts a 6-0 lead with less than half an hour to go.
Defender Leila Ouahabi came off the bench to score the seventh goal for the defending champions in the 83rd minute off a Putellas pass.
The win put the defending champions in a comfortable lead at the top of the log at the Christmas break.
Elsewhere, Granadilla Tenerife continued with their fine run as they were 2-1 winners away from home at Sevilla.
The home side missed an opportunity to take the lead in the 26th minute when striker Ana Franco’s penalty was saved by goalkeeper Alaine Reiss.
The visitors found an opener through Jassina Blom off defender Raquel Pena’s pass three minutes after the hosts missed the penalty.
The hosts made a triple change at half time bringing in a new pair of legs to try and salvage a result but found themselves two goals down in the 58th minute when forward Cristina Martin-Prieto scored off a pass from defender Patri Gavira.
The hosts fought back and reduced the deficit in the 76th minute through substitute forward Toni Payne off a pass from fellow substitute midfielder Rosa Otermin.
The win saw Tenerife tying on 28 points with Atletico Madrid who had their match postponed due to Covid-19 cases in their camp.
Real Sociedad, Real Madrid win big as Villarreal, Valencia leave it late to salvage crucial wins
Real Sociedad have maintained their fine form as they shook off the challenge of Alaves to win 4-0 away from home at the Ciudad Deportiva José Luis Compañón.
The visitors were forced into an early substitution with defender Ana Tejada being replaced by defender Manuela Vanegas in the 32nd minute.
It was a tightly contested first half and the visitors only found the opener seven minutes from the break through defender Emma Ramirez off forward Nuria Rabano’s pass.
The visitors came back more determined and were duly rewarded in the 54th minute when forward Gabriela Garcia made it 2-0 from midfielder Amaiur Sarriegi’s pass.
Sarriegi turned scorer in the 62nd minute to make it 3-0 to the visitors from forward Sanni Franssi’s pass.
Garcia completed her brace in the 72nd minute after scoring from a pass from defender Iraia Iparraguirre.
The defeat saw Alaves drop to seventh position while Real Sociedad secured second position going for Christmas break.
At the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid were 3-0 winners over struggling Sporting Huelva.
The first half saw the visitors frustrate the hosts with the match being goalless at the break.
The hosts came back a determined side with forward Esther Gonzalez giving them the lead in the 59th minute. Three minutes later forward Nahikari Garcia finished off a Claudia Zornoza pass to double the hosts’ lead.
Before the visitors could regroup, the hosts found what would be the winner 20 minutes from time through the boot of forward Athenea del Castillo.
The Madrid side have reached this season’s Champions League quarter finals where they will meet fellow Spanish giants, Barcelona, and are fighting to get back into the Champions League spots for next season.
The win was a relief as Madrid moved to sixth position with fifteen more games to play.
Bottom-placed Villarreal were 1-0 victors over hosts Real Betis at the Ciudad Deportiva Luis de Sol yesterday.
Betis found themselves one woman down after defender Maria Valle was shown her second yellow card in the 81st minute.
Three minutes after the expulsion, the visitors got their opener and winning goal through forward Teresa Morato Armengol.
The win took the visitors’ points tally to five and are tied with Rayo Vallecano who have a game in hand after their match was postponed due to Covid-19 cases.
In another relegation battle, Valencia beat struggling Eibar 2-0 at the Estadio Antonio Puchades to register back-to-back wins for the first time this campaign.
The home side left it late to wrap up the match as they found the opener with six minutes left of play when defender Bea Beltran scored off a pass from midfielder Olga Nicolas.
Forward Oriana Altuve sealed a dramatic win in the 91st minute from a Nicolas pass which saw the midfielder record her second assist of the day.
The win moved Valencia to 12th place on the log standings with 14 points and boosted their chances of relegation survival.
Results (Wednesday): Real Madrid 3-0 Sporting Huelva; Barcelona 7-0 Madrid CFF; Sevilla 1-2 Granadilla Tenerife; Alavés 0-4 Real Sociedad; Real Betis 0-1 Villarreal; Valencia2-0 Eibar
(Photo by Xavier Bonilla/NurPhoto via Getty Images)