Saturday’s La Liga action featured three early wins on the return from the September international break.
Prior to the day’s final clash, as Real Madrid rallied late on to win 2-0 at Real Sociedad, their were victories for Villarreal, Espanyol and Sevilla.
Mallorca 1-2 Villarreal
Villarreal have been one of the form teams in the opening weeks of the 2024/25 season and they stretched an unbeaten run to five games in Palma.
Logan Costa netted his first goal for the club, to ensure an early breakthrough, before Mallorca were given a route back into the contest, via Raul Albiol’s second half own goal.
However, Villarreal have found themselves a man for the clutch moments in the opening weeks of the campaign, as Ayoze Perez clipped home the winner in added time.
The former Premier League star now has three goals for the Yellow Submarine this season including two winners after the 90 minute mark.
Espanyol 3-2 Alaves
The goals rained down in Catalonia as Espanyol secured successive wins either side of the international to edge past Alaves.
Javi Puado scored twice to put the hosts in front, but they were pegged back, as Alaves refused to go quietly.
However, the power of Puado proved to be the decisive factor late on, as he slotted home from the penalty spot to clinch the victory.
Puado has yo-yoed between the top two tiers of Spanish football, but stayed loyal to Espanyol throughout, and his 13 goals last season played a key role in their promotion back to La Liga.
Sevilla 1-0 Getafe
However, despite the positivity for Espanyol and Villarreal, Saturday’s big story took place at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Sevilla have endured a difficult start to the 2024/25 league season with just two points gained from their opening four fixtures.
A home clash with fellow winless side Getafe presented a key opportunity which was taken by the most unlikely source.
Jesus Navas, 38 years young, became the oldest player to score for Sevilla in La Liga as he crashed home his first club goal since 2019 to seal the win on home soil.
An emotional Navas was hailed by the Sevilla fans at full time after his 506 La Liga appearance across an incredible career.
He now moves ahead of former Spain teammate Xavi Hernandez, as the outright No.10 on the all-time La Liga list of games played, with Real Madrid icon Iker Casillas his next target on 510.
Images via Getty Images/One Football
