Madrid, Oct 22 (IANS) Sevilla held Real Madrid to a 1-1 home draw in a highly entertaining La Liga game.
The 37-year-old defender Sergio Ramos played against his former team Madrid for the first time since he joined them from Sevilla as a 19-year-old in 2005, Xinhua reports.
Ramos, moving from Paris Saint-Germain to Sevilla in September, produced a typically full-blooded display and was unlucky not to score the winning goal as Madrid keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga produced a flying save to tip his injury-time header onto the woodwork.
Despite chances at both ends, the first goal didn’t arrive until the 73rd minute, when Youssef En-Nesyri’s header hit David Alaba to end up in the Madrid net.
The equalizer came moments later when Daniel Carvajal nodded home from Toni Kroos’ near-post free kick.
Antoine Griezmann scored a hat-trick as Atletico Madrid won 3-0 away to Celta Vigo to pile the pressure on home coach Rafael Benitez.
Celta’s faced an uphill struggle from the 24th minute when keeper Ivan Villar was shown a direct red card for bringing down Alvaro Morata after spilling a cross, and Griezmann put Atletico ahead from the penalty spot.
Atletico controlled the game against a rival down to 10 men, and Griezmann added to account with a cross-shot that fooled Villar’s replacement, Vicente Guaita in the 64th minute.
The French international completed his hat-trick six minutes later when he tapped home a pull-back from Nahuel Molina.
Real Sociedad moved into fifth place after a 1-0 win at home to Mallorca, thanks to Brais Mendez’s glancing header from Takefusa Kubo’s 64th minute cross.
Mallorca had more chances during the game and will probably still be wondering how the ball didn’t end up in the Real Sociedad net after a frantic goalmouth scramble with just a minute left to play.
Getafe and Betis drew 1-1 in an open game with two goals in the first 16 minutes. Marc Roca produced a smart finish to put Betis ahead in the first minute, but Borja Mayoral’s 16th minute header earned the home side a point in a game where a draw was a fair result.
Ante Budimir scored a goal in each half on Friday as Osasuna claimed their first home win of the season, with a 2-0 victory over struggling Granada.
–IANS
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