Youngster helps Barca sneak home, while Girona run riot and Madrid held in La Liga

Madrid, Oct 23 (IANS) 17-year-old forward Marc Guiu scored the only goal of the game just 23 seconds after entering for his debut, giving FC Barcelona a 1-0 win at home against Athletic Bilbao.

Guiu received a pass from Joao Felix, and although Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon got a hand to his shot, it wasn’t enough to stop the ball from finding the net, reports Xinhua.

Both Simon and Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen made several excellent saves in the game, which saw Athletic lose Ander Herrera through injury in the pre-game warmup and defender Yuri Berchiche after just 20 minutes.

Felix hit the bar for Barca in the first half, while Ter Stegen produced two excellent saves to deny goals for Inaki Williams and Nico Williams at the other end.

The result leaves Barcelona a point behind Real Madrid ahead of next Saturday’s ‘Clasico’.

Real Madrid remains the leader despite being held to a 1-1 draw away to Sevilla in a thrilling game which saw Sergio Ramos play against Madrid for the first time since he left them for Sevilla as a 19-year-old in 2005.

The veteran gave a full-blooded display and was unlucky not to score the winning goal as Madrid goalkeeper Kepa produced a flying save to tip away his injury-time header.

Sevilla opened the scoring in the 73rd minute when Youssef En-Nesyri’s header deflected home off David Alaba, but Real Madrid leveled the score soon afterwards with Dani Carvajal scoring a rare headed goal.

Girona remains second and is level on points with Real Madrid after another attacking display of football to beat bottom side Almeria 5-2.

Goals from Leo Baptistao after two and 24 minutes looked to have given new Almeria coach Gaizka Garitano a perfect start, but Girona hit back with three goals in six minutes before halftime, with Ivan Martin equalizing in the 37th minute, before Artem Dovbyk netted in the 39th and 43rd minutes to turn the game on its head.

Savio made it 4-2 in the 71st minute and Cristhian Stuani added a fifth in the 85th minute.

Antoine Griezmann scored a hat-trick as Atletico Madrid won 3-0 away to Celta Vigo, who played with 10 men after goalkeeper Ivan Villar was sent off in the 24th minute for a foul on Alvaro Morata.

Griezmann scored the resulting penalty and added further goals with a cross-shot in the 64th minute and a tap-in six minutes later.

Real Sociedad beat Mallorca 1-0 thanks to Brais Mendez’s glancing header from Takefusa Kubo’s 64th-minute cross, although Mallorca will be wondering how they didn’t level the score in a frantic last-minute goalmouth scramble.

Bebe scored a last-minute penalty to give Rayo Vallecano a 1-0 win away to Las Palmas in a game of two spot kicks – one scored by Rayo and the other saved by Rayo goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski, who denied Las Palmas forward Munir.

The game looked to be heading for a draw until Alex Suarez brought down Oscar Trejo just inside the Las Palmas area, and Bebe sent his spot-kick into the corner of the net.

Villarreal remain in trouble after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Alaves, who opened the scoring with an excellent goal from Samu in the 48th minute only for Gerard Moreno to level from the penalty spot after a handball in the Alaves area.

Getafe and Real Betis drew 1-1 with two goals in the first 17 minutes. Marc Roca produced a smart finish to put Betis ahead in the first minute, but Borja Mayoral’s 17th-minute header earned the home side a point.

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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