Madrid derby: Atlético Madrid 2-1 Real Madrid as Huijsen sees red and Mourinho turns on the referee. La Liga results and table
Atlético Madrid beat ten-man Real Madrid 2-1 in the derby after Dean Huijsen's red card, and José Mourinho turned on the referee. Barcelona make it 21 points from 21 with a second straight Raphinha hat-trick. Every matchday 7 result, the full La Liga table and how our calls went: nine out of ten.
Atlético Madrid won the Madrid derby 2-1 and settled it in seven minutes after the break: Dean Huijsen was sent off on 52 minutes, Alejandro Grimaldo scored the penalty on 53 and Jonathan David made it 2-0 on 59. José Mourinho then arrived at his press conference with photos of two challenges he says were red cards. Barcelona, meanwhile, made it 21 points from 21 with a Raphinha hat-trick in Seville, so La Liga breaks for internationals with Barcelona five clear of Atlético and Real Betis, level on 16, and six clear of Real Madrid. Nine of our ten calls on the round were correct.
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Real Madrid: seven minutes that settled the derby
It was goalless at half-time at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Sunday, with Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias refereeing. On 52 minutes Hancko sent Giuliano Simeone through and Huijsen held him back in the box. Ortiz Arias gave the penalty and booked the defender, then VAR sent him to the monitor and the yellow became a straight red for a last-man foul. Grimaldo converted a minute later. On 59 Giuliano Simeone set up David, who has now scored in each of his first three La Liga games for Atlético; on 62 he made way for Julián Álvarez, a major doubt in our preview.
Mourinho had sent on Antonio Rüdiger and Yan Diomande for Arda Güler and Vinícius on 54 minutes. Jan Oblak saved well from Diomande, and on 89 Rüdiger headed in a Bernardo Silva free-kick. It is Simeone's first league win over a Mourinho side: Real won all three of their league derbies against him between 2011 and 2013. The club announced a crowd of 70,514, a record for the Metropolitano. On the derby, our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Mourinho, two photos and Simeone's reply
The sheet Mourinho brought along showed two first-half incidents: Romero's challenge on Jude Bellingham on 38 minutes, booked after a monitor review (the referee had first shown the yellow to Bellingham), and a late Kang-in Lee challenge on Fede Valverde just before half-time that went unpunished. «Son dos tarjetas rojas claras», two clear red cards, he said, before offering sarcastic congratulations to the committee that appoints referees. On Huijsen's red he admitted he had not yet seen it: «La expulsión de Huijsen, te confieso que todavía no la he visto».
Simeone's reply was that everyone has to show respect, to opponents, to referees and to the work, whatever their name is, Mourinho included, and that being above Madrid at the break means nothing. There had already been trouble at half-time: Rüdiger and Hjulmand, both on the bench, clashed in the tunnel and were separated by security, and two staff members were sent off, Atlético's goalkeeping coach and Real's assistant manager.
Valverde a doubt, Huijsen heads to Wembley
Valverde played the full 90 minutes, but Real's medical report describes «traumatismo severo en el tobillo izquierdo», a severe trauma to the left ankle, with no timeframe given, and as of Monday 21 September he was a doubt for Diego Forlán's Uruguay. As of the same day the disciplinary committee had not ruled on Huijsen. A league ban does not cover international football, so he stays in the Spain squad for Spain's first Nations League game, against England at Wembley on Saturday 26 September, where Thomas Tuchel's squad includes two of his Real team-mates, Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold. For that game our call is under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10.
Real are fourth on 15 points, six behind Barcelona, and have lost twice in the league: the derby and 1-0 at Betis on matchday 4.
Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona: another Raphinha hat-trick
Sevilla led through a Youssouf Fofana header on 19 minutes at the Sánchez-Pizjuán on Saturday. Raphinha levelled on 22 from an Andreas Christensen pass, then headed in on 52 and chipped the keeper with his left foot on 69, both set up by Lamine Yamal, who had hit the post on eight minutes. The club called it a perfect hat-trick, right foot, head and left foot, the first at Barcelona since Luis Suárez on 2 May 2015. On this game our call was no draw, one of the two wins, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
It is his second straight league hat-trick after the 7-2 against Racing: nobody had done that since Antoine Griezmann, then at Atlético, in February 2018, and at Barcelona only Lionel Messi and Suárez had. His 12 goals in seven rounds are the third-best start in La Liga history, behind Echevarría (14 for Oviedo in 1943/44) and Cristiano Ronaldo (13 in 2014/15). Hansi Flick's side have won their first eight competitive games, which the club calls its best ever start.
Dominik Livaković made his debut in goal with Joan Garcia rested for a minor right knee complaint; in our preview we had named Wojciech Szczęsny. Christensen went off just before the hour with a muscle injury to his left quadriceps. The club says «Será baja durante las próximas semanas», he will miss the coming weeks, and Denmark have called up Strasbourg's Lucas Høgsberg in his place.
La Liga table after matchday 7
Barcelona are top on their own with 21 points. Atlético and Betis have 16, Real Madrid 15 and Sevilla 13. At the bottom Valencia are 19th with 4 points and newly promoted Málaga 20th with 3, the only side still without a win. Athletic Club and Levante have a game in hand after their matchday 6 meeting was postponed because of bad weather; it will be played on Wednesday 21 October. Here are the full La Liga standings.
# | Team | Pts | P | W | D | L | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 31-7 | |
2 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16-7 | |
2 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9-7 | |
4 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 18-8 | |
5 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10-9 | |
6 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11-6 | |
7 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10-8 | |
7 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9-13 | |
9 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13-12 | |
9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7-6 | |
9 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4-7 | |
9 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11-16 | |
9 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6-13 | |
14 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8-6 | |
14 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10-10 | |
14 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11-21 | |
17 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8-12 | |
17 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11-17 | |
19 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4-13 | |
20 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3-12 |
The rest of the round
Valencia lost 3-2 at home to Real Sociedad after three goals from the 75th minute onwards: a Carlos Soler penalty on 75, Luken Beitia's own goal on 84, confirmed by VAR, and Ander Barrenetxea's winner on 90+1. Orri Óskarsson was sent off in stoppage time. Valencia sacked Carlos Corberán on 13 September and are in the hands of interim coach Óscar Sánchez, from the reserve side VCF Mestalla, who said afterwards: «El equipo ha demostrado que está vivo, que tiene ganas de revertir la situación», the team is alive and wants to turn things round. The Spanish press report that Javier Aguirre will take over on a deal to June 2027; as of midday on Monday 21 September the club had not announced anything.
Two sides won a league game for the first time this season. Celta Vigo beat Racing Santander 5-0 with two from substitute Pablo Durán, which means Racing have conceded 12 in three days after the 7-2 at Barcelona, and Martín Anselmi's Elche won 3-1 at Espanyol with ten men from the sixth minute after Federico Redondo's red card. Villarreal beat Levante 3-1 with a goal and two assists from Alberto Moleiro, and Getafe beat Málaga 1-0 through Iván Azón on 85 minutes. At San Mamés Antonio Sivera saved an Oihan Sancet penalty and Athletic Club drew 0-0 with Alavés. Osasuna drew 1-1 with Rayo Vallecano and celebrated Ante Budimir's goal as his hundredth in the Primera División. Real Betis, who beat Getafe 1-0 on Thursday (our report; our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 8 out of 10: correct), drew 1-1 at Deportivo, Diego Villares equalising on 87 minutes.
Every result from matchday 7
Friday 18 September
Espanyol 1-3 Elche — Espanyol: Víctor Chust 72' (o.g.). Elche: Fernando Niño 26', 29', Germán Valera 78'. Federico Redondo (Elche) sent off on 6'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Saturday 19 September
Osasuna 1-1 Rayo Vallecano — Osasuna: Ante Budimir 16'. Rayo Vallecano: Sergio Camello 50'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Athletic Club 0-0 Alavés — No goals. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Celta Vigo 5-0 Racing Santander — Celta Vigo: Hugo González 32' (pen.), Ilaix Moriba 43', Miguel Román 69', Pablo Durán 78', 90+2'. Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona — Sevilla: Youssouf Fofana 19'. Barcelona: Raphinha 22', 52', 69'. Here our call was no draw, one of the two wins, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Sunday 20 September
Getafe 1-0 Málaga — Getafe: Iván Azón 85'. Here our call was under 3.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Real Madrid — Atlético Madrid: Alejandro Grimaldo 53' (pen.), Jonathan David 59'. Real Madrid: Antonio Rüdiger 89'. Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid) sent off on 52'. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Villarreal 3-1 Levante — Villarreal: Ayoze Pérez 41', Alberto Moleiro 54', Georges Mikautadze 86'. Levante: Iván Romero 42'. Here our call was the home side to score, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Deportivo La Coruña 1-1 Real Betis — Deportivo La Coruña: Diego Villares 87'. Real Betis: Cucho Hernández 43'. Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Valencia 2-3 Real Sociedad — Valencia: Aaron Mayol 57', Luken Beitia 84' (o.g.). Real Sociedad: Luka Sučić 26', Carlos Soler 75' (pen.), Ander Barrenetxea 90+1'. Orri Óskarsson (Real Sociedad) sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow. Here our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: wrong.
The scorers
Raphinha's was the only hat-trick of the round. Fer Niño scored twice for Elche, both set up by Revivo, and Pablo Durán got two off the bench for Celta Vigo.
Our calls: 9 correct out of 10
Of the ten calls we published, 9 were correct. The one miss was Valencia v Real Sociedad, where our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: wrong. Valencia had scored only twice in their first six games. There were still only four goals at 90 minutes, and the fifth came in the first minute of stoppage time. Five results are already recorded on the site, and for the other five we worked the outcome out from the final score.
Player calls: five correct, nine still open
We published 14 player calls for the round: five correct, none wrong, none cancelled, and nine not yet settled on the site, which we do not count until they are. Correct: Raphinha (at least one shot on target, confidence 8 out of 10), Lamine Yamal (at least one shot on target, confidence 7 out of 10), Zabiri (at least one foul, confidence 6 out of 10), Abde Rebbach (at least one foul, confidence 7 out of 10) and Edu Expósito (at least one shot, confidence 7 out of 10). Still open, all from Sunday: Jon Aramburu (at least two fouls, confidence 6 out of 10; to be booked, confidence 4 out of 10), Antony (at least one shot on target, confidence 7 out of 10; at least two shots, confidence 7 out of 10), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (at least one shot on target, confidence 5 out of 10), Nicolas Pépé (at least one shot on target, confidence 6 out of 10), Santiago Mouriño (at least one foul, confidence 6 out of 10), Kylian Mbappé (at least one shot on target, confidence 7 out of 10) and David Larrubia (at least two shots, confidence 5 out of 10).
The break: 17 La Liga players in the Spain squad
Luis de la Fuente has named 26 players and 17 of them play in La Liga: Unai Simón, Aymeric Laporte and Nico Williams of Athletic Club; Pau Cubarsí, Eric García, Rodri, Pedri, Fermín López, Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona; Marc Pubill, Grimaldo and Álex Baena of Atlético; Marc Cucurella and Huijsen of Real Madrid; Mikel Oyarzabal of Real Sociedad and Roberto Fernández of Espanyol. Tottenham's Pedro Porro was injured against Aston Villa on Saturday and has been replaced by Sporting's Iván Fresneda. The squad meets at Las Rozas on Tuesday. After Wembley, Spain host Croatia in Seville on the 29th and Czechia in Oviedo on 3 October, then visit Croatia in Split on the 6th. Our calls on those three games will follow on the Nations League page.
When La Liga returns
On Saturday 10 October it is Barcelona v Getafe at 18:30 local time (5.30pm UK) and Real Madrid v Villarreal at 21:00 (8pm UK). Sunday 11 October has Real Sociedad v Deportivo and Racing v Valencia, and Monday 12 October Levante v Sevilla. The other five matchday 8 games, Alavés v Atlético and Betis v Osasuna among them, fall between Friday 9 and Sunday 11 with the day and kick-off still to be confirmed. Our matchday 8 calls will come with the preview; the matchday 7 calls, written before the round, are in our matchday 7 preview.
Every game with our calls is on the LaLiga page and on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in player predictions.
