Vinicius Jr was insulted, Robert Lewandowski scored and Villarreal lost, but not everything was as we have grown accustomed in recent weeks.
Ferran Torres carried Barcelona in a way he hasn’t done since arriving from Manchester City.
There were new names to remember. Chris Ramos will help keep Cadiz up. And 18-year-old Uruguayan Alvaro Rodriguez looks ready to feature for Real Madrid.
And Antoine Griezmann gave Athletic Bilbao the birthday present they did not want.
Here’s Sportsmail’s 10 things we learned from the latest round of LaLiga action.
Barca fans waiting for Lewandowski to make his mark
Lewandowski’s goal on Sunday was the first he’d scored in three games. He hasn’t gone four without scoring since 2018. His class is beyond question and, on 15 goals, he is well on the way to top score in La Liga.
Robert Lewandowski is LaLiga’s top scorer but must start producing the goods in Europe as well
But he is really yet to make his mark for them in Europe. Thursday is a big night for him to put that right.
Xavi can’t leave out Andreas Christensen again
Recalled after being left out of the Europa League first leg against Manchester United, the former Chelsea defender was faultless again as Barcelona kept up their record of only seven goals conceded in the league all season.
Xavi over-complicated things last week by breaking up his best defensive partnership – it ought to be Christensen and Ronald Araujo on Thursday.
Ferran’s biggest problem is where he plays, not how he plays
Torres was superb on Sunday in the 2-0 win over Cadiz. He clearly loves playing on the right of the front three where he shone especially in the first half. The problem is Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha also love playing there and only one can.
Casemiro’s heir up in the air
When Real Madrid signed Aurelien Tchouameni he looked a shoe-in to be Casemiro’s long-term replacement but the recent form of Eduardo Camavinga make things less clear.
Aurelien Tchouameni (pictured) was meant to be Casemiro’s replacement for Real Madrid
The 20-year-old has shown tremendous versatility filling in at left-back. His favoured position is clearly as a midfielder with a licence to attack but when Carlo Ancelotti wants to use him as his holding midfielder Camavinga can also deliver. There are options for Madrid to replace the man they feared might be irreplaceable.
Madrid have an 18-year-old talent to ease Benzema load
Alvaro Rodriguez will not be 19 until next July but Real Madrid may have found themselves a centre-forward for years to come.
The Uruguayan has five goals in 12 starts for Raul’s B-team. Judging from his performance as a substitute on Saturday setting up two goals – one ruled out – he will be ready for permanent first-team involvement by the time Raul gets to take charge of the senior side.
18-year-old Alvaro Rodriguez (pictured) could provide cover for the overworked Karim Benzema
He might feature more in this campaign covering the fact that Madrid have no real alterative to the overworked Benzema.
Vinicius learning that Messi-style revenge is the best sort
Whenever anyone wound up Leo Messi they paid for it the next time he received the ball. He destroyed all those who tried to kick, intimidate or ridicule him in La Liga by cranking up the quality dial and creating or scoring.
‘Vinicius die’ sang some of the Osasuna fans on Sunday. On the pitch he put their team to the sword with an inspired display.
Vinicius Jr (left) enacted his revenge on Osasuna with a stunning performance on Saturday
Ramos: remember the name
Chris Ramos came off the bench to cause havoc in the Barcelona defence in the last 10 minutes at the Camp Nou on Sunday night.
The 25-year-old striker got seven goals for Lugo last season and almost netted late on at the Camp Nou but his shot was pushed on to the post.
La Liga needs a new Ramos and this one might help Cadiz’s push to stay up.
Griezmann’s a party pooper
Athletic Bilbao, the famous old Basque club, was 125 years-old this weekend and to mark the event Atletico Madrid played in their all-peach kit so their visitors could play with their red and white stripes first kit.
It was a nice gesture but the generosity ended there with former Real Sociedad player Antoine Griezmann the best player on the pitch and the scorer of the goal that decided the game.
Antoine Griezmann scored for Atletico Madrid to inflict a birthday defeat on Athletic Bilbao
VAR a gift for the actors
Technology was never going to do away with theatrics. Players now know that going down holding the face is like a poke in the ribs for whichever video-assisted referee is in the chair remote-controlling the game.
Manu Trigueros didn’t look to have even made contact with Dani Rodriguez but his fresh air punch sent the Mallorca man crashing dramatically down and the red soon followed.
Manu Trigueros (14) was sent off after a VAR review but the decision was blatantly wrong
There was very little wrong with Rodriguez – he then scored two headers as Mallorca beat the ten-men of Villarreal.
Yellow submarine sinking without Emery
Villarreal have now lost four on the bounce in La Liga and are 10 points from the Champions League places.
They are also outside of the Europa League spots and all this after two glorious seasons when they won the latter competition and reached the semi-finals of the former.
SRC: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
