Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the standings as they clinched a 3-1 win against Espanyol in the Catalonia derby at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Sunday in matchday 12 in the Spanish La Liga, Afrosport reports.
Barcelona took the lead in the 12th minute through Dani Olmo, who fired in a first-time finish off a beautiful through ball from Lamine Yamal. The hosts doubled their lead through Raphina in the 23rd minute as he dinked the ball past goalkeeper Joan García after Marc Casadó spotted the Brazilian onside and under-marked.
A defensive mix-up in the Espanyol defence allowed Alejandro Balde to find Olmo on the edge of the box, with the former RB Leipzig midfielder powering home a low strike to make it 3-0 in the 31st minute.
Javi Puado drew one back for the visitors, beating goalkeeper Inaki Pena in the 63rd minute, but Barcelona held on for the win to increase their points tally to 33 and open a nine points gap over rivals Real Madrid, who had their game against Valencia cancelled.
FULL TIME! #BarçaEspanyol pic.twitter.com/2TX8CQQFqk
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 3, 2024
Elsewhere, Guiliano Simeone, son of Diego Simeone, scored his first La Liga goal as Atletico Madrid edged past Las Palmas 2-0 at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Simeone’s goal came in the 37th minute as he raced beyond the Las Palmas defence before firing a low finish into the bottom left corner past goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 83rd minute through summer signing Alexander Sørloth, who beat the offside trap before curling the ball home after being slipped in by Rodrigo de Paul to secure all three points for Atletico, who climbed into third place.
FT: 2-0 #AtletiLasPalmas
❤️ The host’s prevail!#LALIGAEASPORTS pic.twitter.com/51bHSVXqtc
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) November 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Real Sociedad climbed into the top half of the La Liga standings with a 2-0 win over Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium.
Japan international Takefusa Kubo opened the scoring in the 34th minute before Mikel Oyarzabal doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 68th minute to earn the visitors a comfortable win over the hosts.
FT: #SevillaFCRealSociedad 0-2
🔵 The visitors capture back-to-back #LALIGAEASPORTS away wins! pic.twitter.com/kwGXHFNf2T
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) November 3, 2024
At the San Mames Athletic Club played out a 1-1 draw with Real Betis with Álex Berenguer’s second-half equaliser cancelling out Pablo Fornals’ opener for the visitors.
