Primera División Femenina: top two in Spain pull further clear as pack below reshuffle
Unbeaten Barcelona powered on at the Primera División Femenina summit as they recorded their 13th straight league win to move onto 43 points after a 6-0 success on the road against Tacón, writes Martin Whiteley.
This round of games was the reverse fixtures of the contests played on the opening weekend which Barcelona had won 9-1.
Newly promoted Tacón had struggled badly at the start of the season and lost five of their first seven games.
Coming into this encounter the hosts had only lost once since then, and that was away against Atletico Madrid.
Summer signing, England international Chioma Ubogagu was in the starting line-up for Tacón and the forward was in fine form having scored in her last two games.
Any thoughts the home side had of extending their good run were quickly squashed as Barcelona gained immediate control with three goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Newly named African Women’s Footballer of the Year Asisat Oshoala bagged a brace — her first in just the second minute of the game. Oshoala grabbed her hat-trick, and the visitors fifth in the 47th minute, before she netted her fourth of the game to round the scoring off just past the hour-mark. The reversal for the side from Madrid keeps them on 16 points.
Atletico Madrid v Sporting de Huelva
Atletico Madrid remains seven points behind the leaders after they got back to winning ways. Still without the injured Toni Duggan, Atletico extended their unbeaten league run to a dozen matches after a 1-0 success at home to Sporting de Huelva.
Angela Sosa with the decisive penalty in the 21st minute. The defeat for Sporting, who had English born Chelsea Ashurst in goal saw them remain on 14 points having lost two of their last three games.
Levante v Athletic Bilbao
In the game of the round, third-place Levante who are on 29 points travelled to the side two spots and six points below them in the table Athletic Bilbao.
Both sides came into the match in good form with Athletic unbeaten in five games, before their loss last week to Barcelona. The visitors with five wins and a draw in their last six contests.
Levante had got the better of their first meeting this season and it looked like that would be repeated until Andrea Sierra scored for Athletic five minutes into second-half stoppage time to gain her side a 1-1 draw.
Despite securing a point the home side still fell down a place in the table to sixth position.
Deportivo v Espanyol
Fourth-place Deportivo had started the season unbeaten in their first seven games but struggles against the top three sides saw them slip down the table in recent weeks. Draws in their last two outings steadied the ship for Deportivo, and they were able to make it three games unbeaten to advance onto 27 points after a 3-0 win away to Espanyol.
The second loss in a row for the hosts leaves them at the foot of the table on three points.
Real Sociedad v Valencia
Real Sociedad moved up to fifth place on 25 points after they made it five games unbeaten — the last four wins — with a 1-0 success at home to Valencia.
Nahikari scored the only goal in the 70th minute to win the game for her team.
Rayo Vallecano v Logroño
Rayo Vallecano recovered from being 2-0 down heading into the final third of the game to extend their unbeaten streak to six matches after a dramatic 3-2 home win against Logroño.
Substitute Iris had the winner in the 87th minute — just six minutes after entering the action. Her goal moved the home side up to seventh spot with 24 points.
The loss for the visitors, who also ended with 10 players after Carolina Marín picked up a second yellow just before the hour-mark puts them below their opponents in the standings as they remain on 23 points.
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