La Liga: Real Madrid return to top, Xavi to step down

Real Madrid returned to the top of La Liga on Saturday with a hardfought 21 win away to Las PalmasSubstitute Aurelian Tchouameni headed Madrids winner following a corner on 84 minutes to complete a second half comeback reports XinhuaJavi Munoz put Las Palmas ahead in the 53rd minute after good work from Sandro who pulled the ball back for him to score but Vinicius Jr equalized for Real Madrid in the 65th minute after a defensesplitting pass from Eduardo CamavingaLas Palmas looked tired in the closing minutes but also had reason to be unhappy with the referee who only showed Rodrygo a yellow card after he hit out at Las Palmas keeper Alvaro Valles and then forgave him a second yellow after he hit Sergi Cardona in the face with his armGirona will go back to the top if they win their match away to struggling Celta Vigo on SundayFC Barcelona are now 10 points behind Real Madrid after losing 53 at home to VillarrealAlso Read Former India allrounder Y Singh to feature in World Championship of LegendsGerard Moreno who had seen a goal controversially ruled out for offside opened the scoring for Villarreal in the 41st minute and Ilias Akhomach doubled their lead early in the second halfThe entry of Pedri helped Barca turn the game around in 10 minutes with goals from Ilkay Gundogan Pedri and an own goal from Eric Bailly following a free kickIt looked as if Barca had the game won but Goncalo Guedes scored a fine equalizer on the break to make it 33 with six minutes left to playThere was controversy in injury time when Barca were awarded a penalty only to have it overturned by the VAR and Villarreal then took advantage of defensive chaos to score late goals from Alexander Sorloth and Jose Luis MoralesAlso Read Hardik Pandya begins bowling full tiltMinutes after the defeat Barca coach Xavi Hernandez said he would step down at the end of the seasonRayo Vallecano dug deep and defended well to frustrate Real Sociedad who could only take a 00 side at home to the team from the south of Madrid with their midweek Copa del Rey efforts perhaps taking their tollSergi Altamiras 45th minute shot from outside of the penalty area gave Betis a 10 win away to Mallorca who lacked the freshness to turn their attacks into goals after their midweek Cup game against GironaOn Friday night Alaves striker Samu Omorodion scored twice and earned a penalty as his side won 30 away to bottom side AlmeriaLuis Rioja scored the spot kick while an excellent display from Alaves keeper Antonio Sivera denied Almeria any way back into the matchAlaves have won their last three games to climb into midtable while Almeria remain rockbottom without a win so far in the seasonThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever