Madrid: Ousmane Dembele’s second half strike was enough to make all the difference as Barcelona eked out a narrow 1-0 away victory to newly-promoted Valladolid Saturday to maintain their perfect start to the campaign.
Elsewhere, Europa League champions Atletico Madrid defeated Rayo Vallecano by a solitary goal to notch up their first win of the season.
It was not a classic Barcelona performance by any means at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla, and they escaped at the death as a Keko equaliser for the hosts was disallowed due to a marginal offside call. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did intervene but the original decision stayed on as the video replays confirmed it was the right decision.
Lionel Messi struggled to make an impact on a dreadful pitch that kept cutting up. However, it was Dembele, who scored the crucial goal in the 57th minute to give the Catalan giants six points from two matches.
Sergi Roberto headed a cross back down into the path of the French international, who made no mistake in sweeping the ball past Masip.
Meanwhile, at Wanda Metropolitano, another member of France’s World Cup-winning squad along with Dembele, Antoine Griezmann scored the only goal in the 63rd minute as Diego Simeone’s men notched their first league win of the campaign.
The goal came when Montenegrin centre-back Stefan Savic climbed highest to nod down a corner for Griezmann to slot into the net.