La Liga matchday 11: Barcelona beat Alavés 6–1, Atlético and Real Madrid keep pace

The top three all won. Barcelona scored six against Alavés on Saturday night, two each for Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, and stay two points clear of Atlético Madrid, who won 2–0 at Levante for their seventh league win in a row. Real Madrid won 3–0 at Racing Santander and are a point further back, so Atlético's home match against Barcelona next Sunday is first against second. Athletic Club beat Real Sociedad 2–1 in the Basque derby, and at the bottom Valencia won 1–0 at Elche. Ten matches brought 30 goals: six home wins, four away wins and no draws.

Friday

Villarreal 0–1 Espanyol had a goal by Roberto Fernández for Espanyol cancelled by VAR on 50, and the winner came ten minutes later: Leandro Cabrera scored on 60 from Bryan Zaragoza's pass. Villarreal had 63 per cent of the ball and 14 shots to five, but four on target; Espanyol had gone five league matches without a win.

Saturday

Levante 0–2 Atlético Madrid had a goal by Morten Hjulmand for Atlético cancelled by VAR on 17. Alejandro Grimaldo scored on 36, and Giuliano Simeone made it 2–0 on 62 from Álex Baena's pass. Levante had 20 shots, four on target, to Atlético's eleven.

Rayo Vallecano 3–0 Celta Vigo belonged to Jorge De Frutos, who scored on 36 from Sergio Camello's pass and on 55 from Andrei Rațiu's. Unai López made it 3–0 on 73 from Gnangoro Bouare's pass. Rayo Vallecano had eight shots on target and Celta Vigo none.

Real Betis 2–1 Malaga was 2–0 at half-time: Marc Bartra scored on 38 from Isco's pass and Pablo Fornals scored on 45+2. Adrián Niño pulled one back for Málaga on 68. Real Betis had 24 shots and ten corners. Málaga are bottom and the only side without a win after eleven matches.

Barcelona 6–1 Alaves was 4–0 at half-time. Raphinha (Raphael Dias Belloli) scored on 8 from Fermín López's pass, López on 23 from Lamine Yamal's, Raphinha again on 41 from López's, and Yamal on 45+1 from João Cancelo's. Yamal scored again on 64 from Gabriel Jesus's pass, a goal VAR confirmed, and Anthony Gordon, who had replaced him on 74, made it 6–0 on 81 from Rodri Hernández's. Mariano Díaz, a substitute, scored for Alavés on 84. Barcelona had 77 per cent of the ball. Raphinha has 15 league goals and Yamal ten. With four defenders out, Hansi Flick played Frenkie de Jong at centre-back and gave a first-team debut to Brian Fariñas at right-back, the club reports; the club notes it was Flick's 100th win as Barcelona coach.

Sunday

Getafe 3–1 Sevilla was Sevilla's until the 68th minute: Kike Salas scored on 19 from Félix Correia's pass for the visitors. Enes Ünal equalised for Getafe on 68 from Martín Satriano's pass and Satriano returned the favour on 73, a goal VAR confirmed. Sevilla's Manu Bueno was sent off on 90+1, and Orel Mangala, on at half-time, made it 3–1 on 90+4 from Andrés García's pass.

Racing Santander 0–3 Real Madrid was settled in 36 minutes. Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty on 11, Jude Bellingham scored on 21 from Arda Güler's pass and Yan Diomande on 36. A penalty for Racing was cancelled by VAR on 72. Real Madrid had 22 shots, seven on target; Racing had one on target. Mbappé has 12 league goals, three behind Raphinha. It was Racing's first league defeat at home this season, and their defender Álvaro Mantilla tore a cruciate ligament in his right knee and will need surgery, the club reports.

Elche 0–1 Valencia turned on a substitute: Umar Sadiq, on for Pablo Maffeo on 61, scored on 69 from Arnaut Danjuma's pass. Elche had 69 per cent of the ball and 16 shots to five, three on target each. It was Valencia's second league win of the season.

Athletic Club 2–1 Real Sociedad opened with a goal between brothers, Iñaki Williams scoring on 14 from Nico Williams's pass. Luka Sučić equalised on 30, and Álex Berenguer converted a penalty on 45+2 for the winner. Real Sociedad had 62 per cent of the ball and five shots on target to three; they had won four in a row before this. Real Sociedad's own report calls the penalty, given for a challenge by Jon Aramburu on Nico Williams, non-existent and says VAR did not intervene.

Monday

Deportivo La Coruna 2–1 Osasuna came from behind. Ante Budimir scored for Osasuna on 32 from Moi Gómez's pass, Mario Soriano equalised on 64 from Luismi Cruz's and Bil Nsongo won it on 87. Deportivo La Coruña had 18 shots, seven on target, and their first league win in seven matches.

The table after matchday 11

#	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	11	10	0	1	+34	30
2	Atlético Madrid	11	9	1	1	+14	28
3	Real Madrid	11	9	0	2	+18	27
4	Real Betis	11	7	2	2	+3	23
5	Real Sociedad	11	6	1	4	0	19
6	Sevilla	11	5	2	4	−2	17
7	Athletic Club	10	4	3	3	+4	15
8	Deportivo La Coruña	11	3	5	3	+1	14
9	Villarreal	11	3	3	5	0	12
10	Celta Vigo	11	2	6	3	0	12
11	Alavés	11	3	3	5	−2	12
12	Rayo Vallecano	10	3	3	4	−5	12
13	Getafe	11	3	3	5	−8	12
14	Espanyol	11	3	2	6	−1	11
15	Osasuna	11	3	2	6	−11	11
16	Racing Santander	11	3	2	6	−14	11
17	Elche	11	2	4	5	−4	10
18	Levante	11	2	4	5	−5	10
19	Valencia	11	2	3	6	−9	9
20	Málaga	11	0	5	6	−13	5

Barcelona lead Atlético by two points and Real Madrid by three, with Betis seven behind. Athletic and Rayo have a match in hand, their matchday 8 meeting, which was abandoned. Sides level on points are listed by goal difference here; La Liga separates them by head-to-head record first. The points race shows Atlético, with seven points from their first four matches, winning every round since, and Barcelona's one defeat, on matchday 10, letting both Madrid sides close in. At the bottom, Málaga are four points behind Valencia and five behind Elche and Levante.

Numbers to know

• Raphinha leads the scorers with 15, three ahead of Mbappé; Lamine Yamal has ten.
• Barcelona have scored 46 goals in eleven matches; Atlético have conceded eight, the fewest.
• Atlético have won seven league matches in a row.
• Six home wins, four away wins and no draws in ten matches.
• Two goals and one penalty were cancelled by VAR, and one player, Sevilla's Manu Bueno, was sent off.

Next up

Matchday 12 opens on Friday 6 November with Sevilla v Alavés at 20:00 UTC. On Saturday 7 November, Málaga v Racing Santander kicks off at 13:00 UTC, Espanyol v Deportivo La Coruña at 15:15 UTC, Osasuna v Athletic Club at 17:30 UTC and Valencia v Real Madrid at 20:00 UTC. On Sunday 8 November, Elche v Real Betis, Real Sociedad v Rayo Vallecano, Celta Vigo v Levante and Villarreal v Getafe come before Atlético Madrid v Barcelona, which closes the round at 20:00 UTC. The full round is on the La Liga page.

Sources for the context: FC Barcelona, Real Racing Club, Real Racing Club, Real Sociedad.