Federico Valverde’s first-half goal proved the derby decider after Real Madrid sealed a 2-1 victory at Atletico Madrid.
The visitors kicked things off after Aurelien Tchouameni sent a perfect pass over a wall of red and white shirts to find a rushing Rodrygo, who fired a rocket into the roof of the net.
Vinicius Jr nearly doubled his advantage with a drive down the left but saw his effort hit the near post – but Valverde was there to pounce on the rebound and send the defending La Liga champions through in the second half by two.
Atletico were unable to take advantage of several early set pieces after the restart and several second-half substitutions from Diego Simeone failed to spark a change of momentum.
But a late corner kick saw the ball bounce off Mario Hermoso and in the 83rd minute the lucky break eventually denied Real Madrid the clean sheet but not the win, with Hermoso not helping matters after being sent off in time. ‘stop.
Vinicius had spoken in the build-up to the match about the recent racist abuse, promising to continue his celebratory dances undeterred, and joined Rodrygo in showing off his moves as promised after the opener.
Both teams were eventually reduced to 10 men in Getafe’s 2-0 win at Osasuna.
The hosts were down at the end of the first half after Chimy Avila was sent off following a VAR check for his collision with Juan Iglesias, who opened the scoring in the 30th minute.
Gaston Alvarez added the Azulones’ second in the 76th minute before they too were down to 10 men when Luis Milla was shown red in injury time.
Elsewhere, Real Betis and Real Sociedad both secured three points at home with 2-1 wins over Girona and Espanyol respectively, while Sevilla played out a 1-1 draw with Villarreal.
With 672 penalty-free goals, Messi slips past Ronaldo after playing 150 fewer games. The numbers for these two positions are insane. https://t.co/2ikqrydubo— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) September 18, 2022
In France, Lionel Messi overtook Cristiano Ronaldo’s total of 671 free goals, his fifth-minute strike was all that was needed for Ligue 1 leaders PSG to make it four in a row with a win at Lyon .
Jean-Clair Todibo was sent off in the first minute of Nice’s 1-0 loss to Angers, with Nabil Bentaleb making the difference in a game that also saw Sofiane Boufal sent off in red in the second half.
Second-placed Marseille could only earn a 1-1 draw with Rennes, with Matteo Guendouzi scoring for both sides, while the game between Nantes and Lens ended goalless.
Bradley Locko was sent off in the 22nd minute of Reims’ clash with Monaco, the red card proving costly as the visitors won 3-0.
Ajaccio beat Brest 1-0, while Troyes took three points from Clermont in a 3-1 win.
Napoli beat a tight 2-1 game with Milan to stay top of the Serie A table.
All three goals came in the second half of cautious competition with Matteo Politano converting a penalty to give the visitors the lead in the 55th minute.
Olivier Giroud answered for Milan 14 minutes later before Giovanni Simeone nodded the winner and handed the defending champions their first defeat of the season.
Atalanta kept pace with the league leaders after Giorgio Scalvini’s first-half strike was enough to hand them a 1-0 victory over Roma.
But the game was mostly marked by on-pitch drama, which saw Roma boss Jose Mourinho sent off after arguing with the referee over what he believed was a second-half penalty .
Udinese remained in third place with a 3-1 victory over Inter, who opened the scoring through Nicolo Barella within five minutes but saw it canceled with an own goal from Milan Skriniar before Jaka Bijol and Tolgay Arslan did not put the match aside.
Christian Gytkjaer carried Monza to a 1-0 win over Juventus, who were down to 10 men after Angel Di Maria was sent off at the end of the first half.
Lazio sealed a dominating 4-0 win at Cremonese while Fiorentina won 2-0 against Verona.
Jordan Siebatcheu and Sheraldo Becker helped surprise Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin to a 2-1 win over Wolfsburg.
Cologne shared the points in a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum, and Hoffenheim played a goalless draw with Freiburg.
