La Liga Round-up: Vinicius Jr shines for Real in Benzema's absence, Barca experiences false start in Koeman's exodus

Topics: La Liga, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Athletic Club, Villarreal

The league's heavyweights suffered contrasting fortunes as a handful of the title contenders also made a case for themselves in their bid to mount a challenge.

La Liga returned this weekend with the Real Sociedad still holding onto their status as league leader despite drawing 1-1 with Athletic Club in the Basque Derby. Real Madrid kept their place in second with a 2-1 win over Elche despite karim Benzema being absent for the encounter. Los Blancos were given the day's voctory with both goals coming from Vinicius Jr.

Los Blancos' cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid also added to their bid to defend the title they won last season by beating Real Betis 3-0 at Wanda Metropolitano. Relatively, Barcelona did not have the best of results in their Ronald Koeman exodus as the Catalans could only settle for a 1-1 draw against Alaves. A 2-0 win over Osasuna at the Sanchez Pizjuan fired Sevilla into the top three while Villarreal were denied the chance to bounce back from the mid-week's disappointing draw with Cadiz by Valencia who run away with a 2-0 win at the Mestalla.

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Joan Laporta decides against meeting Al-Sadd's demands as talks for Xavi stalls: Barcelona president Joan Laporta has decided not to travel to Doha in response to Al-request. Sadd's Recent reports claim that the Qatari side required that Barcelona president Laporta make the journey to Doha himself if a deal to bring Xavi Hernandez back to Camp Nou was to be negotiated. Xavi is the main - and possibly the sole - target to succeed Ronald Koeman, but a contract has yet to be reached.

Ousmane Dembélé hands Barcelona injury boost ahead of crucial Champions League clash: Ousmane Dembélé is set to be included in his first squad list since last season having suffered an injury blow over the summer. Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong are all said to be on the verge of returning for the trip to Dynamo Kyiv.

Ronald Koeman refuses to take £4m cut on Barcelona pay-off amid club's financial woes: Ronald Koeman is refusing to take a £4million hit on his Barcelona pay-off following his sacking, according to reports in Spain. The Dutchman's 14-month reign came to an end last week with a defeat against Rayo Vallecano as his club suffered its worst start to a season since 1987-88.