Messi and Ronaldo draw blanks and Celta and Eibar are on fire

MADRID - Although FC Barcelona and Real Madrid both won their respective games in the second round of matches of the BBVA Primera Liga, a little piece of history was made this weekend in Spain.

Barcelona had to huff and puff their way to a 1-0 win at home to Malaga which came as the result of a 72nd minute goal from Thomas Vermaelen, while Real Madrid cruised to an easy win against Betis thanks to two goals each from Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez and a header from Karim Benzema.

What was surprising is that neither Leo Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo were on the scoresheet for their respective sides and it is the first time ever that neither of the duo has scored in two consecutive matches when they have both started for their respective clubs.

While Messi could point to a string of saves from Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni which denied him 5 times in the second half of his side's win, Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure as others around him shone and even appeared to shrug off a consoling arm from coach Rafael Benitez at the end of Real Madrid's win.

Sunday saw perhaps the most interesting match of the weekend as Atletico Madrid visited Sevilla in an early season meeting between two sides expected to battle for a top-4 placing this time around.

It was moment for one side to take a huge step forward and Atletico did that with a clear 3-0 away win thanks to goals from Koke, Gabi Fernandez and Jackson Martinez, who netted his first goal for the club in a clear win for Diego Simeone's side.

Eibar are second in the table after taking advantage of a tired Athletic Club Bilbao to win 2-0 in the Ipurua Stadium. Saul Berjuan ad Adrian Gonzalez scored the goals for the home side.

Valencia and Deportivo meanwhile drew 1-1 thanks to goals from Alvaro Negredo and Lucas Perez, while Granada stunned Getafe 2-0 with goals from el Arabi and Isaac Success.

Saturday saw Celta Vigo go to bed as overnight league leaders after 2 goals from Nolito and one from defender Andreu Fontas eased them to a comfortable 3-0 win over Rayo Valllecano, who had to play 80 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper Tono was sent off after committing the penalty which led to Celta's opening goal.

Meanwhile an organized but uninspired Real Sociedad with former Real Madrid midfielder Asier Illaramendi back in their ranks drew 0-0 at home to Sporting Gijon.

The round of matches kicked off on Friday with Villarreal coming back from a goal down to beat Espanyol 3-1.