Sevilla win it in the 97th minute with ten men, and La Liga’s first night had two red cards
Sevilla came from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 with a stoppage-time penalty and a man short, while Alaves broke ten-man Getafe late at Mendizorroza. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico were all absent.
Aug 16, 2026
La Liga came back on Saturday with two matches, two red cards and four goals after the 70th minute. Sevilla were the ones who needed them most, beating Rayo Vallecano 2-1 at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan with a penalty in the 97th minute, and with ten men on the pitch when it went in.
Sevilla spend 93 minutes fixing a four-minute mistake
Rayo were in front almost before the crowd had settled. A mix-up between goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos and Arouna Sangante, making his Sevilla debut, left the ball sitting up for Alvaro Garcia, and he took it in the fourth minute.
Luis Garcia Plaza’s side needed a VAR review to get back into it. The penalty was given, Jon Guridi took it, and it was 1-1 in the 52nd minute. Then Sevilla made things considerably harder for themselves when Kike Salas went through Jorge de Frutos and was sent off in the 88th minute.
What followed was the sort of finish that argues for staying until the end. Deep into stoppage time Sevilla won a second penalty, and Peque Fernandez put it away in the 97th minute to settle a game they had spent the whole night chasing, a man down for the last stretch of it.
Alaves needed 73 minutes to break ten-man Getafe
The earlier kick-off at Mendizorroza followed a similar script to a different scoreline. Getafe lost Femenia to a straight red in the 42nd minute, again after a VAR check, for a high challenge on Abde Rebbach, and then held out for half an hour more.
Nahuel Tenaglia headed Alaves in front on 73 minutes. Mariano curled in a second from the edge of the box in stoppage time and set up Mikel Rodriguez for the third, which is a goal and two assists on opening night for a striker most people had stopped writing about. It finished 3-0, harsher than the hour that preceded it.
Where Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico are
Anyone looking for the big three this weekend will not find them. The Spanish federation allowed clubs with a significant number of players in the World Cup semi-finals or the final to move their first league match to 25, 26 or 27 August. Barcelona had eight players in Spain’s winning squad.
Atletico are the exception, and for a reason nobody plans for. The Weeknd is playing the Metropolitano on 28, 29 and 30 August, which left Diego Simeone no room at the end of the month, so Atletico take on Malaga on Wednesday 19 August instead. Real Madrid host Real Sociedad on 26 August and Barcelona close the round against Athletic Club on 27 August, both of which count as matchday one.
Round one of this season therefore runs from 15 August to 27 August. Real Madrid and Barcelona play their matchday two fixtures before their matchday one fixtures, at Espanyol on 22 August and at Elche on 23 August, which will make the table unreadable for a fortnight and is worth remembering before anyone reads much into it.