La Liga round-up: Bale thriving out of Ronaldo's shadow for Real Madrid
Real Madrid and Barcelona continued their 100 per cent starts to the season, while newly-promoted SD Huesca have also made a fine start to the campaign and are up in the dizzy heights of third. Valencia are still searching for their first league win of the season after a shock 2-0 defeat to Espanyol, now languishing in the bottom third. Their conquerors, Espanyol, have three representatives in the WhoScored Team of the Week, more than any other side, and former Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero was particularly impressive for Rubi's side.
Pione Sisto was another star performer from the weekend's action, as Celta Vigo maintained their unbeaten start to the season at the expense of Levante. In fact, the 23-year-old garnered the highest individual WhoScored rating in gameweek two in La Liga (9.62). The 23-year-old scored a stunning opener from a ridiculously cute angle and set-up Maxi Gomez for Celta's second in a 2-1 win over Levante. The Denmark international was denied a second goal after his free-kick came back off the woodwork in the second half.
The focus of La Liga this season has been how Madrid will cope in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane era. The latter announced his resignation just days after leading the club to a third straight European cup, while Ronaldo ended up following his manager out by forcing through a shock move to Juventus. Madrid started this summer chasing big name replacements but will likely not get any new players in through the door before Friday's deadline. Ronaldo's exit did at least help Gareth Bale make a decision on his future at the club and he is already thriving without the presence of his former team-mate.
The Wales international garnered the second highest WhoScored rating over the weekend's action in La Liga (9.06), playing a direct hand in two of Madrid's goals in a 3-1 win against Girona. Bale has now scored or assisted in each of his three appearances for Madrid this season, including their Super Cup defeat to Atletico Madrid. The 29-year-old had four shots, created three goalscoring chances and completed three dribbles in a dazzling performance on Sunday.
As touched on earlier, Granero was key in Espanyol's shock 2-0 win over Valencia on Sunday. The 28-year-old netted on his first appearance of the season and was a creative outlet throughout, registering four key passes during an influential 80-minute performance. The Spaniard also helped turn the ball over for his side, winning possession in the midfield third on three occasions. He rounds off the top-three WhoScored rated players from gameweek two in La Liga.
While the aforementioned trio turned in eye-catching displays over the weekend, new Valencia right-back Cristiano Piccini made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The 25-year-old failed to make a single tackle, interception or win an aerial duel in Valencia's shock defeat to Espanyol and made an error that led to their game-killing second goal with just over 20 minutes remaining. Piccini garnered a WhoScored rating of 4.84, the lowest individual score over the weekend.
