FC Barcelona opened up a six-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after Jose Mourinho's side lost 2-1 to Atletico Madrid.
The Catalan club maintained their strong start to the season with a 3-1 victory away against Sevilla, powered by a hat-trick from Brazilian winger Raphinha. Barcelona now hold 21 points from seven matches, sitting five points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid and six ahead of third-placed Real Madrid.
Barcelona enter the current campaign seeking to defend their domestic dominance, having won the Spanish league title in each of the past two seasons. Real Madrid hired manager Jose Mourinho and signed several new players in an effort to halt Barcelona's supremacy, but the capital club stumbled in the seventh round of fixtures.
Madrid derby victory for Atletico
The Madrid derby between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid remained goalless after a tight first half at the Metropolitano stadium. The match turned dramatically in the 50th minute when Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen was shown a red card.
Atletico Madrid took advantage of their numerical superiority just three minutes later. Grimaldo opened the scoring from a penalty kick in the 53rd minute to give the home team a 1-0 lead, before David doubled the advantage to 2-0 in the 59th minute.
Real Madrid responded through a goal from Rudiger, but Atletico held on to claim a 2-1 victory. The win lifted Atletico into second place in the standings with 16 points, five behind Barcelona, while Real Madrid dropped to third with 15 points.
Raphinha hat-trick downs Sevilla
Earlier in the weekend, Barcelona secured three points away from home against Sevilla. The hosts took the lead first through Fofana, putting Barcelona under early pressure in Seville.
Raphinha led the response for Barcelona, scoring the equalizing goal in the 22nd minute. The Brazilian winger put his side ahead in the 52nd minute after the half-time break, before completing his hat-trick in the 69th minute to seal the 3-1 victory.
The win extended Barcelona's strong league record to seven victories from seven games, bringing their goal tally to 31 scored and seven conceded.
Full La Liga standings after round seven
Following the seventh round of matches, Barcelona lead the division while Malaga, Valencia and Elche occupy the relegation positions. The full standings after seven rounds:
- FC Barcelona: 7 matches played, 21 points, goal difference 31:7
- Atletico Madrid: 7 matches played, 16 points, goal difference 16:7
- Real Madrid: 7 matches played, 15 points, goal difference 18:8
- Real Betis: 6 matches played, 15 points, goal difference 8:6
- Sevilla: 7 matches played, 13 points, goal difference 10:9
- Alaves: 7 matches played, 11 points, goal difference 11:6
- Deportivo La Coruna: 6 matches played, 9 points, goal difference 9:7
- Athletic Bilbao: 6 matches played, 8 points, goal difference 7:6
- Getafe: 7 matches played, 8 points, goal difference 4:7
- Rayo Vallecano: 7 matches played, 8 points, goal difference 11:16
- Osasuna: 7 matches played, 8 points, goal difference 6:13
- Celta Vigo: 7 matches played, 7 points, goal difference 8:6
- Espanyol: 7 matches played, 7 points, goal difference 10:10
- Real Sociedad: 6 matches played, 7 points, goal difference 6:11
- Racing Santander: 7 matches played, 7 points, goal difference 11:21
- Villarreal: 6 matches played, 5 points, goal difference 10:11
- Levante: 5 matches played, 5 points, goal difference 7:9
- Elche: 7 matches played, 5 points, goal difference 11:17
- Valencia: 6 matches played, 4 points, goal difference 2:10
- Malaga: 7 matches played, 3 points, goal difference 3:12
