Real Madrid won narrowly, while Barcelona dominated in the Catalan derby.

Real Madrid started the new year with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Real Sociedad, while Barcelona thrashed Espanyol 4-0 in the Catalan derby. Notably, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored a brace each.

Hosting Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid were determined to secure all three points, and indeed they had an excellent start, with Karim Benzema scoring the opening goal in the 2nd minute of the match.

However, just four minutes later, Real Madrid were forced to play with ten men after goalkeeper Adan was sent off for fouling Vela in the penalty area. A penalty was awarded to Sociedad, and Prieto easily equalized 1-1 after deceiving substitute goalkeeper Iker Casillas from the penalty spot.

Ronaldo shone brightly, bringing victory to Real Madrid.

Playing with only 10 men on the field made it difficult for Real to mount an attack. Despite this, Real still demonstrated their class by scoring a second goal in the 35th minute. Following a shot from just outside the penalty area by Carvalho, German midfielder Sami Khedira produced a clever backheel finish to find the back of the net.

But just 5 minutes later, Prieto helped Sociedad equalize 2-2, which was also the final score of the first half.

In the second half, Real continued to press but had to wait for Ronaldo's brilliance to finally break through Real Sociedad's defense. The Portuguese star scored a brace to give his team a 4-2 lead, including a spectacular free-kick.

Surprisingly taking a two-goal lead, Sociedad pressed forward in attack, but Prieto's late goal couldn't prevent them from suffering a 3-4 defeat.

With this result, Real Madrid now have 36 points after 18 rounds. However, they still haven't been able to close the 16-point gap with Barcelona. Because less than an hour later, the Nou Camp team secured a crushing 4-0 victory in the Catalan derby against Espanyol.

Messi and Barcelona secured an easy victory.

In fact, Barcelona's victory against their neighbors lasted only 28 minutes of play, with goals from Xavi Hernandez, Pedro, and a brace from Lionel Messi.

With this brace against Espanyol, Messi has increased his Liga goal tally this season to 27, 10 more than Radamel Falcao and 11 more than Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi award.

In the late match played early this morning, Atletico unexpectedly drew 1-1 with Mallorca. Raúl Garcia put Atletico ahead in the 72nd minute, but Kevin managed to secure a point for the home team before the match ended.

Results of Round 18 of La Liga

Real Zaragoza - Real Betis 1-2
Levante - Athletic Bilbao 3-1
Granada - Valencia 1-2
Deportivo - Malaga 1-0
Sevilla - Osasuna 1-0
Celta Vigo - Real Valladolid 3-1
Real Madrid - Real Sociedad 4-3
Barcelona - Espanyol 4-0
Mallorca - Atletico Madrid 1-1

According to (Vietnam+) - DT