Madrid, Jan 4 (NationPress) The current La Liga champions, FC Barcelona, showcased their resilience as two late goals from Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski secured a 2-0 victory over their local rivals Espanyol.

Another standout performance came from goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who transferred from Espanyol during the summer and faced a chorus of boos and jeers each time he touched the ball.

Garcia delivered a remarkable series of saves, thwarting Espanyol's attempts to secure a sixth straight league win. The home team launched aggressive attacks, generating six quality chances, all kept at bay by their former goalkeeper, as reported by Xinhua.

In the 86th minute, Olmo broke the deadlock with a beautifully curled shot into the top corner of the net. Lewandowski sealed the match with a clever finish, following a setup by Fermin Lopez in the dying moments.

Meanwhile, Villarreal climbed back to third place with a 3-1 victory away to Elche.

The visitors quickly established a commanding 2-0 lead with goals from Alberto Moleiro and Georges Mikautadze. Despite a goal from Martim Neto for Elche, they couldn't recover, and Alfonso Pedraza sealed the win for Villarreal with just seven minutes remaining.

In other matches, Borja Iglesias netted twice as Celta Vigo triumphed over struggling Valencia with a scoreline of 4-1 in Saturday's opener.

Pepelu managed to score for Valencia, but Jones El-Abdellaoui and Hugo Sotelo added to Celta's tally, leading to a disappointing outcome for Valencia, which saw their goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala substituted due to a muscle injury.

Additionally, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao played to a 1-1 draw, with Ruben Garcia giving Osasuna a deserved first-half lead, only for Gorka Guruzeta to equalize 20 minutes from time.

On Friday night, Mauro Arambarri scored a late equalizer for Getafe, resulting in a 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano, who had led through Jorge de Frutos' volley in first-half injury time.